Scholarships for 3 who rise above disabilities

DESPITE being wheelchair- bound from cerebral palsy, Mr Adrian Tan, 22, worked to support himself during his polytechnic days.

And he did well enough to get a place in the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he will study computing from next month.

He is one of three recipients of the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities, awarded to local undergraduates who have physical or mental disabilities.

The scholarship, launched in partnership with the National Council for Social Service last year, gives each recipient $11,000 a year, which covers tuition fees and an allowance.

The others who received this year's scholarship are Mr Elvin Koh, 20, who is hearing- impaired; and Mr Alex Chan, 23, who is deaf in his right ear.

The three were selected based on their academic record, involvement in community work and positive attitude.

For example, simple tasks like commuting to work and school and even opening doors are difficult for Mr Tan, whose condition has also left his speech slightly slurred. But he did not let this stop him from graduating from Nanyang Polytechnic with a diploma in business informatics, or from working in a maid agency.

He started working there in 2005 to reduce the financial burden on his mother and elder sister after his father, who had owned the agency, died that year.

'Everything is a challenge for me, but you don't have to be a genius to succeed,' said Mr Tan, who hopes to become a software developer.

Similarly, Mr Koh, who will begin his second year in life sciences at NUS next month, has not let his disability impede his passion for biology.

He is part of a team that makes monthly treks to Pulau Semakau to collect samples for biodiversity research, which will help in the conservation of the island's species and their habitat. This volunteer project is carried out by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

'It is my aspiration to be a top- notch researcher,' said Mr Koh, who hopes to pursue postgraduate studies in life sciences and molecular biology.

Mr Chan, who will start his third year in business management and accountancy at the Singapore Management University, has completed three full marathons and five half- marathons since 2004.

He has also volunteered on overseas community service trips, and will be in Indonesia to build homes for the needy this December. Mr Chan, who hopes to do research in social entrepreneurship, said: 'I'm trying to live life to the fullest. A disability doesn't have to be a disability unless you think of it as one.'

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Scholarships for 3 who rise above disabilities

DESPITE being wheelchair-bound from cerebral palsy, Mr Adrian Tan, 22, worked to support himself during his polytechnic days.

And he did well enough to get a place in the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he will study computing from next month.

He is one of three recipients of the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities, awarded to local undergraduates who have physical or mental disabilities.

The scholarship, launched in partnership with the National Council for Social Service last year, gives each recipient $11,000 a year, which covers tuition fees and an allowance.

The others who received this year's scholarship are Mr Elvin Koh, 20, who is hearing-impaired; and Mr Alex Chan, 23, who is deaf in his right ear.

The three were selected based on their academic record, involvement in community work and positive attitude.

For example, simple tasks like commuting to work and school and even opening doors are difficult for Mr Tan, whose condition has also left his speech slightly slurred. But he did not let this stop him from graduating from Nanyang Polytechnic with a diploma in business informatics, or from working in a maid agency.

He started working there in 2005 to reduce the financial burden on his mother and elder sister after his father, who had owned the agency, died that year.

'Everything is a challenge for me, but you don't have to be a genius to succeed,' said Mr Tan, who hopes to become a software developer.

Similarly, Mr Koh, who will begin his second year in life sciences at NUS next month, has not let his disability impede his passion for biology.

He is part of a team that makes monthly treks to Pulau Semakau to collect samples for biodiversity research, which will help in the conservation of the island's species and their habitat. This volunteer project is carried out by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

'It is my aspiration to be a top-notch researcher,' said Mr Koh, who hopes to pursue postgraduate studies in life sciences and molecular biology.

Mr Chan, who will start his third year in business management and accountancy at the Singapore Management University, has completed three full marathons and five half-marathons since 2004.

He has also volunteered on overseas community service trips, and will be in Indonesia to build homes for the needy this December. Mr Chan, who hopes to do research in social entrepreneurship, said: 'I'm trying to live life to the fullest. A disability doesn't have to be a disability unless you think of it as one.'

