Interview Mr Liong Huai Yu
Mr Liong Huai Yu, an alumnus of NJC (class of 1993), has recently returned to NJC to join us as our new Vice Principal. Our resident writers conducted an interview with Mr Liong to find out what he has to share with NJCians.
What brought you to join the NJ family?
I was actually from NJC and it was the most memorable part of my life. I took Art in NJ and it didn’t just teach me Art but taught me how to be a person. I actually thought I would become an engineer or an architect but I chose to marry my work and my passion to become an Art teacher. It is important therefore, for us to think about what we want to do and once decided, do not hold back, and just do it!
What is the hardest thing about switching from being a teacher to being a vice principal?
Everything I know about the O-Levels is no longer relevant and I am still in the process of learning and getting used to the way things work around here. Thankfully, Mr Ang and the other Vice-principals are very patient in guiding me along.
What are some areas of improvement that you recognise in the college and what are your plans for these?
I hope that we can have some clarity in the things we do here. Currently, things are a little complicated and what is important for us is to make things clearer for NJCians. For example, I think we may the only school with two school songs – the College Anthem and the College Song. Do students know what they are singing about? In my opinion, all we need is something meaningful and memorable to represent NJC and what we stand for. When I was a student in NJC, “Service with Honour” was the only thing I knew and it guided me all my life. This helps to build a sense of belonging among NJCians. This is not a simple process and we will need conversations with teachers, students and alumni to find out what about NJ is valuable to them.
I also hope that NJCians can reflect what “Service with Honour” means. It could be simple acts of kindness like taking care of the school environment, clearing plates in the canteen and picking up litter along the way to their lesson venues. These seemingly insignificant actions can transform the college.
NJC is very strong in research, but we are only known for our Science research. I believe we have included Social Science research and I think the Social Science area is very promising because it is research that can tell us more about human nature, which hard science cannot.
