The story of a neighbourhood school boy in Southampton

Dear friends in Temasek Polytechnic / Chai Chee Secondary School,

I have a story to share with you and it's about a boy from Chai Chee.  He wasnever a very good student in Singapore.  After his PSLE, he just barely made it into the Express stream.  And during his "O" Levels,he just managed to get into Temasek Polytechnic (TP).  His friends in TP felt that they were failures in the Singapore education system, because their grades in Temasek Polytechnic were only mediocre.  However,at the polytechnic, thanks to the guidance of project supervisor, Dr Venkata Ramanan, the boy from Chai Cheediscovered a love for learning.

As the son of a bus driver and a kindergarten teacher,he could not evenget into a foreign university because he did not have enough money.  After two years of working as an assistant engineer in a manufacturing plant, he saved enough money to pursue his degree in England.  He felt privilegedtobe accepted by one of the Best Research Universities in Electronics in the United Kingdom.

Being from a humble background, his eyes widened at the new horizons offered by life in a foreign land.  Initially, he found life in UK a challenge.  He was initially impressedby the scholars in his class, whether they were Royal Navy or PSC scholars from Singapore.  Slowly, he learnt that they too were not very different from him.  And slowly, he found that he enjoyed the intellectual challenges offered by the education system at the highest level.

In his final year, he was involved in a project called: "Synchronization and Equalization for Multi-Level QAM in a Software Defined Radio Testbed".  In this communications project, he simulated the effects noise hadon a transmitted signal and looked into various algorithms, searching forthe bestalgorithmto eliminate the effect of background noise and increase the reliability of the received signal.  For this outstanding final year engineering project, he was awarded the Zepler Prize.  

With this prize and the achievement of a first class Honours degree, he was sponsored by Southampton University to pursue his PhD in the Electronics and Computer Science Department, under the Communications Research Group.

So here I am, the boy from Chai Chee, now reading for my PhD.  As a late developer, I only have one thing to say to TP girls and boys or any “O” level school leaver:  “Never Give Up!  Have the courage to take the road less traveled by, if you have to.”

Failure is my friend.   I have learnt fromfailure andcome away richer from the experience.

Augustine Koh, Graduated from University of Southampton, UK Bachelor in Electronics engineering   (June 2002 ). Graduated from Temasek Polytechnic, Diploma in Electronics (June 1998).Graduated from Chai Chee Secondary School (Dec 1995).