SINGAPORE - Despite five futile attempts to enter the polytechnic of his dreams, Mr Aloysius Lim was unfazed.

He finally succeeded on his sixth try and was accepted into Nanyang Polytechnic’s (NYP) Infocomm and Media Engineering course. Three years on, the 24-year-old has excelled and graduated with a near-perfect grade point average of 3.99 out of 4.

Mr Lim is one of 5,300 graduates from NYP’s Class of 2024 and is also one of the polytechnic’s top eight graduates.

On May 3, he received from Education Minister Chan Chun Sing the Tay Eng Soon Award for ITE Upgrader, presented to the most outstanding graduate who progressed to NYP from the Institute of Technical Education.

When asked how he felt when he eventually received the acceptance call from NYP, Mr Lim said: “I don’t know how to explain the feeling, it’s like I finally made it into my dream school after five years.”

The former Greendale Secondary School student first wanted to apply to NYP in 2017, but did not qualify as he received an E8 in English language at the O-level exams. The minimum requirement to enter a polytechnic was a D7 for the subject. So Mr Lim, who grew up in a Mandarin-speaking family with his parents and an older sister, went to ITE College East and did a Higher Nitec course in cyber and network security.

“I was definitely disappointed that I did not qualify for polytechnic like my peers,” Mr Lim said, speaking to The Straits Times. “I had to take a longer route.”

He sat his O levels in English language and additional mathematics again as a private candidate while in ITE in 2018, but fell short as he achieved yet another E8 in English language.

Using his ITE results, he applied to NYP four times – once after graduating and thrice more while he was in national service.

On his sixth attempt to go to NYP, he made it via the Direct Admissions Exercise.

“I tried for so long, but... I still couldn’t make it in. But I am someone who does not give up easily, so I know that if I keep trying, one day I will succeed,” said Mr Lim, whose father is a food delivery rider and his mother a senior finance executive.

Throughout his three years in polytechnic, Mr Lim remained in the top 15 per cent of his cohort every semester, and also started his own co-curricular activity, the NYP Board Game Club, among other notable achievements.

He was motivated to accomplish as much as he could while in polytechnic because some of his peers, who took shorter routes to poly, looked down on him.

“I wanted to prove to them that although I actually went for a longer path, I can be successful or be even more successful than most of my peers,” said Mr Lim, who is headed to Nanyang Technological University to pursue a Bachelor of Computing in Computer Science.

On May 3, Mr Chan said to the graduating students from NYP’s School of Information Technology: “Challenges there will be. So long as we maintain our cohesion, our unity of purpose and have diverse ideas, I’m confident Singapore will continue to shine and be a land of opportunities, not just for you or this generation, but for many generations to come.”

Success is not just based on individual accomplishments alone, but collective contribution, he added.

“Our definition of success is never about how well we do for ourselves in this generation, but how well we enable the next generation to do even better.”

Mr Chan was the guest of honour at one of NYP’s 15 graduation sessions running from May 2 to 9.

Republic Polytechnic also marked its 19th graduation ceremony in 2024, with 4,509 graduates receiving their diplomas over 14 sessions. 

Its 2024 graduating batch also includes a record 1,023 individuals from continuing education and training programmes, which include part-time courses for adult learners.

Dr Amy Khor, who is Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment and for Transport, was guest of honour at Republic Polytechnic’s ceremony on May 3.

Addressing graduates from the School of Applied Science, she encouraged them to be open to innovation and collaboration and to continue learning, as they enter the next phase of their lives.

She said: “When you strive to innovate, collaborate with others, and embrace continuous learning, I am confident that you will find meaning and success in your chosen path.”