Profile

Ms. Tay

Currently at the National Institute of Education, pursuing my Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) as part of my initial teacher preparation to serve in Singapore schools.

Year of Intake: Dec 2018

Before this, I graduated in 2017 from Imperial College London with a BSc in Biological Sciences. In my schooling years, I was at Dunman High School (2008 - 2012) and Temasek Primary School (2004 - 2007).

My formal education played a huge role in shaping who I am today. Studying abroad had taught me independence, being a self-directed learner who seizes opportunities, the importance of inclusivity, a tight social fabric and multiculturalism. My time in Dunman High School was also imperative in shaping my character, values and outlook. I place equal emphasis on both my academics and co-curricular and external activities, both being important avenues for me to learn and grow.

Learn more about my achievements and experiences in the following sections on Academics and Curricular Activities.

Academics

Post-graduate

2018-2020: Post-Graduate Diploma in Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Specialised in the teaching of Biology (Curriculum Subject 1) and Lower Secondary Mathematics (Curriculum Subject 2) at secondary school level.
Served as Group Facilitator for the Group Endeavours in Service Learning (GESL) project, facilitating a team of 17 student teachers' learning journey as we implemented a service learning project that aimed at engaging migrant workers enrolled in SDI Academy.
Undertook coursework in various aspects of pedagogical practices, classroom management, parental engagement, educational psychology, pedagogical content knowledge as well as designing effective discipline-specific lessons.

Undergraduate

2015 - 2018: BSc in Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Graduated with a First Class Honours and awarded the Murray Prize in Physiology for excellence in my Physiology modules and final year dissertation.
Awarded Dean's List placement (top 10%) for overall academic results in all three years of undergraduate studies.
Final year dissertation titled "Neuro-immune interactions at barrier surfaces", supervised by Dr. Murray E. Selkirk
Nominated and selected to represent Imperial College London as one of the 70 scientists at Roche Continents 2017, an interdisciplinary week-long programme that sought to challenge the boundaries of Arts and Science
Attained a First Class grade for a tutored dissertation on the dichotomy of stochasticity and determinism in cell fate in the second year of study.
Undertook coursework in African ecology, biodiversity and conservation ecology, behavioural ecology, bacterial physiology, neuroscience, parasitology

2014 - 2015: Student, Life Sciences and the University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Achieved a GPA of 4.58 in my first semester at NUS from August 2014 to December 2014.
Was active in the University Scholars Programme (USP), a selective honours programme that enrols the top 3% of each NUS cohort. Undertook the Writing and Critical Thinking (WCT) module titled Narratives in Everyday Life under A/P Peter Vail.
Modules: Narratives in Everyday Life, Level 1 Thai, Introduction to Social Work, Biodiversity, General Physiology and Chemistry for Life Sciences

Pre-tertiary and more

2012 - 2013: Pre-University Student, Dunman High School (Senior High Section), Singapore

Read Biology, Chemistry, Geography and Mathematics at H2 level, with General Paper and Project Work at H1 level, attaining 6 Distinctions in total.
Also read H3 NTU-MOE Science Research in conjunction with the Nanyang Research Programme, working on amorphous drug formulation as a bioavailability enhancement strategy under A/P Cheow Wean Sin and A/P Kunn Hadinoto Ong and achieved a Merit.
Attained the Edusave Certificate for Academic Achievement in 2012.

2008 - 2011: Integrated Programme Student, Dunman High School (Junior High Section), Singapore

Offered the triple sciences, geography and higher mother tongue for my subject combination.
Achieved Silver in the Science Mentorship Programme for a research project regarding the evolution of bacterial resistance in the presence of hospital antibacterial agents supervised by Mr. Jeffrey Lee of Genecet Biotechnologies Pte Ltd.
Attained the Edusave Certificate for Academic Achievement in 2011 .

Curricular Activities

I often identify as a jack of all trades, master of self. I have many diverse interests and I enjoy pursuing them all!These range from the performing arts, languages, sports, handicrafts, exploring nature to helping and serving the community. Nevertheless, a common strand weaves between the long standing activities of my life - dance, volunteering and service leadership. They are activities of the heart where I give and end up receiving much more.

Dance

Throughout my years in Dunman High, I was a member of the International Dance team. We participated in the Singapore Youth Festival and obtained Silver (2009, 2011). We also held our own concerts every year at our Performing Arts Centre as part of the school's efforts to recognize each performing arts group. It was here that I met and made my closest friends and we still meet up regularly till today! In the Senior High section of the International Dance group, I got to train under Justis Tan who was an inspirational dance instructor and formed TMVMT, our alumni dance crew who regularly meet to train.

