From EM3 to model poly student

SHE believes that dreams can come true despite the many setbacks faced, a conviction that clinched a model student award for late bloomer Christina Ong Ling Yee yesterday.

Ms Ong, 22, is the latest recipient of Singapore Polytechnic's Model Student Award.

Given out since 1997, the award goes to the student who excels in both studies and co-curricular activities (CCA), as well as embodies SP's core values like personal integrity and responsibility.

Ms Ong, now working in a quantity surveyor firm, fits the bill - to an S, and a P.

She was 'too playful' and kept failing examinations until Primary 5, when she was channelled to the EM3 stream, which was for academically weaker pupils.

It was then that she pulled herself up, and studied harder. She reflected on her poor grades and thought: 'Other people are also human. If they can do it, I can too.'

Still, it was not an easy road. In Secondary 4, financial problems forced her to work part-time at McDonalds to pay her school fees. Her father works at a coffee shop while her mother is a cashier.

Also, her English grade was not good, and as a Normal (Technical) student at St Theresa's Convent, she recalls the stigma attached to students in that stream. She was advised against transferring to the Normal (Academic) stream despite doing well enough to qualify in Secondary 2.

So, she went to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Call it serendipity, but it was at the ITE that she really blossomed. She felt that, without the different streams, 'everyone was equal' and stood an 'equal chance of succeeding'.

Her excellent ITE results led her to SP, where she studied property development and facilities management. She was also active in the Rotary Club and was the organising secretary of the Built and Environmental Club, among other CCAs.

Her achievements won praise from Mr Lim Cher Yam, 50, deputy director of SP's School of the Built Environment. He said she 'stood out in terms of maturity and academic achievement'.

Although from ITE, she 'rose above those from the O-level route' and was consistently among the 'top few students' in her cohort.