SINGAPORE - She could have her pick of five scholarships after A levels, but Ms Michelle Low's love of being in the sky motivated her to join the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).
"I could go into other areas which could make me more money in future, but I didn't want to do a work purely for remuneration. I want to follow my passion and the public sector gives me greater satisfaction and goal in life," she said.
Ms Low, 24, is deputy manager in the International Relations Environment Unit of CAAS, developing policies for international aviation and climate change. She studied Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College, and went on to pursue a Masters in Philosophy in Technology policy at the University of Cambridge.
Studying overseas allowed her to get involved in many interest groups and interact with people from all walks of life."London was a melting pot of people. I forged many meaningful friendships with people from all over the world, from Asia, Africa to South America. Some were more affluent, some were less, but they trained me to be sensitive to people from different cultures," said Ms Low.
On Friday, she attended at a scholarship presentation ceremony held by the Ministry of Transport (MOT), where 28 were awarded the Beacon Scholarship -local and overseas scholarships offered by the Ministry and the three statutory boards under it.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, also Second Minister for Defence, was guest of honour at the MOT Family Scholarship Award Ceremony at the Pan Pacific hotel.
Of the 28 scholarships awarded, 20 were undergraduate scholarships and 8 were postgraduate ones. Most of the scholarship recipients - 17 of them - would go on to work for the Land Transport Authority, with two going to Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), seven to CAAS and two to MOT.
