Graduation

Time flies.

It has been a week since my commencement ceremony. A week ago, I donned my mortarboard, put on my graduation gown, and went on stage to get an empty scroll from one of the NUS pro-chancellors. Empty, because it is symbolic.

Symbolic, especially since I’ve been working for six months already. Going back to school felt distant, strange, yet familiar. As I told a friend, it’s probably because I had thrown the “student” identity away over the six months in the workplace. The fact that I had “commenced” and moved on from formal education had already set in.

But of course, it was not symbolically represented. And I wanted a memory of a big milestone in my life. So I took leave (along with a 5-day holiday to Krabi with my fiancée) to attend my Commencement, a year later from my batch thanks to the double-degree programme.

Oh yes, the double degree… it was during Commencement that I was reminded again that I had successfully completed this programme. In the Class of 2017 BBA (Accountancy) batch, there were only three of us who finished the double degree programme. Everyone else seemed to have dropped out of the DDP. Interestingly (yet logically enough), there are more people who completed a concurrent degree programme (i.e., one masters and one bachelor’s degree) than a double degree programme.

It’s clearly a sign of not just the troublesomeness of juggling two degrees, but also how impractical having two degrees is, at least in the sense of job hunting for Accountancy graduates. Still, I’m glad I finished the programme with a high-enough CAP for nice Honours in accountancy.

What makes me really happy is that my entire family (including my future wife) was there to witness my (and my sister’s) graduation. I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents who have been there every step of my education journey, from a failed ballot for Nanyang Primary School (which I think is a blessing in disguise), to the PSLE, to an successful appeal to Nan Hua High School (which is a blessing too). Of course, with the tuition in secondary school, the concern over my ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels during my teenage years, and ultimately doing well enough to enter NUS on a scholarship… my parents were there supporting me the whole way — attempts to tutor during primary school, paying for tutors in secondary school, and giving moral and financial support during my JC and uni days. I would not have been where I am without them, and I’m glad that they secured VIP seats (thanks to my award-winning sister) to see us graduate.

I’m also immensely thankful that my grandparents were able to make it for the ceremony. There were many health scares in the past years as my grandparents hit (very) old age, so the fact that my grandparents are able to witness our graduation up front – at the age of 90 and 89 – makes me immensely thankful for their good health. I remember a period in my final semesters where I would go to NUH before and after classes to visit when they were hospitalised. They were slightly amused at the fact that I could pop by because school was so nearby… and I think we have made them very proud to have graduated with great results.

With that simple gesture of going on stage, my formal education has come to a symbolic end. Yet, nothing really changes. The act of learning continues in the workplace. The learning never stops. In fact, after getting used to formal education for decades in Singapore’s highly structured educational pathway, learning to learn “organically” is an interesting experience. The road ends here, and the search for the trail begins.