Academian Rhapsody - I

I've written quite a few articles about campus life in Singapore, however, someone pointed out that I was yet to write about academics.

Well I guess academics is also an important aspect of student life, isn’t it? I write this post specifically for Undergrads. For students who will graduate out of high schools and junior colleges and have the first bite at the exciting university routine.

To get started, let me tell you, these three or four years of your bachelor’s degree might probably be the most exciting, excruciating and enchanting experience ever. Lots of things change once you reach tertiary education. Your lecturers and professors will expect you to be more insightful, analytical and collaborative.
Students are often expected to form academic groups and tackle different aspects of a bigger problem and later integrate their results. Presentations also form an important part of academic life. You are bound to sharpen your soft skills in team work, public speaking and leadership.

The way of writing in high schools and in universities has a drastic difference too. Essay and reports are a student's daily diet. It is not a bad idea to pick up books that improve your writing skills. You can find a lot of resources on the web and libraries that tell you details about the approach to tackle university education in general.

TIPS:
An interesting book for the same is ‘The Art of Studying: from school to university and beyond’ by Mr. Anthony Lee. Mr. Lee was my lecturer for a class in Advanced Programming Skills and has a vast experience in university education. If you like video tutorials, I’d recommend one on essay-referencing. (http://www.usq.edu.au/library/Breeze/Fac_Business/HarvardAGPS/)
It’s a comprehensive guide to reference your essays, projects and reports.

That wraps up our first rhapsody. Stay tuned for more.

Vote Earth

It is'nt news that excessive energy consumption is leading to global warming. We are also aware of the fate that lies ahead of us if we do nothing now.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has taken an inspiring initiative to ignite responsibility among the citizens of earth. The campaign ‘Earth Hour’ has received widespread recognition from a lot of countries since it was pioneered in Australia in 2007.



The idea is to turn off non-essential lights across residences and business units for one hour on the last Saturday of March every year. This Saturday (28th March) a lot of important landmarks will be shedding their power consumption to a bare minimum from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. Centers of commercial importance such as Burj Al Arab in Dubai for instance will be joining the campaign.
Singapore Institute of Management is also participating in the event as part of its CSR. SIM will turn off non-essential lights while adhering to the prevailing safety precautions in Singapore. Read the link to know more: http://www1.sim.edu.sg/sim/pub/edm/Earth20Hour.htm
I shall update the photos of the event when it happens. If you wish to join the Earth Hour initiative, do drop by the Earth Hour homepage: http://www.earthhour.org/home/ You can also show your support by joining the Facebook.com group ‘Earth Hour’ which has over 393,000 members and counting!

Footbolito @ SIM

Sport is an important aspect of student life. Not only is it a great stress buster but it also encourages team bonding and collective strategy.At SIM, sports are given a high impetus. The proof is in the fact that we have at least a dozen sports clubs that I recollect. Clubs range from the usual sports like cricket, soccer, tennis to the not so usual ones like paintball, rock-climbing and kayaking to name a few.

Students at SIM are highly creative and come up the most interesting and innovative ideas for team sports. I reminisce; the three-a-side tennis tournament with a soft ball was amazing fun.Few days back, on 14th March, SIM hosted an open house. It’s when we showcase our courses and student life to aspiring SIM applicants. The same day, SIM also hosted a ‘footbolito extravaganza’.

There were two formats of the sport. One was the famed foosball table (from Archie’s Comics). This game isn’t as easy as it looks. People often end up looking silly.The other format was more creative. It was called ‘Human Foosball’. Well doesn’t need a rocket scientist to figure that one out, we replace plastic toys with humans in a life sized arena. Look for more pictures on my Flickr profile.

We tried our skill at the ‘human’ version of the game with our star team ‘Forsythe Pendleton’ named after the famous Jughead from Archie’s Comics. We lost both our bouts 3-5 and 4-5 but had a gala time. I got blamed for trying to be a ‘gentleman’ while tackling with the girl in front of me, well what can I say! ..lol
Click here for pictures

Business Channel Interview

A reputed business channel is interviewing our univ tomorrow. Im one of the students being interviewed. Will try to get some stills from there.

A Starry Night

As the President of the IT Club at SIM, I'm committee member of the Singapore Computer Society’s Student Chapter. It is a great platform for IT students to network with the industry leaders and participate in IT related events round the year.



We have a wide range of events ranging from sports, get-aways to even cool coding competitions. The SCS is a great resource hub for IT students and professionals in Singapore Click to see

Last Friday (27th Feb) I was invited to an SCS extravaganza- SCS Gala Dinner & IT Leader Awards 2009. The event was held to congregate the members of SCS to honor the achievements of IT leaders and innovators in Singapore. Students, corporate individuals and professors alike cheered on as awards were presented to the best innovative students, professionals, companies and also included an award for life time achievement.

The Ritz Carlton ballroom came to life with à la Broadway performances by The Lindy Hop Ensemble Click to see


Events such as these are a great opportunity to network with students from various universities and industry stalwarts.