Confessions Of A Final Year Student
Words and Photo by Mark Cheng
My Wee Kim Wee experience? Let’s start from the very beginning: Freshmen orientation camp was the start of this extremely wild journey at the Wee Kim Wee School. I was fresh out of JC and I hadn’t really done much with my life, and all of a sudden I was like, “Oh you’re a professional wedding photographer?”, “Oh you have your own design company?”, “Oh you’ve contributed articles to Shin Min Daily News?” I thought about all that I’d done (or rather, hadn’t done) and barely mustered up a feeble, “Oh, cool” in a bid to sound impressed yet nonchalant, while trying hard not to feel like the biggest loser in the world. Little did I know that this was a feeling that would present itself to me time and again during the course of these four years – and I’m grateful for it. The Wee Kim Wee School attracts so many diverse people who are so immensely talented in their chosen fields, yet extremely academically bright at the same time. For a while, I wondered how my peers found the time to work two jobs and still find time for school; how the seniors managed to accomplish all these groundbreaking FYPs, and whether I’ll ever be able to achieve the same feat. 36
Then one day you stop wondering, and simply start doing. Sure it’s difficult, but suddenly you start to feel the same kind of drive to succeed that you’ve seen in others countless times before, and you start working harder to improve. You attempt to outdo everyone around you – most of all, you attempt to outdo yourself – and somehow despite being swept up into this entire whirlwind of emotions and activity, you still manage to make friends. That’s the thing about the Wee Kim Wee School. Everyone knows what I leave feeling like it’s like to my friends and I are want to be finally ready for the the best in big world ahead of their fields, us not only because and everyone WKW has taught works hard us well, but also to be the because my friends best, that in and I will always some weird have each other. way, unifies us as friends. I think the tough journey we collectively undergo is what helps us forge lasting friendships in school, because after all, misery loves company. In a weird way, I liken this to Frodo and Sam in The Lord of The Rings – after all that suffering travelling to Mordor, you just know that they’re going to be friends for life – born in fire, forged by flame.
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So after these four years, what do I leave the Wee Kim Wee School with? I leave with immense gratitude towards the school and my professors for their patience, skill and passion for their craft. I leave with a profound respect for all my peers who have accomplished so much within these four years, and who will go off to accomplish so much more. Most of all, I leave feeling like my friends and I are finally ready for the big world ahead of us not only because WKW has taught us well, but also because my friends and I will always have each other. To the Wee Kim Wee School, Class of 2013 — WE DID IT!
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