Thursday, July 29, 2010

Welcome to the First Days of Your NEW Financial Lives

All our lives we are told “go to school, get a good education”, “you can be anything you want to be”, “try your best and you will succeed”. Ok, then what? We go to school and go to school and leave with huge amounts of student loans that leave us behind before we even start. We don’t really know what we want to be because we have always been told we can be anything and were never made to actually figure it out. We aren’t taught how to handle the financial stresses of being an adult. Being young and unprepared for the adult world has left many of us financially unable to live the lives we were always told we could have.

Financial education should have been as important as the other subjects forced on us in our youth, but for many of us how to control money was never a topic of choice in schools and in our homes. This neglect has left us unprepared and ashamed to ask for help.

Credit cards, auto loans, student loans, living expenses, balancing it all on an income that doesn’t quite meet our financial demands leaves us feeling frustrated and stuck. No one said it would be this hard.
Along the way I have figured some things out, mostly the hard way, and want to pass what I have learned onto others. As a team, we will devise a plan, budget, and dig out from the financial holes we were so unprepared to handle. Like anything in life climbing out from debt isn’t easy, which is why most of us never try, but with a helping hand or an open ear we can do it together.

Don’t put off today what will help you live easy tomorrow. I am here to help! Contact me when you are ready to keep more of your money in your own pockets!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Making the Right Choice: Preparatory Workshop for NYP Top Students

By Tiew Xin Yi
Diploma in Industrial Design


What are your strengths and weaknesses? How can you improve those weaknesses and leverage on your strengths, in order to secure scholarships and jobs in the future? Those were some of the questions posed to some 100 top NYP students who attended a one day “Interview, Scholarship & Career Preparatory Workshop” held on 22 June 2010.




In the morning, the students were introduced to a framework for career planning and guided through several exploratory and self-discovery exercises. This helps them to have a better understanding of themselves and learn more about their skills, strengths and weaknesses. They discussed career planning and completed worksheets on skills investigation, values assessment, and career interests.

“We encourage the students to know more about themselves, what makes them unique, and to know how to promote their positive traits effectively,” said Ms DJ, one of the coaches from Brightsparks.

After lunch, the participants worked in groups and practised role playing in mock panel interviews, where they learnt how to ace an interview.

Here’s what two of the participants had to say:

“I was able to explore and learn more about my interests and ambitions. I also picked up effective interviewing skills to ‘sell’ myself such as how best to presenting myself during an interview. These include,: speaking in a coherent manner, proper posture, facial expressions, tone of voice and language used.”

Malcom Chan
Year-3 Diploma in Fund Management and Administration student


“I will apply the skills I have learnt by creating a ‘sales story’ about myself, as taught in this workshop. I will focus on my leadership skills and the measurable achievements that I’ve attained. I will also read up on the company I’m applying to, and to anticipate the possible interview questions. I learnt that it is important to stand out from others during an interview and to provide evidence to support the personal qualities that you have stated.”

Nair Zeus Jaren
Year-3, Diploma in Molecular Biotechnology

Thursday, July 22, 2010

New Sponsorship Scheme from NCSS for NYP Students



They are young, earnest, and enthusiastic. They are also driven by a strong desire to pick up professional skills to help others.

NYP’s first batch of 26 students from the Diploma in Social Sciences (Social Work) course started term since April 2010. This new course aims to train Social Work Associates to meet the increasing manpower needs of the social service and healthcare sectors in Singapore.

The students in this course recently received a boost with a new sponsorship scheme called the Social Work Associate Training Sponsorship. This new sponsorship has been introduced by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), with the support of the Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Ten students have been offered this sponsorship, which covers tuition fees, other compulsory fees and an allowance for books and reference materials for their three years of study. The students received their sponsorships from Ms Ang Bee Lian, CEO of NCSS during a ceremony on 20 July 2010.

Many congrats to our students!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Graduation 2010



Pictures by
Bjorn Goh
Student Photographer
Diploma in Industrial Design

Braving the Cold in Hainan, China



A sudden drop in temperature to below 10 degrees Celsius in Hainan sent two groups of students and their lecturers scrambling for warm clothing.

“We had expected similar weather to Singapore’s, so we were not prepared for the sudden drop in temperature. The first thing we did was to buy warm clothing,” recalled School of Information Technology lecturer Dr Alan Ang.

Dr Ang was leading a group of NYP students on an Overseas Community Service project in Hainan, China last March together with School of Interactive & Digital Media (SIDM)Lecturer Wendy Tan.

