Relishing Excellence

For the first time in more than two years, recipients of student performance awards and scholarships at SIT were able to come together in a physical event on 17 November 2022 – with their loved ones, the donors who make possible their scholarships and awards, as well as SIT Faculty and Staff. 

The Recognition of Excellence (ROE) had to take a break amid the COVID-19 restrictions, until the previous Academic Year (AY) 2021/22, when it went online. This year, a total of 77 Book Prizes, Outstanding Student Awards and Yearly Performance Awards, as well as 198 Scholarships, were presented. This is not counting the 48 awards and prizes made possible by donors that were presented at SIT’s graduation ceremonies in October 2022. 
 

Addressing the donors in the audience, Prof Chua Kee Chaing, President, SIT, remarked that while ROE is a warm get-together to recognise student achievement, the event is just as much as a celebration of SIT’s donors. “While our appreciation is unquantifiable, I wish to share some numbers to give you an idea of the impact you have made,” he said, noting that the past eight years had seen SIT’s donors making possible almost 8,000 bursaries, study grants, emergency grants, scholarships, and student excellence awards. 

“These have gone a long way to level the playing field for many of our undergraduate students who come from less privileged backgrounds and are first in their families to attend university. During the last two years, donations into our COVID-19 Student Relief Fund have also helped the most vulnerable of our students tide over financial emergencies brought about by the pandemic,” he added, before thanking the philanthropic community for also supporting SIT’s experiential learning programmes and applied research that are critical in shaping the university’s applied learning pedagogy and in informing its education programmes. 

Said Prof Chua: “We sincerely thank you for supporting our students and faculty in the many ways that you have been doing and hope that you will continue to see value in helping us achieve our mission of maximising the potential of our learners.” 
 

The afternoon of celebration began with a virtual presentation of SIT’s future campus in Punggol and a showcase of SIT’s applied research projects by faculty and students. These were followed by the presentation of awards and scholarships, and later a mingling session over some light bites that allowed SIT’s students, faculty, and staff to interact with donors and parents.

Ms Ashmita G, a Year 2 Air Transport Management student and recipient of the Kewalram Chanrai Group Scholarship, had the opportunity to share her university experience onstage, together with Chemical Engineering alumnus Mr Pearson Lim, the recipient of the Kaneto Foundation Outstanding Student Award in Chemical Engineering as well as the Singapore Chemical Industry Council Book Prize in Bachelor Thesis.

She said, “Being part of ROE was a thrilling experience. Conducting the banter segment with Pearson in front of a huge crowd as well as celebrating my friend's successes are memories that I will cherish many years down the road. The whole ceremony felt like I was graduating. I am truly grateful to have received such an esteemed scholarship, and it has given me the strength to continue striving forward.”