JASVINDER KAUR PANNU Class 4D1( 2008)
TURNING DREAMS INTO REALITY
Jasvinder dreamed and took action to ensure that what are dreams for the school soon became reality.
I graduated from Clementi Town Secondary School( CTSS) in 2008. When my classmates and I entered our third year of secondary education, Literature was not a subject already offered. We fought to have the option to study Literature as an examinable O-Level subject. About twentyfive of us became CTSS’ first Literature batch after a number of years. Where opportunities were not readily available to us, CTSS encouraged us to aim for them and find ways to achieve them. With an extremely supportive teacher by our side, my friends and I who made up the batch of Literature students decided to push further for one of our other interests. We enjoyed drama and performance. However, our school had no Drama Club while we were students there.
Outside of our school work, Co-curricular Activity commitments, and home lives, we banded together to start a small Drama Club of our own. When we approached our Literature teacher for guidance, she supported the initiative and helped us create a short performance to present to the CTSS staff. We were hoping to persuade the school to allow the establishment of an official CTSS Drama Club. We were determined to persevere through writing our own script and rehearsing the performance after school. That small skit grew into a full musical. Though it was staged in the beginning of 2009, which meant we had already graduated from CTSS, we still came back and participated in the musical.
We wanted to help create the opportunities we never had for our juniors who were still in CTSS. This sense of loyalty to the school was always inherent in my friends and me. Now CTSS has an official Drama Club and it makes me proud to say I was a Clementeen once, even though I never got those specific opportunities that are now available for my juniors. Without those experiences, I doubt I would be in my current position of pursuing a degree in English Literature at a local University.
Jasvinder is currently pursuing a Bachelor’ s Degree in English Literature in Nanyang Technological University after spending two years in Idaho studying Drama. She is returning to CTSS under the teacher internship programme.
028 Our Time: Once A Clementeen, Always A Clementeen