PANOPT Issue 08: 18 Feb 2014
Chief Editor: Indrani Kaliyaperumal Editors: Joyan Tan and Spandana Bhattacharya
VICE-RECTOR’S NOTE
After an exciting and exhausting week, the midsemester break is just around the corner. With every week that goes by (and every PANOPT issue that comes out), we are hitting another milestone, inching along towards the end of our inaugural year as a groundbreaking educational institution in Asia. Although Yale-NUS College is the result of much planning and collaboration between two great universities, at the end of the day it is the student body that defines an institution and establishes its DNA. The blend of cultures, nationalities, languages, interests, talents, personalities and many other features among our students creates the perfect ground for new and great ideas to flourish. In this respect, I am constantly amazed to see the results of this cross-fertilization in the classroom and around RC4. This past week I enjoyed seeing various Yale-NUS sports teams at the ICG competition with Singaporean and international students playing side by side to defend the school honor against other colleges at NUS. Although we did not win every game, the camaraderie and sense of shared mission was inspiring. On Sunday evening, the “La La Luna” musical brought together faculty, students, and staff for an evening of creativity and great fun around UTown. These collaborations and shared experiences help make us what we are as an institution. They show us what we can achieve together (as well as how far we can go without much rest!). Whether on the basketball court, the music stage, the impromptu study groups in the seminar rooms or the discussions about readings and assignments in lounges and dining hall, these student exchanges help us refine our understanding of who we are and what we are trying to do here: learn from each other and have fun along the way. As we all think about what we are going to do over the break, I encourage you to continue to share your talents and ideas with each other, to push us to be our better selves and make Yale-NUS the superb educational institution we all want it to be. Have a wonderful break and enjoy reading the latest issue of PANOPT. UPCOMING EVENTS 19 Feb, 6.30pm - President’s Speaker Series – Jim Rogers @Utown Audi 1 3 Mar, 6pm – Rector’s Tea with Richard DeVeaux @L1 Commons 5 Mar, 5pm – Originality & Attribution Workshop @Writers Centre 6 Mar, 6pm – Rector’s Tea – Sylvia Lee @L1 commons
A Convention for our Constitution By Spandana Bhattacharya
On 12 February 2014, students of the First Class of Yale-NUS College convened to discuss and choose a model for the Student Government. The weeks leading up to the Constitutional Convention saw many late night discussions in the Shiok Shack, dining halls and in the info sessions organized by DOSAC (Dean of Students’ Advisory Committee). The forum was moderated by Dean’s Fellow Adriana Ortiz and students Daniel Soo and Jared Yeo. After much thought and debate, the 5 proposed models were Council of Realm Supremes, The Yale-NUS Supreme, Council of Representatives, The Senate, and The Yale-NUS College Executive Council. Students’ reactions on the format of the convention was mixed: some felt it was the best way to finalize our constitution; others felt the convention could have been more efficient. Rakesh ’17 remarked, “I wasn’t too pleased initially. It started out very slow – everyone was quite new to the process and just 1 amendment took half an hour. Once it picked up speed, it got better, and we were able to settle on majority decisions pretty fast.” The quorum for the convention was 100, and the votes needed to pass an amendment and the constitution was 2/3 and 3/4 respectively. The two models that garnered majority support by the end of the 4-hour long session were Council of Realm Supremes, and The Yale-NUS Senate. When asked, Andrea Lee’ 17 commented, “I feel good progress was made in allowing for a diversity of views to be aired. I also like that some individuals took it upon themselves to come up with new and innovative ideas, challenging the traditional conventions and methods of governance. Kudos to Silverman!” Daniel Silverman’ 17 was particularly energetic while introducing The Council of Realm Supremes, and urged the student body to adopt a “revolutionary” model. When faced with criticism, Daniel defended his model by saying, “I cannot promise you it will work, but I can promise you that it will be fun.” One of the main criticisms against the Council of Realm Supremes seems to be that people are endorsing it for its fun value rather than its practical advantages. When asked to respond, Timo Lim’ 17, coauthor of the Council of Realm Supremes, said, “I believe in this model precisely [because] of how insane it sounds: so few students get to have [this chance], so why don’t we seize the opportunity to try something fun now? This isn’t a form of anarchy, but a fun way to challenge our potential student leaders.” A significant proportion of the student body also express support for The Yale-NUS Senate. Jolanda Nava’ 17 personally endorses it, and elaborates, “I strongly believe in the value of a diverse group working together to come up with ideas and to implement them.” After the Convention, many students took to social networking sites to express that the student body should not limit their decisions to the two options at hand, and should wait for a more suitable model to emerge. Indeed, a popular view seems to be that this might be too soon to vote in a student government. Bryant Chan’ 17 feels that, “There is no pressing need for a Student Government.” In consideration of the different sentiments of the study body, a Town Hall Meeting was held on 17 February 2014, Monday evening. DOSAC sent out an email, explaining that the final vote, which was slated to happen in the Town Hall, has been postponed. Instead, the 1-hour meeting will be used to address student concerns and vote on a suitable timeline for the creation of the Student Government.
