A special community

2003-12-02 10:57 p.m.

The NJC Arts Faculty of 2002-2003 is more than just a group of individuals pursing their academic careers wearing grey thick uniforms. They are a united bunch in some ways, diversified in others, but always holding on to the proud knowledge that as Arts students, they made a large difference, not only in school but to the society as a whole…

When you heard the term “Arts Faculty”, no doubt the subjects Literature, History, Geography and Economics come to your mind. However, the subjects taken my members of this cohort range from German to Art, Higher Chinese to General Studies in Chinese. These unusual combinations consequently force those students to join other class for certain lessons, but that is no trouble at all and it helps to reinforce the inter class relationships. Of course, in few exceptional cases, these arrangements actually cause divisions within the classes.

And how about the make up of these five classes? Of course, you would expect the number of girls to exceed the number of boys in an Arts Faculty, however, within the classes, the numbers vary greatly. A03 has twenty girls to two boys, something which causes certain conflicts to arise between the members. As for A01, A02 and A05, the percentage of girls is around 75 to 80%. Only in A04 do we see a roughly equal mixture of boys to girls. Does this change anything within the class at all? Not really, relationships are rather harmonious most of the time, and couples have also been formed. Of course, this depends more on the nature of the each member, and the strength of the groups of friends formed in each class. For if one wishes to have a united class, each clique must be ready to accept new members and not isolate anyone due to any reason. In reality, we see sharp divisions in one or two classes, sad cases indeed.

How about the inter class relationships? Since there are two main geography and two main history classes, the relationships are mainly found in these two pairs. Most notably between the history classes, A03 and A05, so much that they even exclude certain members. There is also fierce competition in various ways between the geography and history classes, but always friendly. As for A04, they reach out to the other four classes and many cliques are formed with other classes, particularly with A05.

Aside form the internal structure, the Arts Faculty shines with its high proportion of leaders, sportsmen/sportswomen and other high flyers. Leadership is most evident through the sizeable number of student councilors, the bulk coming from A04. They have given more than just their time and effort to the student population, they have provided the largest sacrifice and should be commended. Other leadership positions include four House Representatives, a trio form A01 and one from A05. Their efforts were no less than that of the councilors. And then of course, there are other leaders in the form of exco members or captains. As for sportsmen/sportswomen, the number may be few and far between, but the number of medals and trophies they gain for themselves and the school. Canoeists, long distance runners, hockey players you name it. Then of course, for does who abhor sports, their talent is found in other areas, such as choir, which won an SYF Gold this year, Symphonic Band, Guitar club, and of course not forgetting the debating scoiety.

As for academic achievements, one would tend to believe that the high grades would come from only the top class. Wrong, every class excels in various subjects, and the continuous competition between classes over certain subjects, such as economics and somehow or the other, certain classes just seem to be better in certain subjects. It could be partly because of their teachers, and partly due to the students.

Speaking about teachers, the NJ Arts Fac was blessed with a diverse range of teachers, each unique individually. There would be those teachers that students love to tease or gossip about, like Mr. Dane Lim and Mr. Mark Lo, and those they would cherish their teaching—like Ms Ting and Ms Ng. Each class adores their maths teachers, form the entertain Mr. Chin, to the no nonsense Ms Chua and the humourous Mr. Tsang and the helpful Ms. Lau. As for the economics tutors, who can forget Mr. Gilbert Lee’s mouse pointer drawings and philosophical ideas, Mr. Wong’s step by step explanations, Mr. Goh’s analogies or Mr. Brain Ang’s stern warnings? Last but not least, the trio, or the holy trinity, Mr. Whitby, whom people cannot forget his “prophetic finger” or his sarcasm or humour during tutorials and lectures, Ms Champagne, her common make up lectures and her thorough teaching and Mr. Dio, who gives the least homework and who would so willingly expose his socks to certain students.

That makes up the Arts Faculty 2002-2003 of NC. Divided in some ways, united in most. An almost perfect community.

Disclaimer: No attempt is made by the author in any way to criticize any individual, class or teacher in this article. Opinions are entirely his own and he tries to objective to the best of ability.

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