Mr George Tan belonged to the second batch of students in Hwa Chong Junior College. As part of the founding batches of students, Hwa Chong holds fond memories for Mr Tan that he has kept close to his heart.
The teacher who left the biggest impact on Mr Tan was the discipline master then, Mr Yeo. Although Mr Yeo did not teach him any subjects, he played a critical role in Mr Tan’s early Hwa Chong days which eventually paved the road to his successful career. Mr Tan recalled fondly that Mr Yeo had allowed him to change stream a total of 4 times! From his initial choice of the arts stream based on his preliminary examination results, to the science and then the commerce stream, he reverted back to the arts stream after his ‘O’ level results were released, but eventually decided on the commerce stream. This led to his decision of taking the business course in university and his job as an entrepreneur.
One of Mr Tan’s fondest memories of his Hwa Chong days would be the times when he played “hide and seek” with the principal. Mr Tan usually studied in the library where it was more spacious, but after the library closed, he would sneak into the dormitories meant for the ASEAN scholars. When the principal found out, he threatened to expel the local students who secretly stayed over at the dormitories. Mr Tan recounted vividly that he and his friends would “bribe” the security guard on duty to let them in with food bought from Adam Road Food Centre. He also noted that they always knew when the principal arrived for spot checks due to the noise that came from his Mercedes car.
Mr Tan was part of the Hwa Chong badminton team which clinched the championship title in 1975. He recalled that Hwa Chong did not have any facilities, so they had to train at National Junior College, making the satisfaction of winning even greater. He proudly showed us the championship trophy he kept even up till today. However, the intensive training took its toll on Mr Tan’s academic performance, so he decided not to represent the school in 1976 and focused on his studies instead.
Mr Tan recalled that as one of the founding batches, the students then had to cope with the lack of budget while planning for events such as the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations and they did so with the help of friends and parents. He showed us the yearbooks then, which were mostly in black and white and even contained advertisements to raise funds for the school. Mr Tan commented that the events in recent years are much more professional and many things have changed. Yet, one thing that he is glad has remained the same is the Hwa Chong culture. He said with a smile, that the people here are still as friendly as ever.
Narrated by: Mr. George Tan (Hwa Chong Junior College EC2)
Year: 1975 - 1976
Written by: Puah Wei Lin
