28th
August 2014 was a special day for us in SMK Convent Sentul. We were blessed and
honoured to have Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Augustine Soon Hock Ong
visit the school to interact with the PACE students, teachers, and administrators.
Tan Sri Augustine is the chairman of The Edge Education Foundation (TEEF) Ms Dorothy Teoh, the CEO of the TEEF spearheads the
PACE Program and runs it together with our
teachers and EY( Ernst & Young)
mentors , Taylors University. The PACE program is sponsored by KLK.
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| Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Augustine S. H. Ong |
Tan Sri Augustine presented the cash gifts and certificates to the PACE students under the EY business program “Trash to Cash.” The cash gifts were immediately used to open saving accounts with BSN. A short presentation on the benefits of saving accounts was delivered by Yoke Pei Ong of the TEEF.
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| Using their cash gifts to open BSN accounts |
Pn Mariam of EY spoke to the PACE students and reminded them of their journey on the “Trash to Cash” program. Lae-Hoon Tan and other EY officials were on hand to interact with Tan Sri Augustine Ong. Ms Dorothy Teoh introduced Tan Sri and his outstanding background as a scientist, as Professor Emeritus and his position as founder President of MINDS of the Malaysian Invention and Design Society (MINDS).
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| The PACE program teachers, students, TEEF, EY and school administrators happily posing with Tan Sri Augustine Ong. Our students show the passbooks they have received after they opened their BSN accounts. |
Tan Sri spoke at length to the PACE girls. He
encouraged them to work hard for success. He also spoke of his role in creating
awareness of the health benefits of palm oil. He mentioned
the struggles of the battle he faced to educate the world on this aspect. Tan Sri also spoke
of how Malaysian inventors for example Pua Khein-Seng who invented the pen drive which is now used worldwide. He
declared that Malaysia was able to deliver on innovations that could change the world. He encouraged our
students and teachers to think out of the box.
It had not been easy for Tan Sri Augustine to
achieve his titles and success. He comes from a humble background and was an
orphan in his early age. He grew up with his paternal grandmother in a small
rubber plantation in Malacca. Later he was admitted to a boarding school (St.
Francis Institution) in Malacca (Class of 1952) and did his pre-university
education at St. Johns Institution in Kuala Lumpur. He has benefited much from
his education in the La Sallian schools. His background and his determination to succeed despite all odds are indeed very inspiring. It is this that has motivated him to continue to help the disadvantaged and in our school to help through the PACE program.
At the tertiary level, he entered University of
Malaya (UM) in 1954 and graduated with 1st class honors in Chemistry
winning the memorial gold medal in chemistry 1958, recommended by Lord Todd,
Nobel Laureate in chemistry, University of Cambridge as the external examiner.
He pursued his post-graduate research at University of London, Kings College
under the supervision of Prof. D.H Hey FRS.
He continued his post-graduate training at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Fulbright-Hays fellow. A few
years later, he spent a year at the Dyson Perrins LaboratoryUniversity of
Oxford as a visiting professor working in collaboration with Professor W.A.
Waters.
The PACE girls practiced two short plays as part of their English lesson. There were happy faces on teachers ,students and mentors when we heard and saw how well they have progressed through the way they spoke and articulated.
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| Waiting for their turn to speak in the play |
Tan Sri Augustine enjoys good health and is
extremely articulate and mentally agile. During our simple lunch, he finished every bit of food I
placed on his plate. He is truly an inspiring example for us all to follow – in
health, mental and social graces.
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| The adminstrators poses with Tan Sri Augustine Ong showing the book on MINDS he has presented to our school |
