Ms Sabrina Tan's first taste of being a nurse was in secondary school, when she joined St John Ambulance Brigade as a co-curricular activity.
"I was exposed to nursing skills like first aid and home nursing, or attending to daily needs like feeding," she said.
Ms Tan took up a nursing diploma at Nanyang Polytechnic and later furthered her studies at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).
Now a staff nurse at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Ms Tan, 22, graduates tomorrow as one of SIT's top students, with a bachelor of science with honours in nursing, a joint degree awarded by SIT and its overseas partner University of Glasgow. The programme has 52 pioneer graduates this year.
She is also the recipient of the Ngee Ann Kongsi Gold Medal, which is awarded to the most outstanding graduating student in the cohort to recognise good academic results and active involvement in co-curricular activities.
During her time in SIT's Community Service Club, she led projects to help children and young people in Laos and Myanmar by teaching them basic literacy and numeracy, building classrooms and organising leadership camps.
Similarly, she enjoys helping people as a nurse, especially the rapport and interaction with patients.
"You're there for the patients most of the time, especially when they're sick. They can be angry and frustrated sometimes, but to see them recover and go home, there is a sense of satisfaction."
Another graduate, Ms Jennifer Wee, is making her mark in a different field.
The 26-year-old, who yesterday graduated top of her batch of 67 students from SIT's Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land) degree programme, said she became curious about railway engineering after chancing upon the university's website.
"I wanted to go back to school and do something challenging," said Ms Wee, who had previously been a pre-school teacher for two years.
"I liked teaching but I also wanted to solve problems in mathematics and science. Railway engineering offered that, and I want to be part of a really dynamic sector with new train lines coming up," she said.
What she learnt during an 11-month attachment at SBS Transit has helped in her current job as an engineer at the Land Transport Authority, where she works in a department that oversees passenger safety and train reliability.
"I was part of a team that took care of the tracks that the trains run on daily, spending hours inspecting (train tracks) and collecting data to process. It gave me a good overview of the railway sector," she said.
Amelia Teng
