a tribute to ms heng and scgs
It has been a most nostalgic afternoon for me.Going back to my alma mater brings back such a wonderful host of memories. The buildings, the familiar sights and sounds, the innocent pretty girls decked in a sea of blue, their laughter, their chatter, the mee pok man, the drinks auntie... Change may be inevitable, but to return to scgs and see remnants of the past still surviving deeply warms my heart.
It was the retirement of our beloved principal, ms rosalind heng. And although I never knew her personally, she was iconic of scgs. She made scgs the place that we all reminiscence with such fondness and love. Her delightful sense of humour coupled with her outpouring of genuinity has striked a chord with (I can safely say) all scgs girls. It is so rare to find a principal who makes the effort to interact with her students and ensuring the welfare of everyone of us, yet command our utmost respect. She is truly a principal of principles, a person to be highly revered. Scgs has lost one of their best principals ever. But we're happy for her; after 27 years of service, she deserves her break. We'll miss her.
Going back to school and seeing my friends once more made me dig into my treasure box of memories. Those innocent and happy times spent playing intra-class sports, performing on stage, competing with our rival class (in good spirit, heh) and of course, trading titbits of gossip about anyone and everyone. We learnt together, we rejoiced together, we cried together. Teachers were like friends to us and we could share with them our thoughts and feelings freely. I didn't know how much I missed being in a girls' school until I returned today. Being surrounded by your own kind was truly liberating, somehow. We share similar hopes and dreams and fears. We don't have to say a lot of words to understand each other.
We've all grown up now, with significant others and all, but it hasn't altered our basic nature one single bit. It's amazing. The spirit of scgs lives on.
When I sang the school song earlier, along with the rest of the alumni specially for ms heng, I could feel the tears about to spring from my eyes. I've not sang it for ages, yet the moment I uttered the first few words, the rest just flowed naturally. The voices of the alumni filled the lobby and for those few precious seconds, only the sweetest tune rang throughout the school. One could literally feel the pride with which all of us sang the school song with. I know I did.
Good bye ms heng. As you've once said, you can take a girl out of sc, but you can't take the sc out of her. And you've said too that, years down the road, we will appreciate the fact that we can proudly tell others we're scgs girls. I never really understood what that meant, but I do now. Thank you for putting the sc in me.
posted by solitude @ 9:06 PM
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