NUS High launches fund-raising drive for student opportunities as it marks 20th anniversary

SINGAPORE – Students from NUS High School of Math and Science will get more support to conduct research and go on overseas school trips, as the school hopes to raise funds to give them more opportunities.

Through a new initiative called NUSHigh Giving launched on April 17, the school said that it aims to work with partners so that its students can take part in multi-year programmes in cutting-edge science and technology. These could be in areas like space engineering, artificial intelligence robotics and nuclear science.

This includes additional support for innovation and research projects that all students must complete to graduate, or visits to overseas research institutes.

NUS High, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2025, said it also hopes to use its fund-raising initiative to help less affluent students take part in overseas learning programmes by providing subsidies.

Funds will also be channelled towards outreach programmes for primary school pupils with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics talents, particularly those from less affluent backgrounds and young girls.

NUSHigh Giving was one of two initiatives announced on April 17 as part of the school’s 20th anniversary celebrations held at its compound in Clementi.

The other was the official commissioning of NUSHSat1, a nanosatellite developed by the school’s students. It is the first by a school in Singapore.

The project started six years ago and culminated in the launch of NUSHSat1 on March 15.

“The sky is not the limit; our students’ journey at NUS High for the past 20 years is defined by curiosity, courage, and an unyielding pursuit of their dreams. Today, we affirm that believing is seeing,” said NUS High’s principal Soh Lai Leng Magdalen.

The school, which opened in 2005, is the first in Singapore to offer a specialised curriculum for mathematics and science. Students take a six-year course and graduate with a high school diploma. It enrols about 180 students annually and more than 3,000 have graduated since its inception.

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was the guest of honour at the event, said: “The formation of the school was a statement in its own right.

“It was a statement that Singapore was willing to have very different paths within our education system for those with exceptional talents – different paths that enable them to push themselves in ways that went beyond what was possible within the mainstream.”

Mr Tharman was involved in the establishment of the school, first as then Senior Minister of State for Education and later as the then Education Minister.

At the event, he said: “For NUS High, it was a different intellectual ethos that we were encouraging and making possible... It was first and foremost about intellectual courage and humility. Whatever you’re doing – it may be science and maths because that’s what you are talented in – but it goes deeper than that. 

“And while you’re blessed to be bright intellectually, no matter how bright you are, you need the humility – to keep learning, keep exploring, to know what you do not know, and above all, to always keep to the discipline of respecting truth.”

He spoke about the importance of truth, in an era of uncertainty.

“It is on everyone, be it in the sciences or any other discipline, to persevere in discovering truth and helping the understanding of truth to be out there in society. That’s a very important task in today’s world,” he said.

Keep that spirit of curiosity in learning, said Mr Tharman.

“It’s not just about yourself, it’s not just about the very particular discipline you might be in. It’s curiosity about the world and curiosity about each other that is the bedrock of a society where we all respect each other regardless of our varied paths.”

NUS High Year 6 student Solomon Lim, 17, who aspires to be a researcher in nuclear physics, said he is grateful for the opportunities afforded to him at the school.

“I think NUS High is uniquely positioned to support their students’ passions in mathematics and the sciences because it has a big teacher base with backgrounds in the field and connections with institutions like Defence Science Organisation (DSO), NUS, and A*Star.”

He has been part of a research project at DSO National Laboratories looking into the manufacturing of radioisotopes. He hopes to study nuclear engineering or radiochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Harvard University.

Another NUS High student Vincent Kwok, 17, was invited to join the nanosatellite project in his third year by a senior.

Now a core team member of the project, he said they faced many roadblocks due to the challenges of operating in space. For example, certain components like the cameras performed unexpectedly during testing as they were not made to stand extreme temperatures. Still, the experience has been a positive one for him.

“It’s extremely satisfying for me to see everything come together as a system and function as we expected, especially when faced with the constraints of space,” he said.

“Engineering is a bit like magic when you see your product working,” said Vincent, who plans to pursue engineering or computer science in university, and hopes to contribute to Singapore’s engineering industry.