Named after Pei Ling’s father, the Tin Chew Hong Prize was created to recognise the achievements of graduating students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to community service, preferably in the areas of the elderly, ageing or gerontology. These are causes Pei Ling champions personally and in her work as an MP. She shared that her father fell ill in her third year of university. During that period, she had to support her family and help out in her father’s coffee shop at Ghim Moh while balancing her studies. By naming the prize after her father who has now retired, she wished to honour him as an important figure in her life.

While Pei Ling is more commonly known to us as a political figure in the public eye, Jiayi and I were surprised to learn that we had many shared experiences as USP students. At NUS, Pei Ling pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and was active in USP. When she recalled taking the Writing and Critical Thinking (WCT) module, the familiarity of her recount about how she had found the class challenging made us laugh. She remembered watching the film Paris is Burning for A/P Lo Mun Hou’s module ‘The Problematic Concept of “Gender”,’ which was still being taught. Out of curiosity, I looked up the class syllabus and found that it was still on the reading list. Much less seemed to have changed than we would have thought. The conference room echoed with laughter as we related her experiences to our own, and we felt an affinity with each other as alumni and students.  

“It’s crazy how fast four years went by,” Jiayi reflected when asked how she felt about her graduation. “I’m very thankful for my family, friends, and Professors that supported me throughout my university life! Now that I’ve graduated, I’m also excited to begin a new chapter of my working life and continue contributing to the community.”