Page 16 - KCN 2020

A Conversation With Erica Boey and Yippie Yan

W Erica Boey and Yippie Yan Erica stayed up until around pushing on, and found his end result

e (Yip Zheng Yan) have both been major 3 am nightly during exam season to be more than what he expected.
sources of inspiration for me since
studying, yet only gained lacklustre
“Yeah, I spent the weeks after SUEC
results. Herself and the people around
on my couch, mostly. Just relaxing.”
Junior Three; as Erica’s tremendous
a Drama Club and Debate Club records, her began to worry if she would even Ultimately, Erica and Yippie
make it through Senior Three. She
as well as Yippie’s outstanding Diabolo
t S performances, will forever be a part also suffered an identity crisis regard- both felt that their time spent at Kuen
of Kuen Cheng’s history. This year,
ing her schoolwork, as she hated
Cheng was worth it, since the stress they
h h I got to talk with these two recently commerce and “didn’t know what endured prepared them for the out-
[she] was doing here”. After her trial
graduated seniors about their enrich-
side world. They also felt sorry for this
e i ing yet hectic co-curricular lives. exams, she felt ready to just drop out. year’s Senior Two and Senior Three stu-
dents, as they missed out on many events.
Their achievements aren’t

Yippie had a lot of break-
r n confined to Kuen Cheng, either downs, especially during the time willing to share some advice with our
I asked them if they would be
leading up to his Damansara dia-
— Erica took part in the Sunway-
i i Oxbridge Speech Competition in bolo performance, which involved readers, and they graciously agreed:
2018, which she called a “humbling
practising after school from 7 pm
Erica: “Apply self-discipline to
n n experience”; Yippie was the camp to 12 am, a long drive home, eating your life now; take some time during the
leader of the 2019 Co-curricular
dinner, showering, and doing home-
work—winse, wash, repeat. Similar
Clubs Leadership Camp. Together,
g g they snagged a gold award in the to Erica, he had asked himself, “why pandemic for some self-discovery. Your
efforts will not go to waste, as good and
2019 Inter-Chinese Independent
did I even choose this?” and wanted
High School Forum Competition. to do other things that he liked. bad experiences are going to craft the
individual you want to be. You are more
than enough, and your emotions are
rock
hit
had
That’s all very impressive
They
S B Michael Ng on its own, but at the end of the bottom. Thanks to a combination valid. And finally, you are the only one
who can make a difference in your life.”
of hard work and pure grit, they
day, they have all the responsibili-
t r ties that we do. How, then, did they didn’t stay there for long though. and remember to sit down and rest when
Yippie: “It’s okay to break down,
manage to juggle their co-curricu-
o i lar activities, studies, and home life? having really good support groups, things get rough. However, once you’re
Both of them have cited
done, you have to get back up and get
Erica’s primary strategy was
r g tuning her mindset. in which she mainly their classmates, in their stronger. Stand up for yourself because
journeys of recovery. Erica had her
the world isn’t going to wait for you.
m h changed her point of view with some classmates in Sr3ComA’19,who were Finally, take some time during the pan-
always willing to help her with stud-
helpful quotes, such as “It’s going to get
demic to work on something, so you
ies despite their own struggles. When
better”, “Everything you do has conse-
s t quences”, and “After all this, you’ll look she felt down, they cheered her on won’t feel like you’re being eaten away.”
back and see how strong you were”.
by quoting the title of her speech at
her — “You Are Enough.” Yippie had
As for Yippie, he directed Sr3ComB’19 and the forum team,
different percentages of his time as well as his usual gang of friends.
and energy to different tasks. Last
year, he allocated 10% and 5% of They also pushed themselves
himself to the forum competition near the end of the road, propel-
and the debate club, respectively; ling themselves spectacularly past
and split the rest between his main the finish line . Erica pushed her-
priorities: studies and diabolo. self to ride through SUEC; before
she knew it, she was done. On the
Of course, their journeys other hand, Yippie reaffirmed him-
were not without their dark moments. self of his initial passions when
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