Yale-NUS celebrates the achievements of the Class of 2023

On 12 May 2023, the National University of Singapore (NUS)’s University Cultural Centre was filled with excitement as more than 1,000 guests and Yale-NUS College community members gathered to celebrate the remarkable journey of the Class of 2023.

Out of the 250 graduands, eight are graduating with a double degree in Law and Liberal Arts jointly offered by Yale-NUS and NUS Faculty of Law, three are from the Concurrent Degree Programme in Public Policy with the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and two are graduating from the Concurrent Degree Programme in Public Health with the Yale School of Public Health.

In the lead-up to the Graduation Ceremony, the Student Affairs Office put together a week of activities for a meaningful and memorable last week on campus for the graduating class. This year’s Seniors’ Week included cooking classes, financial literacy sessions, and graduate school seminars, all of which aimed to prepare graduands for life after college. Class Day for the 2023 cohort was held at Marina Barrage, where the graduands reflected on their college journey together while bonding over activities such as kite-decorating, creating some final memories as students.

Our graduands are headed for careers in a myriad of fields, including consulting, financial services and the public sector in organisations like Oliver Wyman, Bloomberg and the Ministry of Education. Those pursuing graduate school have been accepted into programmes at prestigious universities such as Columbia University and the University of Cambridge. The graduating class also includes a Schwarzman Scholar.

The Class of 2017 Award, made possible through the generosity of Mrs Doris Sohmen-Pao, was presented to Tanya Sharma. The award, selected by the senior class, recognises a student for outstanding contributions to the College.

Tanya was a key player in guiding fellow Yale-NUS students in their college journeys. Her enthusiasm for the community was evident from her involvement both as a Residential College Advisor – a role where senior students provide support and assistance to fellow students in the Residential Colleges – and an orientation group leader. She was also a key player in the Lunch Tag Initiative, a programme that matches members of the campus community for lunch, helping to create new bonds within Yale-NUS. Tanya found meaning in nurturing campus residential life through her different roles, from introducing first years to her favourite campus spots to helping others find safe spaces within the College.

“My four years at Yale-NUS have been transformative — I’m leaving as a kinder person, a better friend, and someone who feels deeply connected and embedded within a whole range of communities and the world. Being involved with the Yale-NUS community has been so central to my experience here, and I’m so grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had,” she shared.

Lim Jingzhou was the recipient of The Emerging Young Leader Award. The award, made possible through the generosity of Mdm Kay Kuok, is given to a student who has made outstanding contributions in addressing a local or global challenge to enhance the quality of life in the community.

Active in community service since 2013, Jingzhou’s work is at the intersection of poverty, housing, health, ageing and public policy. One of his many community involvements include being part of Mind The Gap, an initiative that saw him providing relief efforts for the financially disadvantaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. His time as a case worker at a local Family Service Centre gave him the experience of serving the homeless, further strengthening his decision to pursue a career in the social service.

Jingzhou credits the Yale-NUS education in helping him to realise his calling in serving the community. “Yale-NUS recognised that learning needs to take place not just within the classroom, but also beyond it. My college education in Urban Studies and Anthropology introduced me to diverse perspectives to better do my work, including providing the language and academic foundation to do so,” he shared. Upon graduation, Jingzhou will be leading the KeyStart programme at South Central Community Family Service Centre, a project that supports families with children living in rental communities.

This year marked the first graduation ceremony with Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) Joanne Roberts in attendance as College President. In her opening speech, she highlighted how the Class of 2023 had dealt with significant challenges during their time as students, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. She emphasised how the class made sure to maintain care for their community throughout the obstacles. “You learnt to process your emotions and seek outlets to channel those emotions into something positive, such as organising sharing sessions for the community, or just simply, reaching out to your friends and making sure they are okay. This unity and resilience are the foundations that built our community of care. A community we are all so proud to belong to,” she said.

Graduation Speaker Distinguished Professor Anna Tsing from the University of California, Santa Cruz spoke about how a liberal arts education had prepared the graduates for a world filled with problems that await solutions. “It’s a good time to think about the skills you will need to navigate these crises. A liberal arts education is an excellent start; you need to be able to think widely, across modes of professional expertise,” she shared, while also encouraging the graduates to be patient when navigating their post-College world.

Representing the Yale-NUS faculty was Associate Professor Marvin Montefrio, who reflected on the work that the graduating class had done for the community both inside and beyond the campus, motivated by their spirit of change. “We see this in the movements you champion within and outside Yale-NUS College, from bringing to fore what needs to be improved in our community, such as better protections and provisions for diversity and inclusion on campus, to highlighting the plight of migrant workers and the injustices of a fossil fuel-based economy,” he said.

Student speaker Ning Yiran spoke about how the past four years at the College had nurtured graduates that will make a difference in society. “Yale-NUS makes me feel hopeful that it is sending out into the world not just a class of confident, hardworking and capable young graduates, but a class of empathetic and sincere leaders who will take their Yale-NUS experiences as a blueprint to build a more caring and inclusive world,” she said. She also took the opportunity to look back on their shared experiences from the common curriculum classes, such as Philosophy and Political Thought and Quantitative Reasoning. The entire cohort took these courses together, no matter their major, as part of the liberal arts and sciences programme.

This ceremony marked the end of their journey at Yale-NUS College, and the start of a new phase in their lives. Congratulations to the Class of 2023!

The list of awards, medals and prizes won by the Class of 2023 graduands can be found here.

A ceremony was also held in the afternoon for the Classes of 2020 and 2021, who previously only attended virtual graduation ceremonies due to COVID-19 restrictions. Over 200 alumni received their scrolls during the ceremony which was attended by more than 700 guests including Yale-NUS community members, family and friends of the recipients.