INTERVIEWING DEAN ANASTASIA, DEAN OF CIPE! How would you describe a typical day at CIPE? One of the things I love most about CIPE is that there is no typical day! The CIPE team works in a very unified way, so we invest a lot of time communicating with each other about our programs and our students. That way we’re able to take a holistic and integrated approach to the growth of our students—all of which means that a typical day will vary for a CIPE staffer. One might be working on different programs, might have speakers coming in, be running a fair for students to get more information, be meeting potential organisational or NGO boot camp partners, or doing a bit of all these things! What is the distribution of opportunities going to look like when the new batch comes in? The honest answer is – we don’t know yet. The one thing I do know is that getting more great students - which is what our second class will be - will create more positive energy and more opportunities. And another great change about next year is that we will have this year's class as mentors. CIPE will be putting in a robust network of peer advising and peer orientation next year. These are essential ingredients in creating successful experiences for our students beyond our campus. Whether a student is being orientated for a language program in China, being trained for a challenging internship in Vietnam, learning how to do cancer research in a professor's lab in Singapore—or simply trying to decide which is the right opportunity--there is no better way to do that than by speaking with the student who had that experience last year. What is your best memory from last semester? There are so many good ones! If I had to pick one, I’d say it was the Week-7 symposium. Seeing things come together at the symposium after so many late nights and so many things behind the scenes, was one of the most fulfilling professional moments of my career. Not only did I enjoy learning from all that our students had learnt but I also loved seeing how all the new knowledge came together and how everyone who participated got so much out of it. When planning something like Week 7, there are so many moving pieces that the back of the tapestry is a mess of different stitching. The symposium was the first time I was able to see the whole front of the tapestry together. And it was an inspiring picture! What do you like to do in your free time? Changing diapers! In fact, I know Dean Farley is the DOS. I wish DIAPER could be my acronym (Dean of International and Professional Experience Rocks)? I spend my free time with my family and my kids, whether it’s taking my 2.5 year old Kiki to the playground, the aquarium, or the Bird Park (which she loves) or taking 6 month old Zoe for a stroll. Kiki also really likes Nando’s, so we have a lot of family picnics with spicy chicken on the weekends. What were you like in college? I think one of the things I loved about being at a liberal arts college is the feeling of being like a kid in a candy store. There are so many things you can learn and so many areas you know nothing about. It expands you as a human being. One of the things that stands out from my time at Princeton is how I poured over the course catalog because I just could not narrow down which courses to take out of all those offered.