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SP tops social enterprise award

MAKING life better for families in a village in Batam is one of the ways by which students from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) are making a difference to the lives of the less fortunate.

Following their efforts, the village on the Indonesian island now has a fresh source of income - a fish farm converted from an abandoned sandpit.

Annual household income for each of the 11 families in Mata Ikan involved in the project is expected to go up by 57 per cent, from 10.9 million rupiah (S$1,580) to 17 million rupiah from September last year to September this year.

Finding a new use for the pit has also stopped it from being a breeding ground for mosquitoes and reduced the risk of villagers getting dengue fever or malaria.

This was one of SP's community projects which helped it clinch the top spot in the Students in Free Enterprise (Sife) national competition last month.

At the annual competition, teams from tertiary institutions here outline community projects they have initiated and are judged by the impact of their work.

There are Sife groups at three universities and four polytechnics in Singapore. SP's group has 437 students from different disciplines involved in a total of 14 local and overseas projects.

Final-year environmental management and water technology student Lim Renhui, 18, is among those involved in the Batam project.

He said that a few members of his group had done a site visit earlier and brought back photos but it was hard for the rest to visualise the actual situation.

'The sandpit was quite big - about the size of two to three football fields - and deep, which we couldn't tell from the photos. The ground was also not as strong as we thought,' he said.

This meant they had to tweak plans by building a floating bridge across the sandpit instead of an anchored bridge.

At this year's competition, the polytechnic also presented two other community projects.

At one project in the town of Concepcion in the Philippines, 25 Sife team members taught 28 women the art of making kaya, or coconut jam. These women will in turn pass on the recipe to 400 others in the area.

Since 2004, more than 200 students have also helped in the replanting of mangrove saplings along the coastline to increase the catch for about 7,000 fishermen.

SP's third Sife initiative was a competition for secondary school students to come up with innovative business ideas which they then had to present to a panel of judges. About 4,300 students have participated in this project since its launch in 2004.

The SP team will represent Singapore in the international leg of the competition in Berlin in October and compete with 40 other teams.

The pressure is on after SP's seniors came fourth at last year's Sife World Cup - the highest ranking attained by a Singapore team.

But Mohamed Abbas Sheyed Ebramsa, 18, a final-year banking &finance and applied business psychology student who will go to Germany to co-present the projects, said the real success is helping others: 'It's not just about winning. It's about impacting lives. Even if we lose, we will still continue with the projects.'

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NUS camp cut short after two get H1N1

MORE student activities have been affected by the spread of the H1N1 virus.

Yesterday, it came to light that a National University of Singapore (NUS) orientation camp for new students had to be cut short after two students tested positive for the H1N1 virus.

The camp, attended by 200 participants from the School of Design and Environment, began on Monday and was due to end yesterday, but most students were sent home on Wednesday night, after being confined to a hostel for most of the day.

Others who ran a fever or showed flu-like symptoms were taken for tests.

So far, seven students from NUS, including four on foreign exchange, have come down with the flu.

Two have since recovered.

Meanwhile, more students from Republic Polytechnic were ordered to stay away yesterday.

On Wednesday, the poly had ordered some 4,500 students - its entire first-year cohort - and 16 teachers to stay away.

Yesterday afternoon, about 100 second-year hotel and hospitality management course students and 19 teachers were asked to stay away from school.

The poly said that as of yesterday, 18 students have tested positive for the H1N1 virus.

Elsewhere, more cases - both confirmed and suspected - continue to emerge.

At Ngee Ann Polytechnic, one student has been hospitalised with the flu.

He had gone to the Butter Factory last Wednesday and was admitted on Tuesday.

Ngee Ann Poly said close contacts have been advised to stay at home and monitor their health.

The poly is currently on a two- week break, and classes will resume on Monday, as scheduled.

A Temasek Polytechnic student was also diagnosed with H1N1 during the school holidays. He is currently on medical leave.

