“Have you seen her?” The Halloween event organised by the Social and Welfare portfolio was a successful event that many attended and enjoyed, and gave everyone a good break from studying.
Shooting down bottles with…eyeballs???
The event was started off with a buffet dinner, and it gave everyone a chance to gather and catch up with one another, away from our busy schedules, before the event officially started with the funeral of the protagonist, Charlotte. We then played a series of station games in our groups, which were simple enough but still allowed us to have fun with our group mates. The escape room was one highlight of the event, setting an appropriate mood for Halloween. One of the enjoyable aspects of this event was that it was quite relaxed and chill, with no need to rush from one station to another. There was even time set aside for us to play board games at our own leisure.
Strategy game much?
The storyline set for this event was riveting as well, and it was exciting and suspenseful to piece together parts of the story to solve the mystery as we played the station games. It was especially satisfying when we reached the plot twist and realised that Charlotte was, in fact, not dead! The night ended off with a fun lucky draw, where a lot of useful gifts were given out.
In all, this Halloween event was a pleasant experience that not only gave us a relaxed evening, but also allowed us to enjoy Halloween thoroughly with a compelling theme and storyline.
Conducted by Mr Leo Tan from the Career and Attachment Office, the Resume Writing Workshop held by the Holistic Development Portfolio provided great insight into what employers are looking out for in a resume.
Besides going through the content required in a resume, Mr Tan also engaged us by provided samples of resumes from different people, which gave us a chance to put ourselves in the shoes of an employer. By making us see things from the perspective of a different stakeholder, I was able to understand first-hand why certain resumes are particularly attractive to employers while others are not.
Our scholars looking at example resumes.
Furthermore, Mr Tan was also able to provide pointers for writing a resume for research attachments, as it has different requirements from a normal job-seeking resume. Given the research-focused nature of the CN Yang Programme, this special consideration was especially appreciated.
The workshop also included a segment on LinkedIn. Besides teaching us some basic functions, Mr Tan highlighted the usefulness of LinkedIn as a tool for professional communication, especially in the age of digitalisation.
Mr Tan giving important pointers about writing resumes, take note!
I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from this session and I’m sure the other scholars in attendance did too.
Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT) has never been too well-known of a
defence technology organisation amongst most Singaporean youth, with the likes
of Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and Defence Science Organisation
(DSO) taking precedence in terms of reputation. This is due to the highly
classified nature of CSIT’s work which deals with cybersecurity and other
highly sensitive technologies which naturally are a cause for secrecy. However,
on the 8th of October 2019, we were fortunate to be given
the opportunity to visit CSIT as part of their open house event. As a
computer science undergraduate, I was excited to learn more about the
‘strategic technologies’ that CSIT was working on.
Our visit started off with a welcome talk in an
intimate setting of what was not more than 40 students from the various local
universities. The speakers shared about the nature of work they carried out at
CSIT and how CSIT fitted in amongst the various defence technology organisations
in Singapore. We were split into various tables and every table had an
attached person from CSIT so that we could ask any questions we
had. I found this first segment of the visit to be quite eye-opening as I
was better able to understand the complex defence ecosystem that Singapore had
and how all the various acronym-laden government organisations worked together
to bolster Singapore’s defence.
The second segment of the visit was round robin of the
booths of the five main technology areas of CSIT: cyber-technology, software
engineering and analytics, communications technology, systems and network
infrastructure, and crypto technology. Each booth had its own fun activity for
us to get a better understanding of what the area encompassed, from looking at
how virtual machines are designed and deployed almost instantaneously, to how
to sniff data packets that were being sent to an attacker in order to find out
more information about a cyber-attack. The booths were very engaging, and I was
really awestruck by the technology showcased, as even though it may not be
anything ground-breaking, we rarely get to see such things unless we are
involved directly in such work.
Finally, we ended off the visit with a dinner and
closing address by the Chief Executive of CSIT, who shared his own
views on the security landscape in Singapore and how the career
progression was like in CSIT, which is based on meritocracy rather than other
means, unlike other similar organisations. Overall, it was a very enjoyable and
possibly once-in-a-lifetime experience at the CSIT open house, and it definitely helped us to better understand the nature of work that
CSIT does.
Escaping Wonderland was a well-timed break from the stress of midterms.
