Rachel, Year 13, Century Park campus

It's been a year since my last blog post. The last time you heard from me, I said that entering the final year of high school was going to be exciting and full of challenges. I was definitely right. I also told you, dear reader, to check in again next year (this year). So this is what I have to say, 365 days later. 

My friends, the YCIS “Class of 2016”, have been busy gearing up for college, with some returning to their home countries to complete national service. I, for one, will be spending some time in Poland with my awesome best friend this summer.

We have had great successes, the lot of us, excelling in academics, sports, with equally stellar university acceptances (including Brown, Stanford, UCLA, Boston University and King’s College) to back it up. 

I will be returning home to Singapore to attend Yale-NUS College, which is a big step for me. I stay true to my word when I say that high school is an interesting journey, full of twists and turns and surprises to greet you at every corner. High school has been a learning field where I, like my peers, have cultivated (see what I did there?) life-long friendships and skills for the next steps in our lives. High school at YCIS gave me the opportunity to do things and meet people I would probably would never have sought out myself. At the end of the day I can say that I know myself better, and that is more than many can say. Having said this, I am still unsure of where university will lead me. As of this moment, I'm leaning toward a major in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), but if I've learned anything over the last four years, it is that things can change in an instant. 

So this is me asking you to please check back in a year or two, perhaps even four, because none of us will know for sure where we'll end up. But I am confident that we will get to where we are supposed to be, with the people that we are meant to be with.