No O level cert, but TP student wins Lee Kuan Yew award
He was so sure he would struggle with O levels that he prepared extra hard for his N levels to avoid it.
"I realised that I was going to struggle if I had to take O levels, so I started going for lessons and seeking consultations to improve my grades," said Mr Eyo Wei Chin, now 21.
Five years on, he is the first student from Temasek Polytechnic (TP) to receive the Lee Kuan Yew Award without an O-level qualification.
His score of nine points for N levels qualified him for the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP), which allows N-level students to gain direct entry into polytechnic courses. Interested in information and technology, Mr Eyo enrolled in TP's diploma in cyber and digital security programme.
"(The foundation programme) was a way of bridging the education level between secondary school and polytechnic," he said.
"I learnt how to give a good presentation (and) one module taught the logic behind programming."
HIGH REGARD
Not only did he finish with a perfect cumulative GPA and as top student of his course, his final-year project, a USB malware detection tool, has earned him high regard from industry experts including ST Electronics (Info-Software Systems) and the Government IT Security Incident Response Team.
The tool acts as a portable isolated environment to test foreign USB devices for virus.
Although he has yet to complete his national service, Mr Eyo has been offered an undergraduate scholarship by the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies, an agency under the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Eyo said: "I hope to be able to work in the cyber security industry one day."
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