...and life goes on

My school had our graduation assembly for the graduating students yesterday afternoon. It was a short yet poignant moment for almost all of us. The short clips of messages by most of the teachers teaching the graduating classes, the video clip showing their antics when they were much, MUCH youger (some say even CUTER!...rolls eyes), plus the sing along session, I must say not as deeply memorable as previous years, as we had it at night and together with the 'gown-wearing session', but I must say, it was just as good, if not better!

I must say it has been one hell of an experience teaching my students this year. What with their individual antics, Basil with his errr....blurry state of mind, Bessie with her coninuous quest for prettiness (I'm talking about her folio), the quiet Teng Ray's sense of meticulousness in her work (I swear she reminded me of my auditor friend a while back!), Jie Kai with his jumbled-up state of mind...doesn't seem to know what he want to do until the end, Daryl...with his so-cool nature...but hmmmm...let me just leave it at that and Wei Arng...a pleasant surprise indeed, coming out with one of the best folios ever done by a Unity student in my 3+years there...and many more gems that I should treasure and remember for the rest of my teaching career. It feels sad that I have to let them go, but rest assured, I think, or I think that I think, that I have given them a glimpse of what project work is all about, neverminding that half of them were below my expectations in terms of the quality of their work output! My only hope is that they'll learn their lessons of handling a project work...the troubles, shortcomings and other unexpected Murphys-law-type of incidences, and be better able to handle them in their next stage of their educational journey.

To those of you who does read my blog, but chose not to admit it, :), do remember my 4 advice,
1) Never do anything purely for money...trust me, it will never EVER be enough
2) Never succumb to the herd mentality..if you need to, be an individual and create a path, instead of treading along a path that others have already set forth for you
3) Do anything that you think you would like to do, with PRIDE and PASSION, people CAN tell the difference
4) ...and lastly, that piece paper that you are going to get, or planning to get in years to come, will only determine how wide the doors are opened for you, what matters more is how well you fare and perform once you are beyond the door.

Here's wishing you all the very best in not only your O levels, but also in your future endeavours, whatever those may be. Maybe you will still see me at Unity in 2009/2010, or maybe you wouldn't, but whatever it is, the memories of teaching the class of LV45 2006 will forever be etched in my memories.

With deep sadness, and a little reflective...the cynical-idealist