SIM EE LIANG Class 4E1( 2010)
BALANCING THE ACADEMICS AND TWO CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES I FELT VERY STRONGLY FOR
A boy who does not let his passion interfere with his pursuit for excellence.
I have heard it said, that Co-curricular Activities( CCA) are of secondary importance( no pun intended) to academic; even schools put CCAs on hiatus during the examination period. However this notion has always been illogical to me. Do only top scorers get to participate in CCAs? Are average students not allowed to spend after-school hours doing something they love? I have struggled to balance my interest with responsibilities and there were times when it seemed as if I could not cope. Nevertheless, I got through Secondary School; happy and satisfied.
I was an average student. I excelled in subjects that I enjoyed and failed badly in the ones I did not like. The results for the rest of my subjects were mediocre. Every morning when I woke up, I did not think of what lessons I would be having that day. Instead, I was always thinking of how I was going to spend my time at Band practice. Also, I found the not-yet-formed Drama Club tugging my heart strings. At that time, there were only an assortment of plays, musicals and small performances to dabble in. So that was my life, on some days I had to drag myself through an entire day of school to attend band practice. On other days, I had to drag myself through an entire day of school to attend drama rehearsals. It took a lot of my time away, to the point where I would be awake at one or two in the morning to complete my assignments. This made me chronically tired during the day. The dreary teacher’ s voice became a lullaby to me. As a result, my grades slid. My teachers mentioned repeatedly about their disappointment with my rude and deteriorating attitude in classes.
My lowest point was when I failed my first mathematics test. I remember very clearly seeing“ 13 / 30” as my Mathematics teacher handed me my test paper. I was shocked. Never would I have thought that I would fail Mathematics! It took a little while more before I decided to make a change, and after I made the decision, I never looked back. I forced myself to take a good hard look at my life. I noticed that I spent a lot of my time online, playing games. At the same time, I realised what I was most passionate about. I loved being with my friends in my CCAs and I also loved studying( well, not all the subjects).
It was then that I made a promise to myself that I would build my life around those important things.
It was truly an uphill battle. Although I experienced the ups and downs, I stayed on track. I had very close friends who encouraged me to study and very supportive classparents who stood by me. In hindsight, it was never really that difficult. All I had to do was stop and look at what really mattered. What I enjoyed about my time in Clementi Town Secondary School was the CCAs as well as the things that I have learnt from my teachers.
Ee Liang was the Winner of the Performing Arts Medallion in 2011, and is now studying Applied Drama and Psychology in Singapore Polytechnic( SP). He was also chosen to appear in the cover of SP’ s magazine.
034 Our Time: Once A Clementeen, Always A Clementeen