President 20/21: Liang Yng

Not expecting myself to become the President of Studio Ardent, my journey here in SA has been far from what I envisioned it to be exactly a year ago. With my limited technical abilities and experience in a multi-media CCA, I felt inferior and small when it came to ExCo elections. I am glad that with the support of my peers and encouragement from my teachers, I am where I am today, serving the school and the CCA, working hard to do what is best for SA. When I first stepped up, I had an ideal in mind, I was certain that my ExCo will be wholesome and that everyone will be engaged 24/7 working equally as hard to push out initiatives. It was not long after that I realised it was not as easy as it seemed. Stuck in the confines of our rooms during the Circuit Breaker period, our meetings were held online over Discord and as expected from 10 individuals who were not familiar with one another, the calls were silent and conversations stood still. It was an inevitable situation and only time will help bond us together. Therefore, I shifted my gears and focused more on the planning and execution of our initiatives as opposed to worrying about the dynamics of my ExCo.

My goals and aspirations for the ExCo were simple, I wanted to make sure that SA members remain engaged despite the pandemic and hence I have always believed that we should prioritise creating opportunities for our CCA. This came in many forms, some of which were more novel than others. For the first time in the history of Studio Ardent, we successfully rolled out initiatives such as Bootcamp 2020 and 2021, Hwa Chong Studio Symposium and Ardent Gives Back. In addition to that, we were able to impart our knowledge and skills to the student population with workshops held during the Festival of Sports and Arts and the CCA ExCo workshop titled “Framing Life Through A Lens”. These events provided the avenue for our members to develop soft skills, learning to work together and present themselves in front of others. Although we could have adapted to the situation differently, I am proud to see how far we have come as a CCA to remain relevant in such trying times.

For me, the most challenging part of being the President is learning how to balance my commitments and adjust my expectations. Academics has never been my strong suit and it is something I struggle to keep up with even up till today. What made it even more difficult for me was the external commitments I had to juggle with while serving as President. The start of the year was undoubtedly the most physically and mentally draining period of time. I had to serve my responsibilities as the Outreach Secretary of CCA Council to help publicise CCA recruitment posts on @hcccas, prepare for my handbells concert, interview over 90 C1 students who were keen on joining Studio Ardent, ensure the smooth running of open sessions, guide the planning of Focus5 events, carry out orientation duties to my best abilities and at the same time manage academic demands. As someone who values the experiences gained through journeying to the final destination, I instinctively adjusted my academic expectations knowing that the test results I would receive were temporary testaments to my academic abilities and that everything else would mean so much more. Thanks to the help of my ExCo members, I was able to persevere through this tough period of time :D Surprisingly, this was when I began to feel content with myself and rejuvenated to do more for SA.

To the future batches of SA members, I hope that you will continue to love what you do and put in your best effort in your duties or productions. I am sure the batch of 2020-2021 would be extremely jealous of the physical opportunities presented to you so make sure you hold on tight to them. To the future batches of SA ExCo members, I hope that you will, too, step down knowing that you have left an impact and leave the CCA with no regrets.

Signing off,

Liang Yng

President of Studio Ardent 20/21