Dean of Students, A/P Tan Teck Koon at the first Student Achievement Awards in 2005 held at Munchie Monkeys.

Guest-of-Honour, Prof Bernard Tan, brought the audience through the first Student Achievement Awards (SAA) and Sports Awards held more than a decade ago!

Did you know that the first SAA was held at a NUSSU-run café named Munchie Monkeys and was only attended by no more than 100 students? Only a handful of awards were given out. In this year’s Student Life Awards, a total of 79 recipients were awarded with Merit or Distinction and witnessed by about 600 guests!

Students representing Kent Ridge Volunteers (KRV) after the announcement of the Distinction Award recipients for Community Service Category

#2: Big Dreams, Big Hearts

No time to do good for others? Obviously, that was not an easy excuse for many NUS student organisations. The Community Service category which recognises projects that promoted volunteerism and had a positive impact on others, received the most number of nominees at 29 projects. It was no surprise that this category saw the most number of recipients with ten Merit and five Distinction awards respectively
Guest-of-Honour, Prof Bernard Tan, brought the audience through the first Student Achievement Awards (SAA) and Sports Awards held more than a decade ago!

Distinction Award recipient, Kent Ridge Volunteers (KRV) from Kent Ridge Hall was applauded for their Volunteering Engagements with AWWA LTD. For the first time, KR Hall adopted AWWA as the hall’s beneficiary and planned an all-year round project with AWWA LTD which included mass cleaning projects and workshops for children. These efforts were not possible without the support from over 140 hall residents! When asked what volunteerism meant to them, Project Chairperson - Elmer Loy shared his motto that he lead the team by, “The Heart to Serve”. Elmer believed that one does not need special skills or talents to volunteer. All they need is the heart and commitment that will bring people together and add purpose to their lives. Congrats KR!

Chiew Wenqi inviting her mum on stage to receive the Athlete of the Year Award (Merit)

It was a heartwarming moment to see Chiew Wenqi receiving the Athlete of the Year (Merit) award on stage together with her mother!




In a post that Wenqi shared on her Facebook after the event, the Taekwondo expert showed appreciation not just to her mum, but her Taekwondo team mates too!
*Reproduced with permission from Chiew Wenqi

Mdm Ana Chan, mother of Marina Chan, receiving the Athlete of the Year (Merit) award from Mr Koh Yan Leng, Associate Vice President (Campus Life)

Also receiving an award on behalf of her child, was Mdm Ana Chan. Her daughter, Nur Marina Chan, a swimmer was a recipient of the Athlete of the Year (Merit) award. She is currently on Leave of Absence to train full time in Australia to prepare her qualification for Tokyo Olympics 2020. All the best, Marina! 

We saw the attendance of many parents and family members who were there to celebrate students’ achievements and contributions. Thank you family and friends for your support!

Bryan Choo, recipient of the Leadership Distinction Award is receiving the Community Service (Merit) Award from Prof Bernard Tan on behalf of his club for organising Students 4 Migrants project.

#4: Law Students take Centre Stage

Evidently, student life at Bukit Timah Campus (BTC) is alive and kicking! The Faculty of Law brought back the most number of awards across four categories. 1. Bryan Choo – Leadership (Distinction)
2. Lim Jun Heng – Leadership (Distinction)
3. Students 4 Migrants – Community Service (Merit)
4. Rag & Flag – Community Engagement (Distinction)
5. INTA APAC Moot Court Competition – Competition Non-Sports (Distinction)
6. IASLA Space Law Moot Court Competition – Competition Non-Sports (Distinction)
7. 3rd International Carey Moot Court Competition - Competition Non-Sports (Distinction)

Well done, Law for bringing about a vibrant and meaningful student life to BTC!!

Shawn & Cheryl performing at the first Student Life Awards!

#5: Debut of Shawn & Cheryl

The all-girl acoustic duet Shawn & Cheryl – a pharmacy alumnus and Year 2 History major – stole the hearts of many when they performed their rendition of “This is Me” during the intermission. Their talents shone again when they led the audience hummed to the tune of “NUS Forever”, our closing song for the evening.

Enjoy the emotionally tugging video with Shawn & Cheryl’s live performance here.