Class of 2022 graduates recognised for their exceptional accomplishments

The National University of Singapore (NUS) honours exceptional students annually through numerous recognitions, medals, and awards. This year, three Yale-NUS College graduates were honoured for their academic excellence and contributions to the community.

Tan Hong Kai and Ian Paul French (both from Class of 2022) were awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal as the best performing student throughout the course of study for the Yale-NUS Bachelor of Arts with Honours and the Yale-NUS Bachelor of Science with Honours, respectively.

Stefan Liew Jing Rui (Class of 2022) was the recipient of the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) Medal for Outstanding Achievement for excellent year-round achievements in both academia and community service.

All three graduates were grateful for the awards and dedicated their achievements to the Yale-NUS community and their loved ones.

Hong Kai, a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major, graduated summa cum laude and is the top student of the Class of 2022. Image provided by Tan Hong Kai.

“I am deeply indebted to the painstaking guidance of my professors, the unconditional love of my family, and the genuine support of my friends for this special honour,” enthused Hong Kai, who also especially remarked on the positive influence of his professors. “The faculty members in Yale-NUS have been and will always be my intellectual lodestars – they did not just teach us what to think, they also taught us how to think; they did not just cover content in the syllabus, they also inspired us to discover knowledge beyond the curriculum; they did not just serve as teachers who impart and transmit information to students, they also served as co-learners who integrate and synthesise perspectives from students,” he added.

Besides the unstinting support of Yale-NUS professors, Ian, an Environmental Studies major, shared that his experience at the College both “inside and outside the classroom – has fundamentally shaped [his] values, outlook, and hopes for the future.”

Ian celebrating at the Class of 2022 Graduation Ceremony. Image provided by Kathy French.

“At Yale-NUS, I’ve been supported every step of the way by incredible friends and professors. The tight sense of community here is so unique and it has made all the difference in my college experience. I am especially indebted to Assistant Professor of Science (Marine Biology) Benjamin Wainwright and Assistant Professor of Social Sciences (Environmental Studies) Anthony Medrano for their patience and wisdom in helping me to develop a coherent academic focus and capstone project,” he remarked.

Stefan, Head of Operations (Community Arm) at Impart, a non-profit volunteer-driven start-up which focuses on education, community engagement, and mental health care for youth development. Image provided by Stefan.

For Stefan, his diverse experiences both within and outside of Yale-NUS challenged him to be “critical, courageous, and charitable in my knowledge building.” He especially dedicates this award “to the team at Impart, who have always been patient with my mistakes, and my schoolmates at Yale-NUS, who showed me how to live bravely and kindly. Special shout-out to Assistant Professor of Social Sciences (Psychology) Cheung Hoi Shan – as a professor, she made sure to teach us that we matter, our feelings matter, and that our big dreams are definitely worth a shot or two.”

Stefan volunteered as a Unified Partner at Special Olympics Singapore’s annual event. Image provided by Stefan.

Stefan’s enthusiasm for volunteerism does not stop with his work at Impart. He also volunteers at the Special Olympics, a local charity that empowers children and youth with special needs through sports.

Reflecting on his projects with the Special Olympics, “I volunteered in teams that sought to create spaces of belonging and equal access for young people whose neurodiversity would be seen as an asset and not an impairment in the team. As a unified partner, I was a part of sports teams which comprised athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. In these teams, the labels (which) society assigned us no longer mattered – we played hard, we made bad jokes, we complained about the weather, and always chose inclusion.”

Through these experiences, Stefan firmly believes “we must resist the convenient labelling of complex, messy human lives, and recognise the dignity and inherent worth in all of us, no matter our differences.”