Yale-NUS celebrates Family Day
From residential college tours to a family BBQ, Yale-NUS families came together to experience college life on campus.
Families gained insights about the College’s plans during the panel discussion by Yale-NUS College President and Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) Joanne Roberts, Associate Dean of Students Cory Owen and Visiting Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) and Director of Academic Affairs Pareena Lawrence. (Image provided by Rachel Tey (Class of 2024) for Yale-NUS College)
The Yale-NUS community welcomed their families to campus on 15 October 2022 for Family Day, the first in-person family event on campus since 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Performance Hall was brimming with family members of Yale-NUS students mingling with residential staff, as our campus warmly embraced their presence once more, in true college fashion, with a freshly brewed cup of coffee from student-run coffee cart Brewhouse.
Yale-NUS College President and Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) Joanne Roberts kicked off the day with her welcome address, outlining the importance of collaborating with families and alumni to build the College’s legacy, beyond 2025. Vice President (Engagement) and Senior Lecturer of Social Sciences (Global Affairs) Trisha Craig further expanded on these themes, highlighting the numerous ways in which the College would continue to focus on providing students the best possible Yale-NUS experience, including the creation of a parents and families newsletter to update parents on College activities, allowing them to remain increasingly in touch with the College. A discussion panel with President Roberts and Associate Dean of Students Cory Owen followed, moderated by Visiting Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) and Director of Academic Affairs Pareena Lawrence. The panellists shared their numerous experiences developing and upholding the close-knit residential community and culture of care and support built on diverse viewpoints that Yale-NUS embodies, through active and direct communication with the student body. Parents had a fruitful dialogue with the panellists, who reassured them with the ongoing preparations for building networks with alumni and parent institutions Yale and NUS, ensuring student wellbeing with access to counselling service and broadening the liberal arts academic experiences with international study abroad programmes and internship opportunities facilitated by the College.
Families were then given insights into the life of a Yale-NUS College student, with the opportunity to partake in sample lectures, residential college tours and lunch in the dining halls. Meeting the Rectors of the three colleges and dining in the halls no doubt enabled our families to become a little more familiar with residential life. The topics covered by the sample lectures- from the neuroscience of the brain, to healthy child-parent attachment relationships and resilience and success in college life gave them a glimpse into the rich academic content that Yale-NUS students are exposed to. On sharing her college life with her family, Abigail Tey (Class of 2024) said, “It was a great experience introducing my family to my second home.” A panel by the Centre for International and Professional Experience (CIPE), featuring Director of Career Services Norvin Ng, Senior Programme Manager (International Programmes) Benjamin Van Son, Programme Manager Nurul Jihadah Hussain and moderated by CIPE Director Nilanjana Pal, also gave families more insight on CIPE’s role in assisting students with post-career opportunities, internships and study abroad and Learning Across Boundaries (LABs) programmes.
Entertaining performances at Family Day by our talented students. (Image provided by Tan Shan Min (Class of 2023) for Yale-NUS College)
After a day packed with activities, our families gathered in the Performance Hall to wind down with some entertaining performances, courtesy of the Yale-NUS gospel choir, the Society of Yale-NUS Dancers (SYNCd) and songs from singer-songwriter (Class of 2024) Mpiwa Gwindi’s debut album. The day ended with families, faculty and students enjoying a BBQ dinner together in the Oculus, closing an exciting and fulfilling day on campus.
