ADDRESS BY SANJUANA JENSINE DHARMARAJ, VALEDICTORIAN, AT THE SINDA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2024 ON 14 SEPTEMBER 2024, AT THE SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC

Guest of Honour, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and National Development and President, SINDA, Minister Indranee Rajah,

SINDA Board of Trustees and Executive Committee Members;

CEO, SINDA, Mr Anbarasu Rajendran;

Guests, Award Recipients & Family Members;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

1. A very good afternoon to you, my name is Sanjuana Jensine Dharmaraj. I am deeply honoured and grateful to have the privilege to join you today as the Valedictorian at the SINDA Excellence Awards 2024. My heartiest congratulations to all of the award recipients here today! On the cusp of my twenties, I am fortunate to have entered the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine as a First Year student.

2. Let me start off with a question: What does success mean to you?

3. Many would say that success is in the prestigious accolades and shiny medals. For me, however, it was in learning to manage myself. The journey started from my childhood.

4. Growing up as a child of immigrant parents, communication was a challenge. When I was younger, I learnt Chinese as my second language in kindergarten. Then in primary school, I switched gears to learning Tamil. At the start, all I knew was Amma and Appa (which means Mother and Father). You can imagine how much I had yet to learn, right?

5. At the same time, with most of my relatives living in India, I struggled to relate to my peers who had their family living with them here. For most of them, seeing their grandparents was a weekly occurrence, a mere 15 minute drive from their house. For me, it was a 4 hour flight, a costly affair only occurring twice in a year.

6. Yet, these struggles were not in vain. Although a difficult journey, I spent much time on studying Tamil, English and Chinese. In my free time, I started learning Korean, Malay and Singapore Sign Language. Communicating with people is my passion, and I love seeing faces light up as I speak to people in their native language. Although I am not perfect, they appreciate that I am genuinely trying to connect with and relate to them.

7. This was especially useful when I was conducting wellbeing surveys with our migrant brothers when volunteering at St. Andrew’s Migrant Worker Medical Centre. During the process, I realised that many of them faced this kind of issue as well. Alone in a foreign land, facing language barriers, away from your family, yet persevering to support them, is definitely such a daunting experience.

8. In particular, I remember Mr S, a young man in his early twenties. He came in for a minor injury, but I saw that his soul was more hurt. I was drawn to him, and asked if he spoke Tamil for a survey. In a separate room for privacy, he was initially very anxious. But as he opened up, he poured his heart out to my listening ear. The burden of being the sole breadwinner compelled him to seek out greener pastures overseas, which brought the youngest of the family here.

9. Yet as the months wore on, so did his hope. I tried my best to encourage him, and provide him with a listening ear. Mr S touched my heart only for one, fleeting moment, but after receiving his medicine, he went out of his way to come back and say “nandri,” (“Thank you”.)

10. The little things define success. The kindness you deserve especially when you fail, the warmth of a friend, even the reward of a little treat now and then. I considered myself to have succeeded, not when I received accolades or awards for my academics, but instead when I could look in the mirror and be happy with the person I have become. I believe when doing your best is straining you too much, it is no longer your best.

11. Chemistry used to be the bane of my existence in JC. For my first chem exam, I got a U (Ungraded). After getting As for chemistry in secondary school, to suddenly be getting a grade so low it was not even deemed to be worthy of a grade, I was shocked. The jump in content and understanding was high, but I did not think my grades would be this drastically affected. Yet, I persevered, trying my best to clarify concepts with my teachers, doing questions with my peers and even going for chem tuition. At my final exam before my A levels, during my prelims, I finally got an E by a marginal percentage. When I received my grades after A levels, I was elated to see a ‘B’ on my transcript – not just cause I had done well, because I finally passed! If there was one thing I took away from this, it would be to take your time to live everyday, one step at a time.

12. In this hectic world, being kind to yourself is a challenge. A path to success is never linear – there are good days, there are worse days. Still, have hope for tomorrow. Keep your loved ones close – without my family and my three closest friends, I would not be where I am today. To my family, thank you for supporting me in my endeavours and being there for me in tough times. Thank you to my friends for always being there and your unconditional support. To my teachers, although I was a headache at times, thank you for your constant guidance and patience.

13. Finally, I would like to leave you with a quote from my best friend: “The past changed us, The future we can change, the present is a chance to do both.”

14. Thank you.