Tan Sri Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Augustine S. H. Ong 's visit

28^th 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.

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.

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). 

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 1^st 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.

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. 

The adminstrators poses  with Tan Sri Augustine Ong showing
the book on MINDS he has presented to our school