The following are edited memories about the Class of 2017, submitted by students of Yale-NUS College.
“Yale-NUS Confessions broke the perfection bubble for me, not just in college life but in life overall. Nobody is perfect it turns out, everybody struggles: this is a simple truth even in an institution as idealistic and amazing as ours. The portal taught me that unrequited love can be painfully beautiful and beautifully painful and worth it for that reason and others; that people are kind to invite you over to their room for tea under your anonymous post; that we are connected by more than RCs, the Common Curriculum and the “in Asia for the World.” It died; maybe it had to; but I believe that through its existence it gave us something so important during a time when nothing about our futures, not even the major requirements, was certain: through anonymity, it made us see each other.”
“Back in RC4, we often had movie screenings and marathons in the common lounges. I remember The Godfather marathon organized by the DFs. They brought a humble microwave and about 8 boxes of popcorn to the 1st floor common lounge. All 3 films were screened in one day, and we ate through bag after bag of popcorn. It was awesome.”
“The beautiful explosion of activity just after the desperately-awaited end of the capstone deadline will be the most endearing, and enduring memory I have of the seniors. The immense catharsis, the smiles, the hugs, and the yells all populating the brilliantly renovated Shiner’s Diner (and in the company of Austin Shiner himself!) made it feel like the entire community had just relieved its shoulders of a massive burden. To have enjoyed that evening, filled with thinly sliced Salmon, finely steaming chai, and fluffy cookies, and to have watched the seniors celebrate being the first Class in the College to have produced capstones with an euphoric human chain was a wonderful moment of admiration for what the seniors had built all these years, and a cause for reflection on how we would have to fill their shoes and form our own euphoric human chains one day, after enduring our own challenges.”
“I once went to a christmas dinner full of seniors, and I was the only sophomore there. But even then I felt like everyone in the room had so much love left to give to the community despite being at the end of their fours years, and that night I was the recipient of that love. I never felt like I was the youngest or the only one who didn’t belong. Instead they were generous with their laughs, their smiles, their hugs, their funny stories.”
“Anya coming up with the post-crossing project back in freshman year ((: It sparked in me a love for sending postcards to friends around the world. Thanks Anya! =D”