Commentary, Nature Features

Discovering Seletar: Seletar Aerospace Park
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Press ’21

This is Part One of our coverage on Press’ learning journey to Seletar Aerospace Park. The tour was conducted by Xperience DMC. Part Two focuses on the visit to WingsOverAsia and you can access it here.

Think of Seletar and what comes to mind is probably its links to aviation—or perhaps you didn’t even know where Seletar was. 

Rest assured that we were no different, not till the Press ’21 batch excursion to Seletar (and yes, we managed to go on a Safe Management Measure–approved excursion before the current Covid-19 measures were in place)!

From aviation to nature, we uncovered the many facets of this lesser-known neighbourhood in Singapore with our tour guides, Mr Jeremy Koh and Mr Andrew Ong, who indeed proved most helpful on our great journey. 

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Clubs, Commentary

Raffles Debate Academy Under-14 Debating Championships 2021
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Jason Sutio (22S06U), Lara Tan (22A01B), Mei Feifei (22A13A)

What do you call two people arguing in a sauna? 

A heated debate. 

However, in the local secondary school debate circuits, things are admittedly less heated. This year, the Raffles Debate Academy Under-14 Debating Championship (known informally as RDAs) took place on 29 and 30 May, seeing 32 secondary schools participate in this annual competition organised by Raffles Institution. 

Helmed by the ‘20-’21 Raffles Debaters Exco and their teachers-in-charge, Ms Umarani, Mr Ashton Tan and Ms Nicole Magno, the competition made its comeback online after a one-year hiatus. 

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Commentary, School Life

Raffles Asia Programme Symposium 2021
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Faith Ho (22A01A), Lara Tan (22A01B), Mei Feifei (22A13A)

“Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls, For thus, friends absent speak.” 

For a second, it felt as if we were listening to a Renaissance Literature tutorial as Ms Lye Su Lin commenced the Raffles Asia Programme (RAP) Symposium 2021 with two lines from John Donne’s To Sir Henry Wotton.

The symposium, held over Zoom, did not enjoy the usual fanfare of its previous thirteen editions. Nonetheless, Ms Lye used her address to remind us of the value of the RAP symposium: a coveted opportunity for the Humanities Programme Year 6s to embark on research projects unique to the Asian context in “pure intellectual pursuit”. The symposium consisted of screenings of videos made by each group presenting their projects, as well as Q&A sessions for the participants to probe deeper into any of the topics that were covered. 

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Commentary, Nationally Speaking, Op-Eds, Student Issues

No, I Don’t Speak Tamil: Understanding Non-Tamil Indian Languages (NTIL)
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Samyak Jain (21S03A) and Snehal Sachde (21S07C)
Cover image by Neo Xin Yuan (21A01D) 

Chances are, you’ve complained about taking Mother Tongue before. We sure have. However, some of us have more to complain about than others. On top of the regular boredom which many associate with the subject, students who take Non-Tamil Indian Languages (NTILs) face a unique set of challenges that are generally not considered by the wider school population. 

Chances also are, you know that most Indians in Singapore speak and learn Tamil. However, this isn’t an accurate representation of the languages spoken in India at all. 

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CCA Events, Commentary, School Life

Aloha to the Old, Aloha to the New: Council Investiture 2021
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Keiran Koh (22S06M) and See Man Teng (22S03A)

Picture This:

You are in Hawaii, the palm trees are swaying in the balmy afternoon breeze and suddenly out of the blue… you see the 41st Students’ Council? 

While travelling and meeting each other in person may be impossible given the COVID-19 situation, Council has successfully integrated the sense of Hawaiian spirit into its investiture this year. Having investiture online this year is a reminder to all Councillors that the passion to serve the school can transcend all obstacles, including physical distance.

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