Another group of students were led by SIDM lecturer Clyda Puah and School of Engineering (Manufacturing)lecturer Charlie Tan.

Preparation for the 17-day trip took about six months. It included recruitment, first aid training, as well as bonding sessions to foster team spirit and camaraderie among the student volunteers.

During the trip, the main tasks of the two groups were: the teaching English and Arts & Crafts at a primary school, the painting of the school, as well as painting an old folks home.

The dreary and cold weather in Hainan proved a challenge but the team persevered to complete the tasks.

“We wanted to paint 12 rooms in the three-storey school building but due to the weather, the paint took a longer time to dry. Furthermore, our movements were slower due to the cold weather. Nevertheless, we did our best. The students divided themselves into three groups: the ‘sander’, ‘painter’ and ‘lacquer’ groups. This
specialisation helped us to complete the task more efficiently, without compromising quality. The sense of achievement when all tasks were completed was our greatest fulfilment,” said Dr Ang.

Project Reading in Chiang Rai, Thailand



A group of 17 School of Health Sciences (SHS)students spent a meaningful two weeks of their March term break doing community service in Wiang Kaen, a district in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The project was led by SHS lecturer Dr Bala S. Rajaratnam.

“We worked with the Lions Club of Singapore, Somerset to secure story books and textbooks from their outreach program Project Reading mms. We also contacted the Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce to identify two deserving schools which would benefit from the project. Besides sorting the books, the students also created skits to excite the children to learn English. The skits were even tested with children at the NYP child care centre. The preparation took about three months,” said Dr Bala.

The students taught English skills to children below the age of 12 at the the Panghud Sahasart School and Koon Kuat Pittiya School. They also equipped and furnished three libraries at the schools with some 2,000 donated books, complete with a cataloging system for the loan of books.

In addition, the team also educated children from the nearby villages on the importance of personal hygiene and basic first-aid.

According to Dr Bala, there were some minor hiccups along the way. However, the excited looks of the children’s faces made it all the worthwhile.

He said: “The challenge was to be able to think and react on your feet, as what we had planned in Singapore changed significantly when we were at Wiengkaen. For example, we faced communications problems travelling in the hill-tops location. We overcome these by identifying four Thai students who were good in their English to support the project.”

Helping Hands in Siam Reap, Cambodia

School of Chemical & Life Sciences (Life Sciences) lecturer Ms Tan Chiew Nai has never done community work before and wanted to experience it. So, she took the opportunity to lead a group of 20 students to Phnom Penh Cambodia from 29 March 2010
till 11 April 2010.




One of their stops during the 14-day day trip was to the Rainbow Orphanage, run by Working for Children, a non-profit charity committed to assisting orphans, poor and vulnerable children in rural communities in Siem Reap Province. It provides secure
and loving home for 34 children aged between six and 16.

“We set up five computers so that the children can learn to use computers. Our students introduced various methods of teaching English such as through songs and simple composition. They also taught the children, as well as how to use a camera, about hygiene and also origami,” said Ms Tan.

The team also painted the wooden volunteer house, assisted the orphanage with simple farming tasks and helped update the Orphanage’s website.

They also took part in a rice soup programme organised by the Jesuit Service Catholic Church for village kids and also donated clothes at Peak Sneng – one of the poorest villages in the province.

“The students worked hard and were happy that their work was recognised. The students and I were definitely humbled from the experience,” said Ms Tan.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Our New Blog for All Things NYP

Hey there

We’re the folks from NYP’s Communications Division, and we’ve decided to start a new blog. Why this blog? It has always been our dream to have an NYP blog. A blog for NYP students, with posts written by students – on topics, issues and campus happenings that students care about.

Our first blog was actually started three years ago. Called ‘We Are NYP’, the blog initially started out as one to capture the thoughts and feelings of graduating students from the Class of 2007. After that, new students joined the blog, and they wrote on a wide range of stuff – from CCAs to environmental issues, from overseas attachments to class projects. This batch of students has also graduated from NYP.

So ‘Discover NYP’ is actually version #3 of our NYP blog (new, improved version, haha). We will be talking about campus topics that matter to YOU, dear NYP students. Stuff like friendships, lectures, projects with looming deadlines, sports, competitions, CCAs, food in the North Canteen, etc.... You get the idea? Our group of student writers will also be contributing posts here. Sounds exciting I hope? Do tell you what you think, and share with us what you want to read.

Cheerios
Ming