During our school days, one of the avenues of making new friends apart from those in your own classes is the so-called co-curricular activities.
For myself, there was only ever one club that I REALLY wanted to join, and that was the Computer Club. But more on that later :)
There are basically two types of activities we could join then, sports, or clubs and societies.
A "kaki bangku" like me could never really be good at any games or athletics, but I still remember Bro. Albinus trying out the entire Form for rugby when I was in Form 2. So, there I was, weighing a paltry 45 kg trying to run with a rugby ball and passing it to the guy beside me. It came as no surprise that I did not make the shortlist :P
Nevertheless, I still managed to join the cross country and the 1500 m when in Form 2. I think the route we used to take for the cross country is now covered with houses and shops.
On the clubs and societies side, the big three then were the Red Crescent, Scouts and Junior Jaycees. There were numerous smaller ones like Kelab Lukisan, Kelab Fotografi, YCS, Legion of Mary, Chinese Society, Kelab Puteri, Kelab Catur, etc. From I saw during my last visit to the school a few years ago, most of these clubs still exist to this day.
So, anyway, back to my story of the Computer Club. I was aware of the club since Form 1, back then the computer room was situated in a room next to the SHS Primary School canteen. I used to hang around outside, just hoping to catch a glimpse of what's inside whenever someone opens the door.
The club was originally open only to those in Form 4 and above, but in 1986 me and Stephen Chung made an appeal to Mr. Ong Chin Kim to let us in, and all credit to him, he did! The Form 4 boys (Alex Sim and gang) were very surprised at this, but nevertheless welcomed us with open arms. After the SRP exams, Mr. Ong agreed to let me and Stephen run a series of classes for our peers while waiting for our results. I still remember some of the members of that gang - Paul Ting, Ngieng Sii Jing, Wong Yii Chiong, Kong Lieng Tee, Frankie Jeffrey, Eng Kia Hock. Apart from learning about Basic, DBase II and Wordstar, we were also exposed to the pleasures of Fruity Frank, Commando and Bomb Jack on the Amstrad.
The exposure I had during the three years I was in the club greatly influenced me, and today, I still do not wish to be anywhere else except in the IT industry.
Which, of course, made me a natural target of being asked to set up a website/blog for our alumni. But that is a story for another day :)
