Familylane: Week of Shuan winning an iPod touch and receiving another scholarship award

On Wednesday during the week, Shuan attended a seminar at Ngee Ann Polytechnic for their "Science For Our Future" festival that featured a panel which included Nobel Laureate Barry Marshall. Prior to the seminar the participants were to submit questions online for the panel to answer. Shuan's question was found to be the best that was chosen to be answered by the panel. His reward was a brand new iPod touch!

Today Friday is his Award Presentation day for another year's scholarship at his college. His perfect GPA score of 4.0 for the first semester last year and consistent hard work after contributed to his success in winning the scholarship at his college again for another year! This accomplishment is added to our family blogpost that keeps track of the academic success of the boys in Singapore to date.

The following video and photos were taken during this special event to make up what I call a win win win or triple win week for the family:

Click the above screen to see the video clip or on this link if you don't see the screen.

Triple win because Shuan won his iPod touch and received his scholarship award...

... and the fact that we got to enjoy a nice banquet after is the third win ???

Nooooo......the real third win is when Mom in the morning, after a blood test at the hospital the previous day, got to meet with her doctor who looked at her test results to give a her thumbs up opinion!!! Her cancer markers are down and her blood platelets are up where she had in the previous month seriously needed a blood transfusion! She had to turn down or cancel several story telling assignments due too her weak condition since then but now the doctor told her Go Go Go!!! This event and other post dated events of Mom's health journey will be added to her 'Unstoppable Mom' post here.

Hurray to our truly unstoppable Mom!

For those curious as to what was the question that Shuan asked to win the iPod touch, here is an extract from facebook of the conversations that were going back and forth among family members and friends :

Han Chong
is IMMENSELY proud of his brother Shuan Chong who, invited as a scholar to the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Science for Our Future seminar that featured a panel which included Nobel Laureate Barry Marshall, won himself an iPod Touch by asking the best question!!!! =)

Wednesday at 10:40pm · ·

Cathy Lee, Melody Astrid Cross, Johann Oh and 12 others like this.

Han Chong ‎Su Min Chong Fei Wyatt Sun Fu Chong Geok Lee

Wednesday at 10:40pm ·
Geok Lee I'm so proud of you, Shuan Chong!

Wednesday at 11:10pm ·
Jeremiah Lim What was the question?

Wednesday at 11:38pm ·
Marion Tan Now Shuan Chong doesn't have to bug Chong Woon Ern when playing Unblock Me! :D

Wednesday at 11:38pm · · 2 peopleChong Woon Ern and Han Chong like this.
Jonathan Ong omg no wonder i thought he looked familiar!

Thursday at 2:25am · · 1 personLoading...
Sun Fu Chong Thats the way to go! www.fastlaneinfo.blogspot.com

Fastlane
www.fastlaneinfo.blogspot.com

Thursday at 6:55am · ·
Fei Wyatt Where's the "Love!" button?

Thursday at 7:48am ·
Christopher Wyatt Only in Singapore would they come up with an idea as cool as "win an iPod by asking the best question."

What was the question?

Thursday at 7:49am ·
Han Chong Haha we'll let the man speak for himself =) It definitely was a really good question!

Thursday at 8:00am ·
Geok Lee ‎Christopher Wyatt, the participants were given ample notice to think about the question too. Those interested would email their questions ahead of time. We need that kind of coaxing in Singapore otherwise we risk getting poor participation.

Thursday at 5:49pm ·
Sun Fu Chong I told Shuan many are now questioning to know what is the question he questioned but he replied only two persons questioned and didn't answer so can we have more people question him what was the question that he questioned? phew!!!

Thursday at 9:13pm ·
Shuan Chong My question was simply one that all the professors on the panel wanted to answer. I never thought it would be the best question as I felt it was very general-- yet, this was the biggest question that has always been bothering me! Actually I was shy to ask my simple question but this was my chance to have it answered by such succesful scientists! I couldn't let the opportunity slip away! However, to such a simple question, I received stunning answers and perspectives that I never thought of. I am really grateful for the chance to meet such distinguished people in the world!

Anyway, here is the question exactly the way I asked:

"There have been so many amazing breakthroughs and discoveries in the field of science. Sometimes it makes me think "What's left for me to discover?" Have you ever felt this way? How can we overcome this discouraging thought as potential future scientists?"

Just to share, my favourite answer was the one by Professor Carmen Lawrence (a psychologist) who said that the breakthroughs nowadays are not done by just one person. Often the problems are so complexed that it requires people of many diverse professions to work together and solve it. Thus we need to be skillful in our chosen field and build a strong network of professionals so that we can pull these people together whenever big issues arise. (especially world issues)
Well, of course she had good examples to elaborate her point and put it in a clearer and more convincing way than I did. From this answer, the take-home-message that I got was that it's not always about being *THE* person to discover something amazing or anything but rather being a contributer to serve a bigger purpose. My goal now is to be this contributer! =)