I went for commencement briefing today. To my horror, there were less than 10 souls in the room. And that was including me and SY. And we are talking about close to 800 students graduating. I guess since most of them are only graduating next year, they dun really bother to turn up for this dialogue.
There were some pretty interesting issues brought up by registrar office. ACtually it was isabelle from OIR that suggested it. She was saying that in the US, students who went overseas for study for a few semesters, just like our exchange program had this sort of scarf thingy, but you dun tie it.. that is of the country in which they did their overseas exchange hanging on their shoulders when they wear the gown. She was wondering if that can be done in smu too..
It would be awkward if there are only one or two people wearing it. But i suppose it is really interesting to see people with different flags of the country in which they spent like 1 semester in, hanging on the shouders and to accessorise the gown. It does bring out the "international" aspect of SMU now that we truly have more than 100 partnerships with universities overseas. Morever, I suppose more than 50% of the students actually go on exchange here and I strongly believe that the exchange program is one very unique and significant part of our Uni life. I think most of you that have gone for exchange must have felt it too. Perhaps there are better ways of doing this than to hang the flag-scarf of the country on the graduating gown but the idea is there. People said that it makes sense to show one or two stripes on the gown if the person has obtained a cum laude or summa cum laude or magna cum laude and it is meaningless to have that scarf there. They feel that there is some sort of discrimination against students who cannot afford to go on exchange and whom therefore do not have a chance to put that scarf on.
I would personally disagree because firstly, by having the stripes there or whatever to signify the great honours is itself a form of discrimination to begin with. Secondly, exchange itself is not expensive or at least not to the extend that it is not affordable when firstly, no one says that you must go to europe or US for exchange when there are cheaper places in Asia to have an equally fulfilling time. Besides, the school does offer Loans for overseas study. Lastly, GRADES and HONOURS are only for the first job and mainly, GOvernment jobs and Big Banks... If you cant perform and if you can only study and get ya As but you cant work, do you think you can keep your job? If you cannot get along with the people in the work place, do you think you can keep your job? If you are good, employees will want you. Many a time, it is the attitude, the life skills, the soft skills and the ability to perform in different environment that matters. The exchange program is one of the best decision i have ever made in my life and it has great significance to me. There are so much that I learnt during my short stint of 4 months overseas and that is something that the As in school CANNOT and WILL NOT be able to provide and replace.
By the way... A lot of people have been asking me.. Woah.. so you are graduating.. so how? Getting a first class ar.. ( By the way, SMU does not have a First class thingy.. that is the british system... we have only 3 kinds of honours... Summa CUm LAUDE, Magna Cum LAude, and CUM laude). Thank you for thinking that I actually look like a SUMM CUM LAUDE but sorry, am not a SUmma Cum LAUDE. I do not have a fantastic set of GPA but I do not think that I am in anyway inferior to another person with a SUmma. Grades are not everything in life. Honours or not... well... its all over. It DOESNT matter.... I have many other commitments in life and having to juggle work, studies and CCA commitments wasnt easy. I am however, happy with all that I have learnt and improved all these years. RElationships did take a lot of time and energy away from my studies too. Especially when the problems cropped up. However, there was no better way in which I could have understood myself better and there is no way in which I was able to grow to who I am today without the Work, the CCA and the relationships. These are the things that money cannot buy. To have As and be only good in As... That is not me. We all have a different set of values. I guess I have found mine and I am happy with it. Of course, I have nothing against As and people with good honours. But What im saying is, I am not born a genius to be able to juggle everything that I have plus a set of fantastic results and so.. I chose to have an okay set of results but living my life to the fullest still. There are people who thinks otherwise and may think that hey.. I must not let anything affect my studies and I should only study and do nothing else or pretend to be holding major posts in different CCA groups but is in fact not committed and not really gaining anything out of it just so that they can decorate their resumes. These people are not only screwing up their own lives, but they are screwing up other people's lives cos in a group, it is ok if you do not contribute, but dun be a liability.
ANYWAY...
Helen from OAA was "hinting" that maybe I wanna organise the graduates' night dinner for my batch this year. Although I am holding back a little cos my work actually starts in Jan, but I think my passion in doing what I am doing and the belief that this is indeed something meaningful and something that I will also have fun in makes me wanna go ahead and take the lead. Moreover, I did this once 2 years ago and I had a lot of fun working with the different offices and the Alumni. Besides, If I dun do something about it.. I guess I might regret for this is one last chance to do something so unique.. AHAH.. I enjoy doing all these things.. and the most important thing is i truly enjoyed working with the OAA people and the seniors in the alumni who, despite their work commitments, still take time out to help out in events like that.
I wanna recruit a team who believes in this as much as I do. A team who shares this passion and is willing to contribute and walk through it despite their work commitments or studies. A team who will at the end of the day have fun and learn from the whole event. Now that I see what is in sight, and the fact that this event does interest me and is making me feel kind of excited.. I am willing to take the lead and work something out.
There is senior class gift and the alumni scholarship fund thingy to handle too... I will get a team... and I will work towards that vision.
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