Talk about hitting the ground running. I’ve been at NYP for barely 2 months when I was tasked to help with one of the polytechnic’s busiests times of the year, NYP Open House.
For 3 days I was walking around campus, taking photos, and updating our social media products. It was pretty awesome. Tiring, but awesome.
NYP is a very nice place to study. It’s conveniently located next to Yio Chu Kang MRT station and it has a vibrant student life. Whenever I stay late, I always see students happily hanging out, socialising or participating in their CCAs. It’s a polytechnic that has a night life.
It’s common to see students dancing hip-hop, lifting weights, playing water polo and everything else in-between. There’s a palpable feeling to the campus and it runs into the night.
Students at NYP study hard and they play hard, with the school giving them everything they need to do both. I think the NYP Open House did a great job of encapsulating that experience for visitors. We even staged a Night Open House where we had guest performances by singer/songwriter Bevlyn Khoo, the finals of NYP Jam! (a singing competition) and a dance party.
As a child of the 80s, I wanted a giant disco ball to descend from the ceiling. Instead all I got was fog machines and laser lights.
I enoyed working with the contestants for NYP Jam! We received a tremendous amount of talent this year. Many were nervous, so I tried to use my experience as a performer to quell their fears.
“Don’t worry,” I’d tell them, “when you go up on stage, you have nothing to lose but your pride.”
“And at your young age, your pride isn’t priceless. It’s worthless. So if you really think about it, you have nothing to lose.”
I think my advice helped. My experience in rehearsing and preparing for live performances probably helped a bit too.
The contestants put on a great show and my colleagues Carol and Jordan told me that the contestants performed much better during the finals than they did in their rehearsals. No mean feat considering the enormous crowd and the celebrities in attendence.
Speaking of which, I also had the opportunity to meet with singer/songer writer Bevlyn Khoo and her team. She is exceptionally nice for a person of her talent and success. A great voice and excellent musicianship. She is very clear about her musical intentions and the NYP Jam! Finalists could learn much from watching her perform.
I also got to meet the hosts for NYP Night Open House: Shan and Rozz. When I was at MINDEF Public Affairs, I used to see Rozz at the CMPB canteen during her Power 98 days. It’s hard to miss a tall girl like that in a male-dominated working environment like CMPB.
She was quite possibly the best-looking person in boots. After myself of course. 🙂
I previously met Shan Wee (and his colleague Justin Ang) during a press conference I organized for the People’s Association.
I also found Open House fun because it was the first time in months I was behind the lens of a Digital SLR. I borrowed my colleague’s Sony Alpha DSLR 200 and took plenty of photos of the event. This shoot was particularly challenging as it was the first time I went for a night shoot!
I was quite pleased with the results. It’s nice to see that whatever skills Wayne Umehara imparted to me have not waned (no pun intended).
