The way of drinking water – How sustainability lessons at faculty shaped this student’s profession ambitions

In secondary school, Sam Pei Yi was swimming her way by a variety of topics and things to do that appeared interesting. When it was time to pick out her write-up-secondary system, she gravitated to Republic Poly’s Environmental & Maritime Science office. Abide by her choice-making journey and learn how her university experiences uncovered her appreciate for fish.

By Lee Qing Ping

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A year back, if you asked Sam Pei Yi where by she planned to go immediately after secondary school, she would have mentioned “junior college”.

Or, she may have stated “polytechnic”. She was in Secondary 4, and she experienced to make a decision quickly amongst the two options, but she was not absolutely sure what space of examine was ideal for her.

Nonetheless, right after months of vacillation, Pei Yi would respond to with utmost self-confidence. She was so eager on Republic Polytechnic’s (RP) Diploma in Environmental & Maritime Science, she set in an application by the Early Admissions Physical exercise – and secured a location.

Her agency determination arrived as a surprise to individuals who know her as a person who has so several pursuits. “I hardly ever experienced a reliable approach. I just go with what ever captures my interest,” says Pei Yi. But now she is aware to abide by the place fish will just take her.

What? Fish? Let’s trace her ways to how she built her university and course options. Be warned, it’s a winding route!

Not seeking to settle for the noticeable

From the start, Pei Yi realized that a class associated to sustainability was the most apparent preference, considering the fact that her CCA and portfolio in secondary university spoke to that discipline. But, she begins to explain, “I didn’t know if sustainability was some thing I’d want to stick with forever…since I’d finished it for so extensive, I desired to check out other options”.

Must she test other “science-linked stuff”, like psychology? What about philosophy, given that she enjoys considering about how individuals think? At the exact same time, she viewed as junior college (JC) as an alternative, which was broader-based mostly for if she was not ready to dedicate to a study course just but.

“I’d never witnessed so several fishes in a faculty before”

Although discovering her solutions, Pei Yi acquired to know about RP’s Environmental & Marine Science diploma.

“I was flipping as a result of the poly and JC prospectuses, shortlisting what I appreciated, when I saw this it had ‘environment’ in the identify,” suggests Pei Yi.

Off she went to research far more about the system, and lo and behold, she found that RP experienced a massive fishery, acknowledged as the Aquaria, which was a devoted maritime science and aquaculture instructing and study facility. What caught her eye was “its varied maritime existence and state-of-the-artwork technology”.

“I’d never ever noticed so a lot of fishes in a university just before. And I truly like fish!” she suggests.

Why fish? Simply because a sea teeming with fish is a sign of lifetime and hope – she cares about maritime wildlife and its wellbeing in normal, she elaborates drinking water bodies make up 71% of our Earth’s area, and there is continue to a lot we do not know about it. “We cannot shield some thing we do not really like, we simply cannot adore what we do not know,” she rates mother nature author Richard Louv.

“RP’s Aquaria caught my eye also since of its frequent collaborations with industrial companions to tackle latest and hot topics in the aquaculture marketplace,” describes Pei Yi. “I wanted the a must have very first-hand activities in scientific investigation and critical thinking to support me continue to be suitable.” It didn’t choose long right after for her to be absolutely sure of her write-up-secondary pathway. “This is it!” she considered aloud. Or is it?

Connecting back to her roots in eco-friendly living

Growing up, Pei Yi was no stranger to existence on the inexperienced facet. Trips to the zoo or out of doors hikes had been prevalent rising up, on which her mother and father would place out the distinct kinds of animals and plants they crossed paths with. Recycling was also a family members practice.

As a student in Rulang Principal, she joined their Inexperienced Club, where by she uncovered how to care for crops. And in Main 5, she arrived across Commonwealth Secondary School’s (CWSS) Eco Club at its open up residence. “They confirmed me all their biodiversity samples and I thought they have been so amazing,” says Pei Yi of the assortment of organisms uncovered lifeless in faculty, these as butterflies, bees, and grasshoppers. CWSS retains them on display and tracks them by the school’s Instagram site and hashtag #cwssbiodiversitymuseum. Implementing to CWSS, and its Eco Club, was a no-brainer for her immediately after completing key school.

The Eco Club was the place Pei Yi’s curiosity in biodiversity blossomed. She gives considerably of the credit rating to the Club’s trainer-in-charge, Mr Jacob Tan.

Pei Yi recollects how Mr Tan inspired the club’s associates to treatment for the school’s backyard, rainforest, and other nature plots. Right after many years of work and tender treatment, the university is now a wildlife haven. Birds like pink-necked eco-friendly pigeons and the yellow-vented bulbul have occur to contact CWSS home, and the college has even been frequented by observe lizards and golden tree snakes.