Photo Credits to Dean Anastasia
At the same time, one thing I learned from trying to do too much is to value people over results. No one gets to the twilight of life and says, “I wish I had written another memo” or “I wish I had started another program.” We always wish we had more time to spend with people when we look back. So my advice based on my college experience is: Don’t concentrate only on doing things, but take time to be with people. The community here is unique and the people with whom you’re sharing this experience will stay with you your whole life in one way or another. Take advantage of their awesomeness. What are you most proud of so far? The thing I’m most proud of is the amazing team at CIPE—there is a great diversity of talents and of opinions, and in true liberal arts tradition, I think our diversity of voices makes us a much stronger team. It’s been wonderful to see the way the team has come together, working in such a tightly-knit way and really caring about each other. When I’m on longer international trips, I really miss the CIPE team (though I’m not too sure they miss me!)
t ress! e t In oup Gr
Yale-NUS Literary Collective
We're writers and performers who love the written and spoken word. So far we've met every Wednesday night to write to a prompt and then share our work after. It's a great way to keep ourselves writing more frequently. We're also seeing growing interest in Slam Poetry, which is a style of performance poetry. Some of us are also working on creating a physical Literary magazine to showcase the talent of students here at Yale-NUS. We've been getting lots of feedback and support from faculty as well as the school, and we're excited about rolling it out soon. Our collective vision sounds a little like this: A playground and an atelier for writers; a no-barriers-entry gym for pre-writers to explore, share knowledge, learn about and collaborate on poetry, prose, and non-fiction creative writing. Contact Keziah at keziah.quek@yale-nus.edu.sg or Evan at evan.asavaaree@yale-nus.edu.sg. Ask to join our closed Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/yalenus.literarycollective. 2
Advice from our Writing Guy Question: What are the different skills needed for different forms of creative expression (i.e. poetry/ plays/ short stories)? First of all, you must be brilliant and talented! Those aren't skills, are they? And really, "brilliance" and "talent" are subjective and rather intimidating concepts. If brilliance and talent were required of writers, we'd only be left with arrogant people who thought of themselves as brilliant and talented, but who weren't necessarily so. I'm not certain if all the following are skills as much as they are attitudes towards writing, but I think they fit all the disciplines equally. 1.
First, in all types of writing, you need both humility and arrogance. You should understand that what you write won't be perfect and that you can always improve it, but you need the arrogance for motivation. 2. You need to be observant, a student of the world, interested in not only how people act, but why they act the way they do. 3. You need lots of practice. You should always have something to write with and take notes constantly, of overheard conversations, images, memories, and anecdotes. 4. You need to be a good liar and a thief. In a figurative sense. If you love transformation, you'll probably be a good writer. Not what happened, but what might have happened. 5. You need to keep your ears open so that you can write believable dialogue. Study the speech patterns of others and don't imitate them exactly in your writing . . . If you did so, it would seem too fragmented most likely. But you can still give a good sense of how people speak by suggesting speech patterns. 6. You need to learn something about timing and pacing. Is the dialogue well-paced? Not only should the characters speak believably, but they shouldn't blurt out their secrets in a fashion that seems rushed or forced. 7. You have to be able to describe details well so that the reader can be transported to the world you're trying to create. 8. You have to not only develop your ear for dialogue, but develop your ear for the sound of language, and understand and care about nuance. 9. It's a good idea to take an acting class to learn about character motivation. 10. You have to try to write every day so that you can practice these skills. There are many more skills you need to learn as a writer. The best way to learn them is to take a creative writing class, to learn from your peers, from constant practice, and from the instructor.
