After receiving his PSLE results, 23-year-old Soh Shi Yong recalls feeling disappointed. He was assigned to the Normal (Technical) stream, but he felt he could have done better.
It was then that his teachers introduced him to Crest Secondary School, the first of a new kind of school started in 2013. Called a Specialised School for Normal (Technical) students (SSNT), it offered a customised Secondary 1 to 4 curriculum that integrated academic learning and vocational training.
Crest was later joined by Spectra Secondary School as Singapore’s second SSNT, and with the introduction of Full Subject-based Banding and the removal of streams in 2024, the two schools now take in G1 students.
The Crest way of practice-oriented learning with industrial attachments sounded interesting, so Shi Yong decided to visit its Open House. There, he found himself attracted to the curriculum it offered.
Shi Yong recalls, “It gave off a very lively atmosphere. There were classrooms designed like Home-Fix and Giant to teach merchandising, workshops with bench drills and vices for mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and plumbing. All these technical things really interested me.”
He also a met a teacher, Mr Derek Loh, at the Open House, whose words motivated Shi Yong and inspired him to see beyond his grades.
“He said, ‘Your results might not be very good right now, but it is not the end. Your PSLE results will not define you. Eventually when you find your life goal, you’ll work towards it. Your life is in your hands.’, says Shi Yong.
“At that point, I was on the verge of crying. But I told myself that if academics was not my strong suit, I should not let it pull me down. Mr Derek’s words changed my life completely as it allowed me to see things from a perspective that is well beyond academics.”
Even though Crest then was a school that was virtually unheard of and had no existing track record, Shi Yong decided to enrol and was in the first batch of students.
Hacking his way into programming
As part of his curriculum at Crest, Shi Yong took up his Institute of Technical Education (ITE) Skills Subject Certificate (then known as the ITE Skills Certificate) in Facilities Management.
Through it, Shi Yong learnt many vocational skills such as repairing air conditioners and refrigerators, electrical wiring and plumbing. He also had the opportunity to participate in industry attachments at places such as Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where he got more hands-on experience in building maintenance.
While he had fun picking up all these technical skills at Crest, it was his participation in the New Media Club Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) that led him to discover his passion in programming.
In Secondary One, his CCA teacher decided to send the New Media Club students to take part in a Hackathon organised by the School of Science and Technology (SST). With “zero background in programming”, he and his friends rushed to pick up HTML, CSS and Javascript.
Shi Yong (2nd boy from the left, facing the camera) and his New Media Club friends learning how to code.
At the Hackathon, they coded non-stop for 24 hours and developed a mobile application that directed users to their school’s social media pages. Against all odds, the team managed to win the Judges’ Award despite being totally new to programming.
Shi Yong (on the extreme left) and his teammates after winning the Judges’ Award at the SST Hackathon.
“By really putting my brains into it, putting in the effort to think and understand the problem, to experiment and fail, and then repeat the whole process for 24 hours straight – that was when I realised that programming was something I really enjoyed. My interest in programming was sparked, and from then on I learnt anything that I could get my hands on.”
Onward to ITE and poly
At the time, Shi Yong had spent most of his time learning to code on the school’s computers, which had the speed and software he needed. Spurred by his newfound interest, he decided to tinker around with his personal computer at home. He started by trying to make it work faster.
He credits his sense of curiosity to the way he was taught at Crest. “The teachers were very open to us asking questions, be it within or outside the curriculum. They encouraged us to always be curious and to constantly question, so that’s what I did. That has led me to always want to find out more, and the curiosity has never stopped since.”
After his studies at Crest, Shi Yong went on to pursue a Nitec in Social Media and Web Development at ITE College West, followed by a diploma in Infocomm Security Management at Singapore Polytechnic. Upon graduating, he took on a one-year stint as a full-stack developer at a local education technology company. He is currently serving his National Service, but intends to pursue an IT-related degree before he continues on a career path in IT.
“Crest has accelerated the process of me going down this path,” says Shi Yong, reflecting on how the school’s hands-on way of learning suited him, and he saw results he was proud of. “The vocational skills and experiences that Crest has equipped me with have helped me to make a clearer decision to enter the IT sector. If I had gone to a mainstream secondary school, I still might have ended up along this path but it would have taken a longer time.”
He adds, “Going to Crest was one of the best decisions I ever made. Even though I did not know it at the time, it was life-changing as it has opened up pathways for me. Without it, education might not mean as much.”