In 2012 and 2015, I had the privilege of performing for Chingay and the SEA Games Opening Ceremony respectively as part of the Singapore Soka Association contingent. These were my first few exposures to performing on a large scale stage for an audience of more than 50,000 and representing my country to the world.

During my brief time in NUS, I was an active member of NUS Dance Blast. I performed for the NUS Centre for the Arts' HERE! Arts Carnival Show in 2014 and our bi-annual concert Blast! Out of Bounce in 2015.

At Imperial College London, I joined the Imperial Urban Dance Society. After intense rounds of auditions, I was selected to be in the Advanced Crew where we competed across United Kingdom in dance competitions. One of my produest achievements was when we clinched 1st in the largest UK university dance competition in Loughborough in 2017, having won 4th place the previous year. I was also elected the Secretary of the society in 2016 where I overhauled the previous email system and introduced a new and efficient system for communicating to and engaging the society using email and social media. I also managed the society's events in the year by organising special workshops and weekly classes.

Finally, I served as the Dance Director for Imperial Singapore Society's annual musical production. Along with my co-director, we conceptualised the creative aspects and successfully staged a musical about Singapore and the Getai scene, involving more than 100 Singaporean students in Imperial College London. We also led a team of 30 beginner dancers in achieving the artistic vision of the musical and alongside 5 other choreographers, introduced the art form and taught them new skills.

Currently, I am back in Singapore and I have been actively taking open classes in the community. Recently, I auditioned for the O School Recital 2020 and have been busy preparing for our performance in January 2020. Our performance "O-lympics 2020" took place at Tampines Hub on the 18 and 19 January. It tells the story of how at the end of it all, the community is most important.

Leadership

My first leadership opportunity was given to me because a teacher believed in me. I was nominated to join the Student Council in Year 2 which was an uncommon practice. As a Student Councilor, I was involved in planning events such as Sports Day 2010 and Youth Day 2010, the latter being the beginning of an important turning point in my life. Due to the negligence of my Assistant I/C at that time, I took the initiative to take up more responsibilities in the committee and together with my I/C, we executed a revolutionary Youth Day event for our school at that time with the DHS Youth Montage. My then teacher-in-charge Ms Ng then encouraged me to run for the Executive Committee later on despite the fact that applications were already over. I did, and after a few rounds of interviews, I was elected to be the Head of Internal Affairs.

In my capacity as the Head of Internal Affairs in the Executive Committee of the Junior High Student Council, I initiated several improvements such as in Administrative areas to enhance the operations of the Student Council. My team and I crafted the Standard Operating Procedures for important areas such as Resource Management, Blazer Loaning and Administrative Documentation which have proved useful as they have been passed down through the generations. During my term, I also emphasised much on the welfare of Student Councillors, planning events for Student Councillors to bond, learn and rejuvenate, as well as giving words and gifts of encouragements.

In the Senior High Student Council (SHSC), I was part of the organising committee for the 2013 Senior High Orientation, chairing the committee for Ceremonies and I was the overall I/C for planning Teachers' Day 2012. As a member of the Corporate Relations Department, we collaboratively pioneered our very own department event - Councils' Converge, which served to provide a platform for Junior College and IP Schools’ Student Councils to come together to share, learn and understand one another’s Council structure, functions and initiatives. This was a legacy we left behind and till this day, Councils' Converge has become a biannual SHSC event.

Outside of SHSC, I was also Head of Public Relations and Support for the Dunman High Leadership Symposium in 2012 where we expanded from being a small-scale school-wide event to an international one, inviting our friends from Hong Kong as well as other East Zone schools. This also set the precedence for future leadership symposiums in the future where external schools were invited and a symposium challenge that involved communicating, collaborating, critical thinking and innovating within a controlled environment was implemented.

Although I was not an EXCO member in SHSC, I was still awarded the Dunman High School Service Award in 2013 and 2011. On top of that, I was awarded the Edusave Award for Achievement, Good Leadership and Service (EAGLES) in 2012 and 2011, as well as the Certificate of Commendation for MOE Edusave Character Award in 2012.

During my brief year at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) University Scholars Programme, I was elected as the Vice-President of Community Life. There, I oversaw the development of the University Scholars Club’s community and culture. I led the Community Life Committee, a team of 5 that managed the planning and execution of all community life events encompassing sports, social-cultural, community service and academic aspects of university life. We also initiated events to increase connection between faculty and students in USP and support inclusivity such as More Chatter. We refined the execution of support systems for interest groups and increased publicity and participation of interest groups in the community. As we were the pioneer batch for the new system of Ground Up Initiatives, we had to strategize the procedures, implement the concept of Ground Up Initiatives and obtain buy-in from the community so that there would be more organic community events. Finally, I also collaborated with other residential colleges for events such as Inter-College Games and the Utown Blood Drive.

