Nicole Yeo (right) and Leticia Song – Winners of the Mr and Mrs Kwok Chin Yan Award 2021. (Photo credit – Nicole Yeo
The Mr and Mrs Kwok Chin Yan Award for Student Initiative is an annual award that recognises student initiatives which have made significant contributions towards enhancing student life at NTU, the improvement of the campus environment, or the betterment of the larger community during the preceding year.
Nicole and Leticia, who are both students in the Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry at SPMS, helped to set up the WELLfare programme to promote mental wellness in the SPMS community. The programme aims to highlight mental wellbeing as an issue that should be talked about, and combat the negative connotations of mental illness.
This award recognises the positive impact of Nicole and Leticia on the student community, through their education and advocacy.
We met up with Nicole and Leticia for a chat.
How did you feel when you were first told that you had won the award?
Nicole: Honestly, I think we felt so surreal when we heard the news. It seemed like a situation that would happen in our dreams and I couldn’t believe what I just heard. When we first started out doing projects like these under Welfare, we never imagined an outcome like this.
We were doing it with just a small goal of wanting to impact at least one person as we knew how sensitive the topics we were planning to talk about were. But to see how our students were willing and open to write a message or participate in our videos was very heartwarming for us to see. And it only goes to show how our community here at SPMS are really receptive and we really appreciate all the support that we have received here.
Is there anything you would like to say to aspiring SPMS Club Welfare members or heads, or is there anyone you would like to thank?
Leticia: We would like to say that as long as you believe in something, go for it. Welfare used to be a portfolio that did more of the backend work and was not one of the portfolios that organised events.
Nicole: When we first came in, we had to do an internal revamp of the entire portfolio and that meant that we had no guidance or support from any past work that Welfare has done before. We created our own path and organised events that we felt could pass on messages that we feel strongly in such as mental wellness. So to aspiring future SPMS Club Welfare members or heads, don’t be afraid to take the first step, draw courage and support from your team members and embark on journeys that you have never tried before. We would like to say a big thank you to the students and staff who took part in our events.
Most of our topics that we touched on can be something that is hard to talk about, but nevertheless, each of them have stepped out of their comfort zone to talk about topics that most of us rarely talk about. And we are heartened to see that they are drawing on their courage and taking the first step in making the SPMS community a more supportive and understanding one. We would also like to take this chance to say thank you to our welfare subcommittees. With their trusts, supports and encouragements, we were able to make welfare what it is today.
How would you explain the importance of student welfare?
Nicole: Student welfare is definitely, without a doubt, a very important part of University life. University life is full of ups and downs and with that, it can undoubtedly have an impact on your physical health as well as your mental health. We all know how to take care of our physical health, it is as simple as exercising regularly and eating regular meals. On the other hand, for mental health, sometimes we are unsure of how to take care of it as it isn’t something that has been taught to us in school. Small tips like talking about your feelings with your friends and not keeping it in or taking adequate breaks in between hustling or even taking up new hobbies to destress yourself are things that are easily overlooked as we don’t know of the beneficial impacts it can have on us.
Leticia: Taking care of your mental health is as important as taking care of your physical health and this is a message we hope to advocate during our events.
What is a typical day like planning for Welfare events?
Leticia: We usually try to think of a central message that we hope to pass during our event. For example, wanting to promote self-love and caring for yourself first on Valentine’s Day where it is usually celebrated for lovers. We then go on to think of ideas that can help support in passing our messages such as through our WELL, Let’s Talk series with our students and through our pin-up-a-message board during the actual day of the event. We also create Instagram posts with related themes such as affirmations or tips that students can incorporate in their daily lives to improve their mental wellness.
What do you feel when participants compliment your event?
Leticia: To us, the first compliment we received was from a student who said “thank you for doing this”. We may be strangers, but that sentence was something so unforgettable, because, this was something that has never been done in SPMS club before, and it also touched on topics which may be hard for people to approach, which makes us really worried about what we do. But, just hearing what this student said to us, it felt like whatever we do was worth it, was meaningful and that people are ready for a change.
We don’t always get compliments along the way, but just by seeing how more and more people are participating in our pin-up-a-message board and also being more receptive to the idea of talking about mental health, has been the best compliment and motivation to us.
Moving on from here, what are your current plans for the Welfare events (especially due to COVID-19 restrictions)?
Leticia: Moving forward, we hope to collaborate with other faculties and introduce our projects to them. And hopefully they are on board with this idea of implementing our projects in their school as well as we hope to promote and advocate the importance of mental wellness. Ultimately, we hope that we can create a pin-up-a-message board to put at the heart of NTU, where the whole school can come together to participate and support each other.
SPMS students can also expect to see similar welfare events that were held last semester for this academic year too. No doubt these events will be revamped with topics that were not touched on before.