Institutions of higher learning The Straits Times spoke to said contingency plans have been put in place in case a student or staff member falls ill with the flu.

Nanyang Polytechnic, for example, will conduct classes via the Internet when school reopens next week, although it has no confirmed cases.

Its spokesman said this exercise, which will last a week - is to test the polytechnic's ability to function if the flu situation worsens.

At Republic Poly, which has seen the widest disruption to classes so far among all schools, several students expressed worry about their health.

Said one second-year student in the aerospace course: 'It doesn't make sense to ask only the year- ones to stay away.

'The infected person would have have walked around the polytechnic, and we should just close down for a week and sterilise the surroundings.'

The students said they preferred to learn via the school's e-portal, which they termed 'part of everyday life'.

One student, meanwhile said he had trouble getting to school yesterday.

The 19-year-old second-year on the hospitality course, who did not want to be named, said: 'This morning, I was rejected by two cabs.

'Both flatly refused to take me once I told them I want to go to RP.

'The third cab dropped me off at the traffic light and refused to go into the school! I can't believe it!'

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Reaping benefits from tech projects

SOME day, people may be able to operate their computers by gesturing with both hands before their computer screens, as Tom Cruise's character does in the science fiction movie Minority Report.

Working with a mouse, the cause of repetitive stress injuries for some people, could be history.

Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) lecturer Jason Chan, 32, already has a prototype for this alternative to the mouse, and is looking to try it out with patients in hospitals and physiotherapy centres.

Nanyang and other polytechnics are coming up with more such technology projects. Some products, such as Singapore Polytechnic's purple gold used in Lee Hwa jewellery, and its Pokka drinks, Lemonsi Delight and Elderflower Tea, are commercial successes.

Singapore's five polytechnics, set up to train students in mid-level professional and technical skills, typically put their students through internships with companies, but lately, they have also produced marketable products and services.

Support for this push has come from a year-old Ministry of Education fund called the Innovation Fund, which can disburse up to $10 million each year.

It has bankrolled 16 projects, among which are two by Republic Polytechnic - one to design an ergonomic backpack, and the other, a system to milk energy from food and fuel-oil wastes.

Schools like Republic Polytechnic and NYP have even set up 'technology-transfer' offices to oversee their tie-ups with industry.

NYP's Centre for Technology Innovation and Commercialisation was set up last August, when innovations by its various schools started earning patents.

Commercialising a product can earn a school royalties. For instance, the royalties Singapore Polytechnic now receives from its Elderflower Tea goes into a fund for needy students; Pokka is also funding a $2,000 scholarship each year for the next five years.

Financial gains aside, the polytechnics' close ties with industry and the market also benefit the students academically and otherwise.

Dr Valdew Singh, who heads NYP's Centre for Technology Innovation and Commercialisation, said: 'Since the projects we work on with companies are cutting-edge, the skills students develop are also cutting-edge.'

Industry-linked pro- jects also give students real world manufacturing and business experience. In coming up with a fat- and sugar-free dessert called Koolwerkz, Temasek Polytechnic students picked up the rudiments of running the factory that made it.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic biomedical science student Aishah Mohamed Rashid, 20, whose final-year project is being tested for commercial use, said the experience 'has surely added value to my CV'.

Early this year, she and her classmate Nurul Dinah Kadir found a way to speed up detection of the genes that make some urinary tract infections resistant to antibiotics.

Their screening method, which makes it possible for treatment of the infection to begin in three hours instead of three days, is being tested at Singapore General Hospital and Changi General Hospital.

Some polytechnics do not see the need to rush to file for patents on their innovations because it is an expensive and complicated process, said Mr Warren Wang, director of Republic Polytechnic's technology development office.

Patents do not, in any case, guarantee success in the market.

Mr Wang said that even if a project is not picked up by a company, the effort that went into it is not wasted.

'Even failure is something to learn from. At least the learning is done, so we don't see it as a waste.'

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