"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart"
It felt as if it was only yesterday when I had my very first experience setting foot into a school, my first actual lesson.
I remembered being six when I entered kindergarten. I entered a year later then the rest of them but nevertheless, I graduated that year and got second. Kindergarten was nothing but fun for an innocent, young child. Studies wasn’t much of a focus then, it was mainly colouring, tracing alphabets, singing, spelling and simple calculations such as two plus five. I knew a girl named Gabriellyn, who was my best friend that time. She gave me her phone number but I had lost it and I lost contact with her after I entered primary school.
Time in primary school flew once more. From primary one to primary six, everything was a blur, everything went so fast. When I was in primary three, I was selected to take the PTS examinations, which would enable me to skip primary four and pursue primary five instead. But, I had never been serious in the PTS examinations because I was not keen on skipping a year and not being with my friends whom I had already been with for three years. I even arrived late for the PTS examinations! After two pages of the test, I ended up talking to my friend who was sitting at the desk next to me. Due to that, both of us failed the test because we didn’t complete it. But it wasn’t a failure to us, we laughed at our results when we saw the notice board with our names and next to it, in capital letters, it says ‘fail’.
So in primary four, I had the best science teacher that I would never forget, Madam Johanna. Strict as she was with us and always punishing us with her unusual method of ‘angkat tangan’ for five excruciating minutes, she was an excellent class teacher who taught me science for three years. In fact, she was my favourite teacher in primary school.
In primary five, I was selected to be a prefect and my senior was Navena. From junior, I became a senior in primary six. As I said before, time really flies. I was going to sit for UPSR examinations that year. Everyone was preparing for the examinations, studying, revising all things we were taught from primary four to primary six. Hectic as it was, nevertheless, it was fun the way we spent our last year in St. Teresa’s Primary School. I remembered having Madam Fatimah as my English teacher, we used to make fun of the way she pronounced milk as ‘mulg’. I still laugh my head off when I recall about that. In primary five, I had supervised the school during 2002 UPSR and in primary six, it was my turn and then, before I knew it, UPSR was all over. I remembered my number was SK2321110 (the last four digits are my birth date) and my best friend, Grace, was SK2321111 and she sat in front of me during the examinations. Meanwhile, Esther was on my right. I remembered us shouting ‘monster’ when we discovered we were sitting next to each other because we had always enjoyed disturbing one another during lessons and even exams. After the examinations, we had fun gambling in class and sitting on cards when Mr. Sabri makes rounds. Gnome Toss was a favourite among all of us, slamming and banging on the table with all the cards. Mafia, too became a favourite. I still have my Gnome Toss deck…all mangled and crumpled from constant slamming and banging together with shouts of laughter.
From fun it became the day that the UPSR examination results came out. I had obtained 4A’s and B for my Bahasa Melayu objective paper. Disappointed as I was when I heard the news and even more disappointed when I realized that I was going to 1A2 in St. Teresa’s Secondary School. I just masked it up and put on a face that showed that I didn’t mind and lived my life like nothing had happened until the first day I went to secondary school.
The first day in St. Teresa’s Secondary school felt as if a bombshell had dropped out of the blues. It was the first time in my whole life when I had been in a B class. I completely didn’t enjoy my first day in secondary school. It wasn’t enjoyable knowing that I was in the second-best class. Well…sometimes, I do get what I want… The afternoon session assistant principal, Madam Sita came in and announced that some of us will be moved to 1A1 because there was space. And I was one of the lucky ones selected to be moved. So was Esther. I remembered Kristen and my friends who were in 1A1 sneaking over to see the announcement being made and cheering silently when my name was announced.
So, the next day I entered 1A1 and I finally felt as if I had found my place because I knew that I didn’t belong in 1A2. I discovered that a few of the students in 1A1 were stuck up because they had obtained 5A’s and in their narrow-minded opinions that they were better than me. Although that was an old story, I don’t really mind when I think about it now but still, it’s a part of my memory. One of the girls were saying audibly that I was bound to be thrown back to 1A2 because I had 4A’s and that I wasn’t as good as them. But I proved her wrong when she got thrown into 1A2 instead. Although I maintained in 1A1 but I wasn’t satisfied with my marks, I knew I had to work harder because I was slipping. I got somewhere around 10-15 for all four terms and I wasn’t very pleased. I was once again, selected to be a prefect and I passed the probation. Form 1 was also the year when I first got to know Rhema Basil Andrews and indeed I shall say, one very good and trustworthy friend found.
