Overcoming the restrictions on physical social gatherings, USP held their Homecoming session this year on 15 August 2020 virtually over Zoom. It was a 2-part event featuring a mini e-gathering for the Class of 2018 and also a USP-style discussion called “COVID-Time Storytelling”.

The e-gathering allowed the Class of 2018 to catch-up with one another and share how they are coping during such unprecedented times. They also played an online drawing game and collaboratively completed a doodle “art piece” which they dedicated to USP Director and Cinnamon College Master, Associate Professor Kang Hway Chuan.

“COVID-Time Storytelling” is a monthly series initiated by 3 USP alumni, which aims to provide an open space for participants to share about their COVID-related stories and struggles. The August session was held as part of USP’s e-Homecoming 2020 and the storytellers were Galven Lee (History + USP, Class of 2014) and Suanne Chan (English Literature, Class of 2011). Their sharing focused on their design, “A Good Chat For Migrant Workers”, which is a chatbot that aims to help migrant workers seek assistance and access information about the COVID-19 situation easily. Their work was one of the six projects picked for seed funding under the Design for Good initiative by the Design Business Chamber Singapore.

Although our Homecoming has adopted a different format and moved online, it was interesting and fun nonetheless. It was definitely a new experience for our alumni. Most importantly, it gave us the opportunity to catch up with one another and stay connected.

The Office of Alumni Relations (OAR) also featured these events in The AlumNUS magazine (Issue #122 Jul-Sep 2020) - see here for Class of 2018's e-gathering and here for COVID-Time Storytelling.