Blogger Praises TPJC Friends

During my OBS (Outward Bound Singapore) camp trip in Pulau Ubin late last year, I was assigned to a group made up of students from various Junior Colleges all over Singapore. I could still vividly remember how my teammates were impressed by our college culture. Most of them claimed that in their respective colleges, the students preferred to keep the knowledge to themselves. In other words, they are selfish when it comes to sharing information with their peers.

Things are different here in TPJC. Our library tables are arranged in pairs so that students can revise their work in groups of four. Posters are placed everywhere along the corridors encouraging students to share their knowledge with their friends. In fact, there is even an initiative which appoints students to coach their weaker schoolmates for free. Our TPJC culture is friendly, open and definitely vibrant. We breed leaders who not only cares for themselves, but also for the others around them.

Thus when I came across this blog post, I was really amazed at how much our culture has shaped the people who had experienced it before - our graduates - and how it stayed with them for years after they left college. You may read about it below:

Attended a really really old friend’s wedding last week. I classify this friend as my "TPJC friend" though that’s not really accurate. I was in TPJC during the first 3 months of my JC 1st year. This friend, NSG, was in TJC during the first 3 months. After the ‘O’ level results were out, I transferred to TJC while NSG transferred to TPJC. Coincidentally, NSG was placed in the same class as my ex-TPJC classmates and I also got to know his TJC classmates after I went to TJC. So through these common friends, we became friends too.

I haven’t spoken much to NSG in recent years but I regard him as a very special, old friend. During our JC years, I used to borrow his scanner to scan photos for my personal homepage. Years later, when I was in real estate, he also introduced me to his uncle’s company, of which I closed 1 (or 2) deals with the company. I was touched that he helped made that introduction ‘cos we drifted apart when he was doing his national service and I was in NTU.

In that sense, I really treasure the people I got to know in TPJC. I feel that they are less selfish than some of my classmates in TJC and their sincerity makes me trust them completely. There’s another friend I made during the 3 months in TPJC… though we never met again after we both left TPJC, he knew I was in real estate when I spammed my handphone address book to market my services. 3 years later, though I had left real estate by then, this friend nonetheless contacted me and wanted to buy a flat through me. I was truly touched.

Anyway, I saw 4 TPJC friends I knew during NSG’s wedding last week and we promptly exchanged handphone numbers and facebook contacts. Though I haven’t seen them in the last decade, conversation flowed easily and I was totally at ease with them. It was like I could laugh with all my heart and not have to guard against anything or anyone. It was great.

Source

There you go...=)