Then the year 2005 surfaced and I was now a senior prefect and in 2A1. I believe that I am slightly more pleased with my academics achievements that year as I think back about it. Perhaps except my second term exam when I got 11th but apart from that, 7th for the first term and 5th for the third and fourth term, I’m slightly more satisfied. I received my prefects appreciation plate and certificate during prize giving and also best student in Form2 plate and certificate. Also, I had the memory and feeling of the first debate and loosing it. There was also the feeling of the second debate when my team won and I was given best speaker, that time I was the third speaker. I was now halfway through my secondary school life and before I am knowing it, Form 3 will be surfacing, breaking through and I would be taking PMR examinations…and no more prefect’s uniform…
Time flies as I think back. It feels like the first day in school, the very first experience. Before I am knowing it, pretty soon PMR examinations comes and goes around the corner and Form 4 comes and then comes Form5 then SPM examinations comes and goes around the corner once more and I will be leaving St. Teresa’s Secondary school…
I wrote those paragraphs above three years ago in 2005, now at the age of seventeen, I shall add a few more paragraphs to this composition. Two years ago, Form 3 surfaced and I conclude that it was the best school year despite the fact that I had to study quite a lot for PMR examinations. I was selected as a prefect in Form 3 and Puan Tan was the best class teacher I ever had. For the first time in my whole life, I got first in one of the school exams that year, breaking Wendy Chan's never ending streak of getting first every exam. Quite a big personal achievement for me I must say. I got third the first exam, the next was second and then the next was first and I got second for the last term exam. I got the award for Best Student in Form 3 and Best Student in 3A1 this year. Time passed on and PMR finally arrived, I had lost every ounce of fear for it. Boo yeah when the results came out and I got straight A's just as I had hoped for. This was also the year when my friends and I created our own gang fight video. It was lame but nevertheless, humorous! One person I quite believe that Rhema and I would never forget would be Linda Soon. Loudspeaker. I also went for a shooting competition in Johor and managed to squeeze into the finals and got 9th. Not bad for a newbie like me.
In the year 2007, I was introduced to new subjects like Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Additional Mathematics. Thank God I managed to retain my streaks of being in the Top 3. Examinations in Form 4 are a lot different from the years before, they were longer and a whole lot more stressful. I managed to hijack a couple of awards this year, Best Student in Form 4, Best Student in 4 Science 1, Best Student in Physics, Straight A's for PMR award, sports award and a prefects' appreciation plague. I got selected as a prefect, yes I know, again. I went for the prefects' Leadership Camp and my group leader was Claire Chang. We spent quite a lot of time together there at Permai. Our group name was Loser but ironically, we were the best team throughout the whole camp. I was elected as Treasurer for the Red Crescent Youth Unit #8 and President for the Literary and Debating Society and the big surprise finally came when I was told that I was elected as the Head Prefect of SMK. St. Teresa. Quite a baggage.
I took part in my first Interschool Debate competition at Kolej Abdillah. What a gigantic school. Kristen was the first speaker, Azureen was the second speaker, I was the third speaker while Rhema and Nishanti were the reserves. We lost to Batu Lintang but nevertheless, it was one pack of a good experience. I recall calling Daniel Chong, the Batu Lintang first speaker, outdated. Then I joined the Bond University High School Mooting competition several months later together with Lilian, Zahira, Kristen, Demie and Azureen. My team lost but Kristen, Demie and Azureen made it to the finals and got second. Disappointing but yes, expected, mooting was never my forte. I hate speeches, I love impromptu and that's why I think I make a pretty average debater who usually does the rebuttals. I took part in a very amusing Health Quiz, which they asked me what causes J.E disease and I answered, Japanese mosquitoes. Quite a lot happened this year. Another great thing is that I met him, Perry Tan. A supportive and thoughtful fellow who makes both a good friend and more than that. It was one shot I took that turned out fine.
This year, it's the year 2008 and I am sitting for SPM in November. Just around the corner, now that's really fast. I'm not making conclusions about Form 5 year yet so I'll finish this composition off another day.