Take 5 – 15 August 2016 by Mr Keith Lim

Good morning Mdm Tan, Mr Lee, colleagues and GESSians. I am sure that everyone here has goals and dreams that we would like to achieve. However, obstacles and difficulties are part of the life journey. Many of us might not persevere till we reach these goals and dreams. This week marks the start of the Prelim 2 examination for the graduating students. Secondary one to three students are a few weeks away from the End-of-Year exams as well. Some of you may have some difficulties in your revision and feel like giving up. You wish that you can find the motivation and momentum to continue your revision and to strive for better results. Today, I would like to share with you three steps to enable you to persevere through tough times using success stories of GESSians who have graduated.

Step 1. Please write down “Believe as you prepare.” You cannot live a life of success and happiness with a negative mind set. Sun Tzu wrote this statement in the Art of War, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and wish that they can win.” He was trying to say that in order to win the battle in the field, you must first win the battle in your mind and prepare well. As you are busy preparing in your revision, you might have developed negativity in your mind. In the year 2014, Yi Ying of class 3G was failing Biology. Despite having spending hours studying for tests and exams, she had trouble answering questions accurately in timed condition. When I first taught her, she did not have confidence in passing Biology. However, she began to have a change of mind set and started to see that her poor grades were just an indication of her progress and were not her destiny. She learnt to believe that she can improve as long as she put in effort. She took her O-Levels in 2015 and obtained a B3 for Biology.

Step 2. Please write down “Plan success in stages.” Our parents and teachers have taught us that there is no instant success in life and we have to achieve success step by step. Pokemon Go is an overnight global success that seemed to appear out of nowhere. John Hank, the founder of the company that created Pokemon Go, had a vision of augmented reality games 20 years ago. He was instrumental in the development of technological advances, which include 3D mapping of streets, joining maps into one continuous map, Google Map, Google Earth and Street View.

These are the technological advances that enabled Pokemon Go to be developed. You can also attain success as an individual, similar to the next GESSian whom I am going to talk about. In year 2014, Jia Le of class 4F failed his Chemistry Prelim 1 exam. Instead of giving up on the subject, he set realistic goals and planned his June holiday revision well. He achieved B4 in his Chemistry during the Prelim 2 examination and ultimately A2 in O-Level. He shared with me that while he tried not to be over-ambitious about his goals, he gave himself an appropriate amount of challenge in his goals such that he was able to reach his ultimate dream of a distinction in Chemistry.

Step 3. Please write down “Stay on course till you succeed”. I believe all of you are proud of Joseph Schooling, who obtained the Singapore’s first Olympiad gold medal. He met his idol, Michael Phelps, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics and got his autograph. He would later beat Phelps in the 100 metres butterfly in an Olympic record time at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He had been training hard these 8 years and had won awards in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. I would also like to share the story of Chin Hock, who is a senior GESSian and member of the Boys’ Brigade and is currently serving as an officer in the Boys’ Brigade 50th Company. He started off in Normal Technical stream and was transferred to Normal Academic stream. He did well for his O Levels in 2011 and entered a polytechnic course. After serving his National Service, he is now taking a degree in Product Design at LaSalle College of the Arts. He shared that the dream of having quality education was always in his mind and it motivated him to persevere through his secondary school years.

These three GESSians have humble beginnings, just like many of you. They achieved success with resilience and have shown us that one’s potential is not limited by one’s current level of achievement. As long as you believe as you prepare, plan success in stages, and stay on course till you succeed, you will achieve your goals and dream in the end. I hereby give you my best wishes for your revision. Onward!