From expulsion to excellence

Do not be fooled by Mr Kenny Tok's build - beneath his small frame lie big ambitions.

After being expelled from school in 2011 for disciplinary issues, he returned with a new-found drive, graduating with a Nitec in Electronics (Instrumentation) from ITE College Central with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and earning the Lee Kuan Yew Model Student Award. The award is presented to outstanding students who excel in their course and display exemplary conduct and attitude.

But there is more to Mr Tok, 23, than just his academic merits. Over the course of the two-year programme, he became president of the Bridge Leaders Club, took time to orientate new students, and took part in various enrichment courses and community outreach programmes.

"Kenny is highly motivated. He has always been serious about learning and doing well," said Ms Chow Lai Chun, 61, teacher-in-charge of the club and one of the teachers who nominated him.

Always looking to "go the extra mile", Mr Tok also arranged for peer-tutoring classes for struggling first-year students in his senior year. Together with a group of seniors, he offered daily consultation sessions after curriculum hours.

Community service did not just stop at school. With his family, Mr Tok would deliver food packets over the weekends to seniors with disabilities living alone. It was then that he noticed many of them had trouble going to rehabilitation centres for their physiotherapy sessions.

Hoping to alleviate this problem, he designed Project Carapace - named after the exoskeleton of animals - which is a device that helps in arm-flexing exercises to improve mobility.

But it was not all smooth-sailing, said Mr Tok. With so much on his plate, he sometimes found his schedule overwhelming. His teachers also noticed that he was not getting enough sleep. With the help of his co-curricular activity teachers and lecturers, who gave him some time management tips, he drew up a schedule and followed it closely.

"My friends always ask me why I am doing this," said Mr Tok, who is pursuing a diploma in electronic and computer engineering at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. "I tell them that I want to get the best out of myself, find out what my limit is, and know what I can achieve."

Creating safer pavements

Fewer collisions between pedestrians and cyclists - this is what the team behind the Safer Pavement System hopes to achieve.

The project, which won the Lee Kuan Yew Technology Award, is the brainchild of Mr Muhammad Misharrazzaq, 19, Mr Muhammad Irman, 21, Mr Jacob Hoi, and Mr Shazmeer Zhaswan, both 20.

The award is presented to students who develop excellent projects that embody quality, creativity and technical innovation.

"At the bus stop outside our school, there is a park connector. When cyclists or e-scooter users zip through it, they often have to manoeuvre around students," Mr Shazmeer explained.

The project is based around an "interactive" hump which forces cyclists and e-mobility device users to slow down as they approach it. But it also includes a spring-activated audio device which rings to alert pedestrians of oncoming riders whenever wheels roll over it.

Graduating with a Higher Nitec in Mechanical Engineering from ITE College Central, the team first conceptualised the product during their Design Thinking module.

Mr Indra Sarif, 34, who was their lecturer for the module, said: "Design Thinking is a user-centred, design-based approach to encourage innovation. You cannot solve a problem effectively if you do not understand the problem and users' real needs."

But a successful product is more than just the idea - the team spent about six months perfecting the product, consulting fabricators, being one another's biggest critics, and making tweaks based on the feedback they received.

On what kept them going, Mr Shazmeer said: "We saw a problem and we wanted to solve it. And given the accidents that had happened before, we were driven to solve this."

Striking a good balance

National windsurfer Ynez Lim is making waves, quite literally.

The 18-year-old first picked up the sport in secondary school, after swimming and sailing competitively in primary school.

"I love being out in the open sea. It really takes my mind off things," said Ms Lim, who won the Lee Kuan Yew Co-curricular Activity (CCA) Award this year. "There is something light and different about it, calming even."

The award is presented to students who have achieved excellence in their CCAs, demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and contributed to the enhancement of campus life.

As captain of the school's swimming and sailing clubs, Ms Lim helped run Licensed to Swim - a programme which encourages students to develop a healthier lifestyle through swimming. Members have to clock a total of 12km within six months.

Ms Lim, who graduated with a Higher Nitec in Civil and Structural Engineering from ITE College Central, is now pursuing a diploma in sustainable architecture design at Nanyang Polytechnic.

But there were times when Ms Lim found it hard to balance sports and studies. In 2015, she had to miss about two weeks of lessons to compete at the RS:X Asian Championships in Japan.

She struggled to keep up with the curriculum when she returned. Just missing one lesson had really set her back, she recalled.

"But my friends and lecturers immediately came up to help me with my schoolwork. There is a strong support system at ITE," she added.

She said of her alma mater: "Many like to see it as the end but, really, it is just a stepping stone."