NE - Be Engaged, Alert and Always Ready

1. NE Speech - Be Engaged,Alert and Always Ready to Serve

Mr Simen delivered a speech to the boys about National Education.

He thanked Junjie and Roy for beginning the day so well with the National Anthem singing and drill commands in the morning assembly. There was the right rhythm, melody, tone, pitch, intonation with the right amount of gusto and ultimately deep meaning. Junjie and Roy are Sec Two students who both demonstrated and led ALL on how the morning assembly should be done and are a real source of pride to both school, community and nation.

Mr Simen then read out an article from a book written about Great Captains and Architects of Singapore's success. The book was titled 'Heart Work'.

He read excerpts of an article about Phillip Yeo and how he graduated from engineering, remained unemployed for 3 weeks and was finally given a Public Service Commission (PSC) posting to the Ministry of Finance.

(The Public Service Commission has awarded scholarships since 1961. The objective of PSC scholarships is to enable the civil service to attract its fair share of talent. It is a tool to help the civil service meet its manpower needs in key areas, as well as to develop a pipeline of public sector leaders)

He first worked as a budget officer in the Ministry of Finance and was in charge of acceding and working out budgets for the Ministry of Health. It was a task seemingly irrelvant to his training as an enginner but to him....

"IT WAS BETTER THAN BEING UNEMPLOYED AND IDLE AT HOME"

Yeo then worked as a systems engineer in the Ministry of Defence, and worked under Dr Goh Keng Swee (He is the "Economic Architect" of Singapore, contributing greatly in shaping to Singapore's development as Finance Minister, Defence Minister, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Education and Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore and Chairman of several government-led companies). Yeo had to deal with the economic problems associated the British closure of their military basis in Singapore in 1967. For both Goh and Yeo,

"STAYING EMPLOYED WAS NOT AN OPTION. IT WAS A NECESSITY"

For both Yeo and Goh, creating jobs, seizing opportunities, staying relevant and always having an eye to the future are important milestones. For them,

THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO SECURE THE FUTURE THAN TO GO AT IT AND CREATE IT

Mr Simen told the school that we are who we are because pioneers set out before us to secure the future by creaing it, not by giving up and succumbing and becoming victims to it. He told the school that if you don't value and put in effort like our pioneers, we would lose what we have achieved. He told the school that the affluence makes you think that 'it'll last forever'.

"YOU NEED YOUR OWN HARDWORK OR IT WILL VAPORIZE"

Mr Simen told Montfortians to have confidence in the future. But in order to do so, they cannot remain idle and disengaged. They have to be engaged, alert and ready

"THE IDLE MIND IS THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP"

He linked it to the school's value - passion and perseverance . As a student, you must have

HARDWORK AND HEARTWORK"

"Passion drives values", Mr Simen added, "approach things in school with passion. Be pro-active rather than just let things happen. If you have no heart, you will be aloof and withdrawn, and have to drag yourself to school".

He concluded his speech with the thought for the day:

"BE ENGAGED, ALERT AND ALWAYS READY TO SERVE"

2. Prize Presentation - Banner competition

Mr Faizan spoke about how 70% of students were so engage in the mass workout on Wednesday. He also highlighted that on Sec One Orientation Day, the CCAs created banners and participated with full fervor and zeal. It was an example of being engaged, alert and service.

Hampers were given out to students who did well in the banner competition

Champion Banner - IT
Winners - Scouts, NPCC, Art, Intectual Games, NCDCC