A Summer of Plenty: Harvesting Opportunities Dear Student: Summer is right around the corner – especially at Yale-NUS, where everything moves so fast. Some of you are planning on Spanish immersion or solo traveling; others are polishing applications for a corporate internship, a travel grant or science research. Our team is similarly excited about the array of summer opportunities that so aptly parallels the kaleidoscopic interests of the Class of 2017. We are grateful for the trust and confidence our partners have placed in Yale-NUS, for the engagement and collaboration with such wonderful faculty, and for the boundless enthusiasm of our first class of students. When piloting such programs, reward and challenge invariably go hand in hand. A stunning amount of preparation goes into each opportunity, to make sure that you have the freedom, but also the safety to test your limits. From site visits and visas to NGO and internship training programs, we do as much as we can in advance to ensure that each program provides opportunities for personal, academic, and professional growth. Another challenge has to do with timing – basically everything is flexible! Deadlines will be pushed back, details will be delayed or finalized at the last minute. This is all normal for pilot programs, and the best way to cope is to be flexible in turn. Keep checking back on our website, ask questions and be ready to apply well before the stated deadline. While you may have to make a decision with incomplete information, the ability to do this with confidence is an invaluable life skill that it’s never too early to gain. We are keen to help you explore your interests and further your passions; however, there is a limit to the number and type of opportunities that we can offer this year. In fact, the only thing we can truly “offer” is the chance to apply. Keep in mind that there are no guarantees. All opportunities must be earned in order to be meaningful and the amount of thought and work you have invested in your application will count more than anything else. We wish you the best of luck with your summer plans, whether or not they involve CIPE programs. We trust that, once you are on the road, in the lab, or office, each of you will be a good ambassador for Yale-NUS and CIPE. Showing your ability to partners and professors is the best way to open doors to even greater opportunities later on – for yourselves and for the future students of Yale-NUS. Eager to ride your coat tails, Zhana Sandeva CIPE Program Manager
3
As Week 6 draws to an end, the Summer Break approaches. A bit early to think about summer, you may say. There’s still another half semester to go! But students at Yale-NUS have already applied for various programs, booked plane/ train/ bus tickets to exotic places, and made all kinds of plans for those few months. So the question of this issue is:
WHAT’RE YOUR SUMMER PLANS? SHANICE
The CIPE program that really interested me was the Spanish Language Study Program. Benefitting from the generosity of Banco Santander, I would be going to Spain to study Spanish for 4-6 weeks. In addition to improving my Spanish, I would love to do a dance pilgrimage to Europe and check out the dance scene. Training to be a Flamenco dancer, it has always been my dream to go to Seville to train with the teachers there. One of my plans is to go to Seville to train in Flamenco, and then to go up to Prague where I was for last year’s New Prague Dance Festival to meet a few teachers there to take some classes. And of course, I would like to just chill and do nothing for some parts of my summer because I haven’t been able to do that in school.
MATT Ideally, Graham, Brian, Anshuman, and I will get CIPE to fund our travel grant idea, which is to take trains all the way from here in Singapore to London. During the trip, we plan to do some writing and to make a documentary of the whole adventure, so we have something to show for our escapades. Other than the travel grant, I’m also really interested in the Yale Summer Sessions. Honestly, I’m rather bookish, so I quite like the idea of spending a chunk of my summer taking courses at Yale. If I do end up doing YSS, I plan on spending the other part of my summer taking a road trip throughout the States.
EVANGELINE Ideally, I would finish reading all the books I have been stockpiling and wanting to read since the start of last semester. It’s really hard to find time for leisure reading during the school year, and I don’t want to let them go unread before Year 2 starts. I’m also interested in the Summer Programs and Academic Year Programs. Oxford or Yale would be my ideal study-abroad locations.
SAU
This summer I’m planning to take classes at the Yale Summer Program, before returning to Singapore to work in Professor Jan Gruber’s lab for the rest of the summer. I’d also like to work on more acappella arrangements and song covers with my friends. I chose to apply for the YSP because they have some extremely interesting courses that we don’t have in both Yale-NUS and NUS, which are relevant to the Life Sciences and Biochemistry, my main interests. Working in a science lab will also help me gain more experience, as well as inspiration for capstone project ideas. At the same time, the summer break will be a good time for me to pursue my musical interests further!
DAVID CHIA
I’m thinking of a summer involving the performing or visual arts! Ideally, I’d love to do either the Summer Conservatory for Actors or Film Acting at Yale – New Haven. Being in a liberal arts college (as amazing as it is) has made me miss the artistic hands-on physicalization of my body. I hope to use this summer to fulfill my artistic kinesthetic desires. I also applied for the Yale Summer Session at New Haven. Because I find it hard to rank things in a hierarchy, I (only!) had three top choices: The Summer Conservatory for Actors, Film Acting, and Studio Making at Auvillar France. Yes – all the stuff that get my hands, fingers and feet dirty.
Check out panopt.commons.yale-nus.edu.sg to watch our specially crafted video and learn more about what Yale-NUS students are thinking of doing over the summer break!
4