SINGAPORE: It was a gray, cloudy Friday morning, and the sun had not yet fully risen on the first day of school for the freshmen at Yishun Junior College (YJC). But despite the early hour, the atmosphere was festive, and almost upbeat.
As the familiar strains of a pop song blasted from the loudspeakers, about 900 freshmen – dressed in a sea of different school uniforms in a multitude of colours – streamed into the school, heading straight for the noticeboards set up in the school’s parade square to look for their orientation groups. Student leaders dressed in navy blue tees were out in full force, keeping an eagle eye out for lost students, welcoming them enthusiastically and directing them to assemble in the school hall.
Settled into their different orientation groups in the hall, the new students seemed a little quiet and uncertain, perhaps due to first day jitters or the early hour. Many sat quietly in their seats, even as the student leaders launched into an exuberant cheer war, egging the freshmen to join in.
The incoming batch of freshmen at Yishun Junior College on the first day of school. (Photo: Ruyi Wong)
But fast forward to Tuesday (Feb 6), and it was a strikingly different scene. Despite it being only the third day of orientation, most students appeared to be at ease with their new friends. Dressed in matching maroon tops with the word “Evolution” – the theme of this year’s orientation – emblazoned across the front, most were sitting in groups, laughing loudly and teasing each other while waiting for the day’s activities to begin. Some began singing a raucous birthday song at the front of the hall, which quickly spread as more students joined in.
“You all look a bit more orientated now,” Innova Junior College (IJC) principal Michael de Silva quipped as he welcomed the new students to his school for this leg of their orientation programme: A race around Woodlands and Yishun involving pit stops with team challenges and lots of games.
IJC, which will be merging with YJC next year to form the new Yishun Innova JC, was one of four JCs that did not take in any new students this year. It has, however, worked closely with YJC to plan the orientation programme for this batch of incoming freshmen, which the principals of both schools stressed will be shared by both colleges.
For incoming freshman Raphael Fernandez, getting the chance to play games and break the ice between himself and his future classmates was especially appreciated.
“I was a bit afraid and apprehensive on the first day of school because I’m not really the extroverted type,” he said. “But through these activities, I managed to find new friends, and I’m excited to spend the next few weeks with them.”
Incoming freshmen bonding during a team challenge at Yishun JC. (Photo: Ruyi Wong)
MERGED SCHOOLS, MERGED NAMES…AND MERGED MASCOTS
With the merger of YJC and IJC next year, these freshmen will become the pioneer batch of the new Yishun Innova Junior College. And planning the orientation for this pioneer batch of students was no easy task: Not only was it important to plan a programme that gave these new students ample opportunities to bond and make friends, but there was also a need to ensure there was an equal representation of both schools’ heritage and culture.
“We wanted our students to be open-minded and seek to understand, and also to try and combine the strengths of both colleges,” said Karthikesan Kumar, YJC’s head of PE and CCA, and the teacher overall-in-charge of the orientation. “So we reminded the organising committee that there had to be a give and take.”
But the 60-odd student leaders from both colleges who formed the organising committee rose to the challenge with aplomb – and a healthy dose of creativity.
In naming the new houses, for example, one issue the organising committee faced was to reconcile the two vastly different themes both colleges had for their houses, explained Shatihish Rajandran, a house captain from IJC. At his school, he said houses were named after constellations like Aquila and Sagittarius. But at YJC, they were named after areas in the college’s vicinity, like Pierce, Admiralty and Rodney.
“Both sides have very enthusiastic house committees and we had to come together to make decisions,” he said. “We also didn’t want to take our own identity and force-feed it to the JC1s, but rather to come together to form a merged identity they would feel at home with.”
“So instead of coming up with an entirely new name and identity for each of the houses, why not put both the houses together to form a merged house, which we can now call a tribe?”
This meant that Shatihish’s Aquila house would be combined with YJC’s Rodney house to form Roquila. Taurus and Admiralty became Admirus, and Seletar and Sagittarius, Sagitar.
The mascots of the respective houses were also merged, leading to some interesting pairings.
“Admiralty’s mascot is a panther, while Taurus is a bull,” explained Shatihish. “So when the houses came together, we formed a panther with horns.”
“The part of Taurus that IJ wanted to keep was the horns to show the ferocity and passion of a bull, so that got incorporated. Both colleges’ cultures were upheld.”
Merging the mascots and houses of each respective JC made for some interesting pairings. (Photo: Ruyi Wong)
TEACHERS PROUD OF THEIR ‘FAMILY’ OF STUDENTS
But beyond helping the freshmen bond and make friends with each other, getting the student leaders of both colleges to work together and plan the orientation also resulted in some unexpected friendships.
“We first met a few months ago through a bonding session in YJC,” said YJC’s student council president So Ee Cheng. “The IJC student leaders came over, we had food and games and everyone got to eat and mingle with each other.”
As for IJC’s student council president Ang Ying Xuan, the cherry on the cake was a combined school trip in November 2017 to Hong Kong involving student leaders from both schools. She explained that the overseas trip – meant as a learning journey for YJC student leaders to learn about Hong Kong’s system of government – was opened up to their IJC counterparts for the first time as a means to help both sides make friends and plan the upcoming orientation.
“We were very excited to hear about this,” she said. “Overseas trips will always be fun, and we also got to room together, which helped us really get to know each other a lot better.”
Planning for the orientation began proper during this trip, and both student leaders stressed the importance of ensuring an equal number of voices from each school would be heard.
Student council presidents of both JCs So Ee Cheng (left) and Ang Ying Xuan (right) got to know each other better when they were roommates on an overseas learning journey. (Photo: Ruyi Wong)
“We made sure that for every single meeting or discussion that was held, there would be an equal number of representatives from both IJC and YJC,” said Ee Cheng. She added that important issues like the theme of the orientation were discussed in groups, who each presented an idea which was then put to a vote.
The planning process was not without its challenges: Mr Karthikesan admitted to being “a little stressed” at planning for a group that was larger than YJC’s typical JC1 intake of 600-700 students. Manpower and logistics – like organising activities and booking venues across two college campuses instead of one – also had to be sorted out.
The teachers had also made a conscious decision to assign students from the different schools to room with each other during the trip, a decision that another teacher, IJC’s head of character and citizenship education Magdalene Oh, said did not go down well with some students.
“We were worried about it initially because some were not very happy that they were rooming with someone they weren’t so familiar with, instead of their friends from the same JC,” she said. “But by the end of the trip, they had grown so close that some of them even came to thank us for putting them together.”
“We needed them to work together, so if they didn’t get along as roommates, that wouldn’t have been a good start to them working together for orientation,” added Mr Karthikesan. “But I am very proud of my students.
“They have surpassed my expectations.”
As the student leaders gathered at the parade square for a group photo, laughing, chattering and teasing each other good-naturedly, it was clear that planning the orientation did not just benefit the freshmen. And it was a proud, satisfying moment for the teachers who stood on the sidelines watching them with an indulgent smile.
“They’ve become one big family,” said Mrs Oh, as shouts of “Y-I-J-C” rang out from the parade square, prompting passing teachers to stop and take photographs of the group.
“I think we’ve always told them that this was a very rare opportunity,” added Mr Karthikesan. “We would not go through another merger, and we would not go through another situation where we’d have to work so closely with another school to have a combined orientation programme like this one.
“We’re very happy with how it’s turned out.”