Volunteer Work

There are many disadvantaged groups in society and I often feel strongly for their suffering, perhaps as a reflection of my own that I had yet been able to grapple with. I am of the opinion that as people who "have more", we should be giving what we have to these members of society, in whatever capacity we are able to.

During my Junior College years, I volunteered as a befriender with Lions' Befriender Programme (2012), visiting the lonely elderly in Dakota weekly to provide psycho-emotional support. I also volunteered weekly with kidsREAD to be a volunteer reader for children from low-income families. Perhaps, this was also where I solidified my belief in my ability to connect with children and help them learn.

In 2014, I embarked on my gap year and volunteered as a journalist in Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and wrote articles to spread awareness on migrant workers in Singapore. During my 6 months stint, I spoke to migrant workers at the Cuff Road Project who were those that either have a salary dispute with their employer or are injured and awaiting treatment or compensation. I learnt of their stories, their struggles and hopes that led them to Singapore and their dreams of the future. It was heartbreaking as I saw the parallels of their wishes for a better life for their family with that of my mother's, yet the circumstances and systemic oppression had caused much more suffering for them. This experience, coupled with my initial research on migrant workers during Project Work (JC1) was probably the first wave of my interest in migration, its reasons and effects on people.

You can read my articles here:

As my gap year followed my 6 months YFA Internship at Pathlight and with the desire to continue serving the community of children with special needs, I also volunteered with Very Special Arts Singapore as an assistant dance teacher for holiday workshops and Riding for Disabled as a sidewalker to support riders during the animal therapy programme. These experiences solidified my belief that every child has an infinite potential and has an innate desire to learn and grow.

In 2015, I moved across the oceans to study in London, United Kingdom but that did not stop me from volunteering. In fact, it made me even more curious and primed to serve the community in light of the refugee crisis. Between 2015 - 2016 as I was settling into the first year of university, I volunteered at the Nottinghill Community Church Dinner Club biweekly, serving free dinner to the homeless. Homelessness was a visible and apparent sight in London, something I had not experienced in Singapore and I wanted to know the reasons why it had happened and how I could help. In my second and third year, I then volunteered with the Imperial Soup Run Society where we distributed food weekly to the homeless in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Here, I made many friends with the homeless in London and learnt of the systemic and relationship lapses that had caused them to be in these situations. At the same time, I also made many migrant friends and it was during this period that the refugee crisis was at its peak, Brexit was impending and xenophobic feelings reigned high.

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."

Thus, as I reflected on my experiences, I realised that I did not want my gradtrip to be one big self-fulfilling experience. Instead, I was living in Europe, so near to the refugee crisis and I wanted to use my skills and contribute to making someone else's lives much better, and throw myself into the deep end to learn about the refugee crisis. Hence, after over a month of planning and emailing, I bought a ticket to Thessaloniki, Greece to volunteer with Lifting Hands International in Serres, Greece for a month. I volunteered 9am - 7pm daily in a refugee camp, teaching dance to teens and children, conducting fitness classes for adults and helping out in the library. and warehouse. My beneficiaries were the lovely Yazidi people who had been displaced because of ISIS attacks. My experiences in Serres taught me so much, that where we are right now in life has so much to do with time and place, with luck and so little to do with ourselves, that in the face of adversity, we can and must be strong, choose hope and still be kind to others.

Languages

I have always been interested in languages as I find that it offers a sense of the past, both culturally and linguistically. I was not contented with only being proficient in Mandarin and English (thanks to my bilingual education in Dunman High) and hoped to become a polyglot some day. As part of my growing interest in South East Asia, I decided to take up Level 1 Thai when I was in NUS and had an enjoyable time learning from my Aacaan (teacher in Thai). When I was in Imperial, I decided to take up Level 1 Italian, to fulfil a dream from my younger days when I read Eat, Pray, Love for the first time and was enthralled by the language. I managed to attain merit for both modules and currently have basic proficiency in both languages.

My goal in 2019 was to learn Malay as I felt that I wanted to better connect with my students and furthermore, Malay is the national language of Singapore! Therefore, I am currently taking Malay language lessons at Feng Shan CC. I am thankful that my Encik always adds anecdotes about Singapore's history such as how common geographical areas are actually named with Malay words and the meaning behind it!

Other Interests

I enjoy reading, playing sports, hiking, and doing handicrafts! In my spare time, I go on guided walks in Singapore's nature parks or beach clean ups.

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