What I Really Think Of TPJC...

Written by Siti Sarah Bte Daud (09A02).

Tampines Junior College was my dream destination after the 'O' Levels ended, ever since I have made up my mind over the age-old debate of Poly vs JC. Why? I don't really know. I'm not a stellar student. My grades are perfectly average. I'm not good enough for the higher end JCs but not that bad either. Besides, TPJC has a pretty good Arts Course, and the Theatre Studies and Drama subject were a part of the attraction.

As of now, I have been in the school for a good two weeks or so and there are a couple of things that have already made an impression on me.

Firstly, what is up with the school's perfect symmetry? Block B and Block E are both painted yellow. They have the exact same architecture. They both have patches of grass right in the centre of the building, surrounded by brown benches. There is nothing to tell them apart from each other.

I felt like a headless chicken half the time I spent in school in the first week. I remembered once, when I had to leave halfway due to a TSD audition during a History lecture in LT2. I ran across the school campus to get to the Black Box, got completely lost, and ended up back outside LT2. When I finally found the Black Box, heavily panting and disoriented, the TSD teacher asked if I was this flustered all the time. I told her that it was due to the school having completely identical blocks and that I couldn't find my way around all the time. The resounding chorus of agreement from the TSD J2s was, if anything, comforting. At least I wasn't the only one losing my head over the layout of the $18.2 million* school.

However, this becomes a minor blip in my existence as a TPJCian because there are a lot of other things about TPJC that I really love. One example is none other than the college song. After a disastrous attempt to teach a less than enthusiastic cohort of J1s the TPJC school song, I went online and Youtube-d the College Video to learn the song by myself. Before long, I found myself suffering from major earworms for the next week or so. I don't know – there is something about the melody and the lyrics that made the song stuck in my head for a really long time. Ask my friends; they heard nothing from me except the school song for quite some time.

Plus, the first eleven words (which is only what most TPJCians can remember of the school song), 'Proud are we to be a part of Tampines Junior College...' struck a chord in me because that particular moment really reminded me that I was actually here, as a part of TPJC.

However, the thing I love the most about the school is the people. From what I've noticed, the regular TPJCian is heady, lively and a little offbeat. A lot of the TPJCians that I have met are very friendly. One good instance is the first two people I met when I stepped into TPJC. In the first week of our orientation, I recalled with fondness my OGLs, Jie Ying and Shahrin (OGLs for OG 18), and their lively antics in attempts to make us feel more comfortable in and familiar with TPJC. They brought us around the school, shared inside secrets and dished the dirt on canteen food. Furthermore, they weren't friendly only during the orientation period. I still do encounter them in the hallways and they always have a smile, a wave, or a piece of friendly advice to share.

But why do I say TPJCians are a little offbeat, you ask? Well, check out this video:



All in all, I feel really blessed to be here and be part of the TPJC family and I'm looking forward to my two years here! (:

Now if only, they printed pocket maps for all new J1s..

*according to Wikipedia