which means Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty. This was my school motto from CHIJ.
Something about me.. this morning I received an email from CHIJ Alumni ( my alma mater ). Its about connecting and finding old girls... Alumni.. Upon receiving the mail, I jumped out of bed ( ya... cool wireless allows me to check email from the bed ) and read the email again in more detail. It was only hours later that I realise how important my alma mater is to me...
I spend a total of 3+6+4+2 years in 4 different Catholic schools. 3 years of kindergarten, 6 years of elementary, 4 years of high school and 2 years in Junior College. Of the 15 years, 10 was in CHIJ TP( Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus ). I don't know when and why my school patriotism started but it did.... I think the story goes somewhat like this...
About a decade ago, a very wise, very caring teacher became my home tutor ( form teacher of my class ) She told the class to use Writing Paper with the school logo on it. She refuse to mark any assignments that was not written on the school's writing paper. ( yeah... in singapore, we have writing paper with our school's logo printed on it ) Sister Patricia ( yes she is a nun ) said;
Girls, please remember to use the school's writing paper, because, if you dont use it, no one will. Do you think the girls from other school can use our school's paper ? The same goes for your uniform, if you dont wear it proper, no one will , because its your school. Have pride in your IJ uniform. Wear it well... Along with tonnes other 'rules' on how a convent girl should behave, skirt should be long enough, pressed and hair tied up... One can only have navy blue ribbons on her hair, no more than 3 hair clips and earings should be no more than 6mm in diameter.. The list goes on...
( Sai, if you are wondering why I am so fussy and picky sometimes... maybe this will solve part of the mystery.. )
And when we sat for our Primary School Leaving Examinations and had to chose our secondary schools, everyone in the class had ( strongly encouraged ) to put CHIJ Secondary TP as our first choice... most of us did and 99.9% of us ended up in CHIJ Secondary. The rules from the Primary school was brought over to Secondary school. Same school uniform, same school compound, same school song and school rules !
In Secondary school, the pride grew, it was easy to walk into class with the same girls that went to school with you just last year- it was almost effortlessly. Girls that came to school from other primary school found it a little harder but they did well.. ( most of them probably came from one of the other 11 sister schools anyways )
Hanging out after school in the Malls was frown upon but we do it anyways... we are teenagers, we need to rebel from time to time but most of us wore our uniform with pride. CHIJ is a good school and we get an well-rounded education. We excelled in ECAs, have good academic records, spoke good english and we were taught to be young ladies... Every morning at assembly, there would almost always be a prize to be given out. Whether is a B or C Division Netball, Debates at National Level, the Choir with their SYF Gold awards or Achievements at Track and Field events, Swim Team.......
8 class of 40 girls each on each grade makes 320 X 4 students in the school. Its hard to say that I've never met you before. Considering how we even share recess times, science labs, assemblies in the hall. We even share washrooms ! Girls always goes to the bathroom together and IJ girls are no different.... The toilets was the focal point for gossips or the much needed break from a boring physics class. Needless to say, being in a call girls school. we dont even bother going to the washroom to change into attire for P.E
Singing the school songs, reading and understanding the words made us proud... After 10 years... I can almost say that I can sing the school song in my sleep and not go 'off-key'.
Entering Catholic Junior College with 50% of the girls coming from CHIJ ( IJ for short ) did not make it any easier... we still hang out as IJ Girls as a group. There is a certain kind of crazy bond between IJ girls, they can hit off the minute they meet. You can be from IJ TP or IJ KC or IJ St Theresa's . You are an IJ Girl. We appear to be very exclusive ( even though we are not , ok... maybe we are sometimes ) and we appear to be snobs to many other schools. But IJ girls bond fast, there is nothing we can do about it !
AHHHHH.... memories...... that we share....
The Singapore Straits Times Said : You can take a girl out of the convent but you can never take the convent out of the girl.
We celebrated our 150th anniverary last year. That is 150 years of educating girls. 150 years of convent girls..There are SOOOO many of us out there ! This is me, Just Me, Celine.. a convent girl. Proud to be an old girl !
To all you CHIJ TP girls out there, I have the link to the alumni group. Email me for the link !
Singing to myself as I go to bed... my school song.
Forward CHIJ forge a future bright
Advancing our aims with zeal and might
Guide us in our studies, O Lord we pray
Wisdom, courage and charity
Strengthen in us each day
Solidly united in our motto sound
Simple in virtue, strong in duty bound
Loyal to our isle we will ever be
Defending and serving our country
Noble in ambition, thought, word and deed
Rally round CHIJ, we will strive to succeed
Solidly united in our motto sound
Simple in virtue, strong in duty bound
