A Step Up: Senior 1 Coming-of-Age Ceremony
Reported by :
Gaby Seow Jing Yi Sr1ComC
On the 8th of March 2025, the annual and much anticipated Coming-of-Age Ceremony of Kuen Cheng was held in the Lee Shin Cheng Hall, acknowledging and celebrating the Senior 1 students moving onto a new chapter in their school lives as seniors.
Right off the bat, the hall was abuzz with excited but well-contained murmurs, as classes were instructed by the prefects to sit in neat rows. Eventually, as silence settled, our school Principal, Madam Chua Lee Lee, gave a warm congratulatory speech which pulled on the heartstrings of many students. Wishing the students success academically and providing heartfelt advice on personal and academic growth, the speech was then put to an end, with a smooth segue into a quick award ceremony.
Winning students who participated in last year’s Coming-of-Age art competition were called up to the stage to receive their much deserved awards, with the winning illustration being featured on a postcard, which was later distributed to students. After the quick display of art that left students with their jaws on the floor, two senior students were invited onto the stage to share their motivational stories and journey throughout their school life here in Kuen Cheng. Sharing their experience and insight, it provided a sense of reassurance to some students, who were worried about what was in store for them in the latter half of their high school years.
Last but not least – the heavily awaited part of the ceremony that, admittedly, did most of the heavy lifting in engraving this special day into our minds– the tree and badge giving ceremony. Class monitors who had been by their Form Teacher’s side throughout the ceremony received cardboard trees to assemble in their respective classrooms, eliciting loud cheers as students showed their support and enthusiasm. Such a response was soon heard again in tenfold its initial volume, as their respective Form Teachers walked onto the stage for a call of recognition. Then, each and every student was given a small badge of the iconic Kuen Cheng logo, its red flower engraved in the triangular metal boasting school pride. Students were then guided to pin it on their collars together before leaving the hall.
Back in the classrooms, the atmosphere was bubbly as students, each received a postcard with blessings and words of encouragement from Madam Chua. Friendgroups were huddled around tables tightly-knit as they wrote their dreams and hopes on beautiful cut-outs before hanging them up on the cardboard trees.
As students, we are exceedingly privileged to have experienced such a symbolic day of acknowledgement, motivation and encouragement — for what we have lived through in our junior years, and what more that has yet to come.
