It is super hard to blog about this topic because of the numerous things I want to talk about and I dread how long this post will be. That is why I have been procrastinating about doing this blogpost; although I have always wanted to document my experience, just like how I did for my secondary school.
Also, I need to have the feels before I blog, and usually they come past midnight (aka late night thoughts) but that would be too close to sleeping time.
So after getting my feels from reading my friends' blogs, as well as googling about ACJC, i'm glad to say: I'm ready. I will try to categorise my content as much as possible, starting off with impressions and the environment of the school, followed by major events which occurred, then by the education and social aspect of the school, and lastly some random musings.
Impression
Before I enter the school, I already have some general impressions of the school, mainly from online forums. The common stereotypes would be: rich, snobbish, good looking people, 'ang mo pai', sporty, and last but not least, a party school - which all i wouldn't deny.
I still remember during orientation, my og mate has an ACSI dude (who eventually became the SC president), and the first thing which came to my mind was - wah must be rich guy. Then my og mates and I went to jokingly ask him how he entered the school and then rubbed our thumb and index finger at the same time, gesturing the idea of money HAHAH. But luckily he is open to jokes and just laughed it off, and in fact he got thru points.
I also remember an ACSI classmate who was in frisbee too, and I asked him how did he go to ACSI everyday. Then he told me MRT, and I was surprised LOL. I thought all the ACSI students have their rich parents send them to school in their luxurious kick-ass cars.
So what is this 'rich' stereotype all about? Basically yes indeed, majority of ACSI people come from wealthy backgrounds, but not all. As for ACJC which is a government institution unlike ACSI, there are many affluent students around too, and i can safely assume majority of students here pretty well-to-do. Like for instance, just my class alone, more than 75% of my classmates live in private housing like condo, semi d etc.
How about them being snobbish? I would say that stereotype is false. And just like any other places, there will be bound to be arrogant people, but thankfully none of them are in my social circle.
I didn't know that ACJC is known to be a JC niche in sports until my ex-classmate told me. And indeed, guys in AC are indeed fit and sporty; there are many jocks around. With such a spacious private gym known as SuperGym, where there are literally a duplicate of every machine for sufficient use, it is no wonder. AC also place a high emphasis on sports, where there are intensive PE sessions every week including swim PE lessons which I find super cool, and also it gives out the exclusive white collegiate every year to fit sportsmen and women who excelled in the NAPFA test. AC also bagged many awards from many sports ccas where many are placed in the top 4, with several ccas like softball, waterpolo, netball etc winning champion titles. I'm glad AC had made me a fitter person haha.
Undeniably, there are many ACSians who speak really good english, some also with their ang mo accents. In fact, don't let the 'Chinese' in "Anglo-Chinese Junior College" fool you: we are actually bad at chinese. I was lucky that I didn't have to take chinese in JC due to HCL, but from what I see, students often hold little regard for chinese, and chinese teachers usually have a hard time. You can also see from how the chinese language is rarely spoken in AC, well, except during chinese lesson (I guess?). I guess this is mainly because many of the students come from ang mo pai schools like MGS, ACSI, ACS barker, st marg, etc. But I'm glad I have learnt how to speak english with a proper accent too heh.
If there is one distraction that is predominant in ACJC, I would say the pretty girls HAHA. It is no doubt there are many good looking people around - guys included - as seen from day 1 where people are already scouting for chio bu. And as month pass, the chio bu database gets bigger, and more detailed of course. My guess for such a phenomenon is that there are many rich parents sending their children to institutions affiliated to ACJC, and these moms are pretty good looking (or dads), and so obviously their child will be too right? (if you are genetically lucky) So like that lor, But really, there is not once where the void deck is void of them, and thus it is a distracting place, so i advise you don't study there ;)
When I first entered the main building of ACJC where the general office is, I was surprised about my whereabouts. What's the 4 lifts doing there, along with a huge spiral staircase which leads to the 2nd storey? Am I in an office building? Well, no. And the 2nd storey is where the school halls is. Best part? We can take the lifts to our classes (up to 7th floor) YAY. Ok tbh, ACJC really has an abundant of facilities. I get to enjoy sitting on chairs in an aircon hall which extends to LT1 everyday. Sitting at the LT and can't see the stage? Fear not. There is a screen at the side screening what's taking place at the stage (they have camera projectors of some sort). Even the people sitting at the side of the hall are not neglected as they have big-ass televisions at the front to screen the entire view of the stage as well. There are also CPA building (central of performing arts) where there is an auditorium, performing arts rooms and classrooms which can be used, void deck, sports complex, music centre (where the squash court is, strangely) etc. In all, I would say I'm blessed.
One thing I gotta love is the ACJC uniform, and also the college shirts too! I have well over 20 college based shirts ranging from collegiates, funorama, cca dragon tees, house tees to squash and frisbee jerseys! Really great way to cultivate a sense of pride and belonging to AC yea?
ACJC, being a methodist school, has a significant portion of the population being christian. Thus, every monday, there will be a chapel lasting for 1h after assembly to worship the lord. They will start and end off with live student bands (usually from Christian Fellowship) singing christian songs (which are annoyingly catchy) and then a pastor lecturing/presenting in the middle part - which I, being a non-christian, will usually sleep through. But be prepared too to see many tired souls dozing off throughout the hall as we survive with barely 6h of sleep everyday.
Many students, even the principal, would say that a social hierarchy is strongly present in AC. Yes that's true, where you clearly know who the popular people are, which usually are talented or good looking bunch. But tbh it doesn't bother me as it doesn't really affect me, unless there is someone around trying to be popular or sucking up to those popular ones which can be annoying.
One thing I love about AC is the culture. It is usually easy to mix around in AC, and most people are really friendly. In fact, one thing that keeps me going throughout the days in school is who I would meet in the walkways - be it og mates, cca mates etc, their greetings and small talks will make up my day. I mentioned before that I was disappointed I did not feel a sense of belonging to my secondary school, but I'm grateful ACJC has given me that, along with a sense of pride. You can see pride beaming from ACSians when they cheer at the big matches for A' divisions for various sports. The sense of camaraderie is what makes AC a choice I don't regret.
Continue reading on part 2 here
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