Thinker with a Mission, Leader with a Heart series 6

Congratulations to Kim Yu Ling, Class of 2020, for receiving the Harvard Prize Book (Singapore) 2020/21 award, presented to promising students all around the world who go beyond the call of duty to show kindness and care to others. Presented since 1910, the Harvard Prize Book award recognises promising young service leaders who have inspired others to authentic and sustainable acts of kindness.

Yu Ling has been commended for pursuing her interest in healthcare as a long-term volunteer with St Luke’s ElderCare and initiating a research project under the year-long InterHealth Innovators Programme from June 2019 to June 2020, in collaboration with the Centre for Innovation in Healthcare (National University Health Systems). Apart from submitting her work to conferences, Yu Ling’s data-driven inquiry culminated in her project team’s staunch advocacy for proper warm up exercises to stave off knee injuries.

While many only ever aspire to extend an active involvement in school-based programmes like Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) and the Overseas Service Learning Programme (OSLP) to external, self-sourced initiatives, Yu Ling has a track record of doing just that without expectation of any reward. Her Home Tutor experienced this first-hand when she chanced upon Yu Ling with a large bag of buns she had prepared to distribute to the migrant workers in her neighbourhood to show them that Singaporeans stand in solidarity with them during the Covid-19 pandemic.

From Yu Ling we see an exemplar of a CJC Thinker with a Mission, Leader with a Heart, who maximises the opportunities available to do good. May Yu Ling’s example and the lives she has touched in CJC and beyond be a beacon to us as we navigate the new normal amongst many stricken by the pandemic.

In Veritate et Caritate