Although there was no particular order enforced for the station games, the movement from station to station was quite smooth for my group. Not having to follow a sequence was a fresh experience that was surprisingly enjoyable. We were given the liberty to choose and freely explore the playzone, which fit nicely into the theme of escaping a new, familiar, yet foreign environment. The winning conditions added excitement to the event, and my group enjoyed figuring out the hints that the gamemasters provided. The deviation from the norm of solely playing station games to win points was one of my favourite aspects of the event.
FOP throwback, anyone?
Through this event, I’m glad that I managed to talk to more people outside my social circle, and I also made new friends in the process, while strengthening existing friendships. I would like to heartily thank the Special Projects portfolio for organising this event. It was truly an enjoyable night that set the bar high for other upcoming events.
Which was more stressful, midterms or defusing a bomb?
Kicking off the first industrial visit of the school year, 10 CN Yang Scholars visited Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School located near Singapore General Hospital to learn more about its unique MD, MD-pHD and pHD curriculum.
What sets Duke-NUS apart from other medical schools is its central “Clinician-First, Clinician-Plus” vision. They believe that graduates are first competent clinicians, and beyond that, build on their other capabilities to become more than just simple clinicians, but clinician-scientists, leaders and innovators. Therefore, Duke-NUS welcomes students from different disciplines and academic backgrounds as they believe that they provide a different perspective and expertise to the study of Medicine. There are graduates with majors in Engineering, Business and even Law!
Fortunately, this aligns with the multi-disciplinary nature of the CN Yang programme which equips scholars with the skills and knowledge from multiple fields. Scholars also had the opportunity to ask key questions during an informative Q and A session with past NTU alumni who are now on the prestigious MD-pHD programme. The seniors encouraged them to engage in more diverse fields of research and explore their interests in those areas to gain greater perspectives in the process of scientific inquiry.
NTU and NUS alumni who are current students in Duke-NUS shared on their experiences in the programme
Scholars also had an exclusive peek into the different laboratories in Duke-NUS where despite the cluttered outlook of the benches, the scientists there are engaging in cutting-edge research at the forefront of science. It is not uncommon to see students and scientists working together hand-in-hand and engaging in intense discussions over their research work. It was indeed an eye-opening experience for us to experience the research culture of laboratories beyond NTU.
We had the chance to handle some samples from the labs!
CNYSP FOP was the first NTU FOP for many of us, and in my opinion, it was a great start to the series of FOP camps. CNYSP FOP was also nice in the sense that the OGs are extremely small compared to that of Big 4 and most faculty camps, and it really gave us a great opportunity to get to know our future classmates better. ? In addition to the standard FOP games, there were some games played during CNYSP FOP that were exceptionally creative and innovative. Some games required us to think critically, such as by giving us riddles or puzzles to solve, and this helped to better forge camaraderie as well as it encouraged discussion between us to help our OG progress. These games were what made CNYSP FOP more memorable.
Strategising a plan of attack?
Something else special about the CNYSP FOP is the highlight event, where for this year, we went to St. Games! It was a wonderful evening of just hanging out and playing games with friends from both my own OG and other OGs! I got to know more people better during our time spent at St. Games as it was really just some time to spend on our own without having any particular quests or tasks to complete. Overall, CNYSP FOP is a unique FOP that was definitely worth going for, and I am looking forward to being part of planning next year’s FOP!
Beach day!
Zhen Xuan:
Looking back to the CN Yang Freshmen Orientation Programme (FOP) 2019, I realize that it was one of the highlights of my university life so far. CN Yang FOP 2019 held so much meaning to me, especially since it was the first encounter I had with my batchmates, and that it marked the start to my university journey.
Prelude to MnT?
CN Yang FOP 2019 gave me the opportunity to meet and bond with my batchmates. I fondly remember the first day of the event, when the check-in to hall was delayed. While we were waiting, many of us got to sit down and introduce ourselves. In hindsight, that gave us the platform to get to know more people outside the orientation groups, and I was able to meet my good friends who I could share my ups and downs with. Furthermore, through the various games and activities, I was able to get to know my orientation group members better.
Lastly, CN Yang FOP 2019 was a fun and enjoyable event. I hope that future batches will also enjoy the event as much as the seniors have, and hopefully the fun traditions can continue to be passed down as well.
The CN Yang Scholars’ Club (CNYSC) is set up and run by the scholars of the CN Yang Scholars Programme. The management committee is elected by the scholars on an annual basis.