A pink-necked eco-friendly pigeon nesting in Commonwealth Secondary. (Photo credit: Commonwealth Secondary School)

In the course of a single notably golden instructing moment, Mr Tan named to his pupils when he identified a chicken that experienced flown smack into a classroom window and died, highlighting the hazards when wildlife meets urbanisation.

Mr Tan showing pupils how the incident could have occurred (remaining) and the useless chicken he observed (ideal).

Moved by the bird’s demise, Pei Yi and her schoolmate started a project to prototype some non-reflective stickers that could be pasted on home windows and lessen such collisions. She established these stickers in the school’s Design and style Space with the assistance of a laser cutter machine.

Pei Yi’s sticker prototypes for windows to prevent other chicken deaths. 

Making a portfolio – handy for EAE!

On the lookout back at her secondary faculty pursuits, Pei Yi realised that she had a prosperous portfolio of encounters she could pack into an application to a sustainability-connected class over any other discipline – yet an additional great rationale for implementing to the RP diploma programme.

For instance, by way of the Eco Club’s outreach activities, Pei Yi bought to get the job done with Planet Vast Fund for Nature (WWF) for an Earth Day marketing campaign and see the function of associated corporations and what the broader market seemed like. She also ran booths at activities to teach the community on sustainability, such as Cleanse Up South West in 2020 and the Cleanse and Inexperienced Singapore carnival, where she produced general public shows on upcycling.

Pei Yi in a WWF photoshoot, boosting consciousness for an Earth Day campaign.

 

Pei Yi at Clean Up South West 2020. The plastic bottles type what is known as an ‘eco brick’, in which plastic bags and bottles are used to make solid constructions. 

 

Pei Yi represented CWSS to contest for the Eco-Educational facilities Environmentally friendly Flag Award, an worldwide eco-label of college performance run by WWF.

Members of the Eco Club are also designated caretakers of the school’s 6 eco-habitats as well as the indoor and out of doors farm, which features farming in the edible back garden – a single of Pei Yi’s favorite items to do.

A bountiful harvest from the school’s garden! This is what Pei Yi collected for the day’s use. Pupils can cook dinner the veggies in the course of Foodstuff and Client Education and learning lessons, or give them to the canteen suppliers for their dishes.

Finally, Pei Yi was happy she signed up for CWSS’ STEM Elective in Secondary 3. The elective – which is non-examinable and taken in area of an eighth topic in higher secondary – aims to make learners assured science communicators and researchers. Learners are uncovered to partnerships with organisations like the Nationwide Parks Board, Singapore Food stuff Agency, and the General public Utilities Board to find out about mother nature conservation, food stuff stability, and how to take care of our water and energy assets. They get very first-hand experience in STEM-linked careers far too, thanks to mastering journeys and attachments that the school organises in the course of the vacations.

In the Elective, pupils learn how to structure study projects and decide on a subject matter of desire to examine in excess of the system of two a long time. Their function culminates in a capstone analysis undertaking in Secondary 4, which college students will have to existing on at a STEM Convention in school. This is portion of CWSS’ endeavours to assist pupils to nurture the joy of understanding, understand for life as an alternative of tests, and make 21^st-century competencies.

By way of the weekly classes, she uncovered how to go through study papers, conduct a literature critique, and have interaction in debates on sustainability and science. 

STEM Elective students function on a capstone job in Secondary 4, culminating in a STEM Meeting. Topics ranged from ‘How do fonts affect our memory?’ to Pei Yi’s subject matter, ‘Difference in the rate of photosynthesis concerning plants tailored to distinct irradiance levels’. (Picture credit: Commonwealth Secondary Faculty)

With all these encounters underneath her belt, it turned pretty noticeable to Pei Yi that she really should implement to the Early Admissions Exercising (EAE) for the RP program.

The closing determination arrived quick

The months of hand-wringing have been around. “I was identified that this was the program and route I required to go down, and going through the EAE would raise my stability of a place in the class,” she claims. “Having been blessed with the alternatives of school-centered, countrywide and intercontinental experiences, not only was my option even more concretised, but I had also gathered a rather reliable portfolio.”

Her tips for her juniors? “Follow your passion, get in touch with persons in the industry, you can go volunteer or stop by open up houses, and just chat to tons of people!” she states. “You’ll only know following you try.”

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Additional on selecting a publish-secondary pathway:

• EAE: Playing to a strength – Wrestler, judo-ka…physio?
• EAE: Playing to a power – Foodstuff tells my family’s tales
• EAE: Taking part in to a toughness – Bringing the lab to the genuine world