BREAKING NEW GROUND
Not many students can lay claim to having set up their own co-curricular club, but that is just what happened in the case of Jeremiah Tang, who spearheaded the formation of Speakers’ Society. The community club, which is under the purview of the EDGE program, aims to help members speak more confidently, improve interpersonal skills, build character and nurture intellectual tenacity. Prior to SP, Jeremiah spent four years studying at an international school in Brunei. Meeting students from dierent nationalities spurred him to develop a keen interest in foreign aairs, debating and public speaking, inspiring him to want to form a community of similarly-minded people. Concurrently Secretary and Treasurer of the CLS Club, Jeremiah also volunteers with several external bodies such as the Lakeside Family Centre. Always looking for new learning experiences, in November 2020, he registered for the Young Singaporeans Conference, an event where youths had the opportunity to speak on their choices concerning life, work, home and values — and how these could impact Singapore in 2030. The discussion on the price of happiness particularly resonated with him, especially the choice between personal vs community success. Ultimately, the important thing is to take a step back and make sure that what we do is what we really want to do. This ties in with his personal ethos, “you can take everyone’s opinion into consideration, but don’t let that consideration become your opinion.” This young man helms Speakers’ Society with Vice-President, Tejpreet Kaur, an SP Scholar. A modest and well-spoken young lady who is instantly likeable for her gentle smile as she speaks and a talented artist who enjoys singing, Indian classical dance and orchestral instruments. Her art provides a form of release for her whenever she feels stressed and so passionate is she about it that she plans to teach them as her way of giving back to the community. She enjoys writing poetry, and sees Speakers’ Society as a way to encourage creative forms of written and spoken expression amongst SP students.
JEREMIAH TANG
TEJPREET KAUR
Like Jeremiah, Tejpreet double-hats as Vice-President as well as Head of External Relations for the SP Institute of Public Relations Student Chapter at SB. Not surprisingly, as a business student, she has aspirations to be a successful businesswoman one day.
What advice do you have for your juniors on their SP and life journey?
J
It is crucial to diversify your identity beyond academic results. The measure of success is not purely academic, and you would be less impacted by it if you have other things going for you, especially those where your actions can impact others and put out good into the world.
There is a reason and cycle for everything. Even with stress, it comes and goes; what is important is to learn how to manage your time well, learn from mistakes and how to deal with setbacks as they come. T What are your aspirations for Speakers’ Society? We hope that Speakers’ Society can be a community where leaders and aspiring J speakers can harness the power of speech and leverage their communications skills. We had a good turnout at our introduction session and for our parliamentary debate workshop held recently so we are inspired to organise more of such activities for our members. There may be many students who want to hone their speaking and communication skills. How can they join Speakers’ Society?
T
Sure! There are 2 ways they can join: 1) Search Instagram for instagram.com/ sp_speakers_society / and sign up through our website link; 2) If you are an EDGE student, you can speak to any of the EDGE mentors and they can connect you with the team.
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