When I studied at Sekolah Sri Tenby, the school enabled me to learn many subjects with deep understanding. Being a student required me to study smart so that I can apply my knowledge in my life. With the help from compassionate and talented teachers, they just made lessons fun and easy to understand with 1001 different methodologies, Biology was one of my favorite subjects!

Another thing that I miss from school is the facilities; they create a comfortable environment for students to learn. The library is so well organized with books for references and the sport hall has a lot of equipment for students to do sports and PE.

The school has given me lots of unforgettable memories such as during Mathematics Week I opened a Business stall to sell bubble milk tea with my team of four. We were having fun making and selling bubble milk tea to students. It was a tiring day but we managed to collect a large amount of money to be donated to a charity house. Another memory was the International Day Celebration, when each class was given a country to represent. On that day, I enjoyed visiting each classs and I was able to learn the cultures and uniqueness of different countries while tasting various foods and enjoying cultural performances from different countries. I am so thankful being part of Sekolah Sri Tenby community where I have learned to be more responsible and organized. These are really important life skills that I shall carry with me to my next educational journey as I pursue a degree in pharmacology.

One thing that I loved the most about my school was how the school always arranged us to build our global citizenship by fundraising. Donations that we raised may not be that high but the students are showing their love into charity which I think is so heartwarming. We are taught to be thoughtful of other who may not be so well off or fortunate as us. The students are also being very supportive towards movements like this. I also love the cultural diversity that Sekolah Sri Tenby has to offer. It widened my contacts globally. I once learnt a bit of Korean language in order to be able to communicate with Korean parents.

Everyone is encouraged to express their identity. We are exposed to the importance of social institutions and social structures. The Annual International Day connects us as a community. I will never forget when my classmates and I worked out on a joke show in conjunction with the National Day Festival in 2017. It was a tough job. Everyone put so much effort into rehearsing each of their lines in order to produce a great drama for the school. We had to balance it out with our studies since we were taking an important exam that year. As a result, we succeed in entertaining the audience whom applauded loudly, which satisfied us.

I will not forget the time a few of my classmates and I were tasked to do some cleaning of the school as a consequence of cheating in a test that we took. That incident disciplined us so much that we did not dare to repeat the same mistake Sekolah Sri Tenby does not only provide us with knowledge but also build one’s self-esteem and values.

I took Scouts for three years straight and had so much fun since Scouts builds leadership and often organises out-of-school expeditions. I also joined the swimming club. Swimming has become my most favourite sport ever since. After joining the chess club, I became a chess expert. I discovered my hidden talent is acting when taking part in Theatre Alive. So not only I learned well academically but also, I gained so many of life skills from Sekolah Sri Tenby. Now that I have graduated, I am pursuing a higher education level in order to become the person that I aspire to be and achieve my career goals.

One of best thing about Tenby Schools is the empowerment of students. Tenby Schools provides platforms to make ideas in students’ minds became reality and throughout the process, there are teachers guiding us patiently. By empowering the students, we built self-confidence, problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, communication skills, just to mention a few. For example, students get to hold events on their own, lead weekly assembly to provide a smooth start of the week and most importantly, students’ voices are valued. As one of the graduates I got important lessons that I can carry with me to my next education journey;

I learnt that it is fine to speak up in front of the public. Assemblies in Tenby Schools provide a chance to every student to speak up through weekly class presentation and it is a great chance to train yourself to speak fluently in front of public.

It is totally fine to nominate yourself to become the leader even though you are not confident enough because as you do so, you are slowly building up your confidence and you will learn to be better throughout the process. In classes, teachers provide group activities and the leader will ensure the progress of the group, this is a great chance for students to learn to communicate with each other.

It is totally fine to make mistakes because through mistakes, we learn what not to do next. In Student Council events, we do make mistakes but teachers teach us to view the mistakes as an opportunity to learn. Even though the mistakes can be costly sometimes, but we as a team, we are taught to learn together and move forward together.

One of my most memorable experience in school is the three days School Council Camp. In the camp, we are all able to unleash our potential and recognise our inner selves through team building activities. Well-equipped school and safe environment are definitely one of the dominant reasons why the camp is a successful one. The camp taught me to trust in your teammates, to make the most use of whatever resources available, to be more independent and most importantly, to build a strong bond between council members.

Personally, I hope to document my life journey into videos and spend more time reading good books. I also hope I will get the chance to explore more in science field and step on a journey to become a teacher.

Instilling a freedom for self-discovery

I have just completed my first year at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in Honolulu, Hawai’i, where I am pursuing a double major in Psychology and Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies. My pathway to choosing these two disciplines was significantly impacted by the flexibility of education in Tenby as we were taught to expose ourselves to a vast variety of fields. This ingrained a sense of independence and self-awareness within me; entering university, I never felt obliged to restrict myself to a rigid agenda or strive solely for a single-dimensional, predestined goal. Tenby gave me the opportunity to expand my intellectual, academic, and professional interests and thus, established my confidence to undertake two disciplines I am now deeply passionate about and thrive in academically.