Reflections on Form 6

It's been a while since I last updated my blog so this post is going to be a bit long. Since today is the second anniversary of the start of my time as a Form 6 student, I decided to do some reflection on my experiences as a Form 6 student.

Time really does fly. It's hard to believe that's it's been 2 years since I entered Lower 6 on May 12, 2008.

I still remember how excited I was on that bright May morning that I was about to enroll in Form 6. I remember getting up early and heading to SMK SAS together with my dad to register in Lower 6 there. The registration went smoothly though I was disappointedto discover that SMK SAS would only be starting their Lower 6 orientation a week later. Since there was nothing else to do, my dad sent me home after registration. When I got home, I had nothing else to do so I just sat around looking bored. My mum then came to the rescue. She said she heard that SMK BU3 was opening a Form 6 class. Since my brothers were studying in Bu3, asked if I wanted to go there to check things out. I said yes and so we headed out to BU3.

When we got there, we discovered that it was SMK BU and not SMK BU3 that was opening a Form 6 class. So we headed over to SMK BU and the rest as they say is history. Anyway when we got to SMK BU, the Lower 6 orientation had already started. I was impressed that an ew school like BU was eager to get started while an old school like SAS wanted to bide its time. SMK BU 1-0 SMK SAS :P When I got to the school, I met Pn Hasni, Pn Chia and Mr Lau and talked to each of them a while. I remember trying to persuade Pn Chia to let students take 5 subjects for STPM telling her that if SMK BU allowed students to do so, I would transfer over from SMK SAS. I joined the orientation program a while. It was the day I first met JG, Kang, Gaya and Komathi. I already knew Sean as I used to play football with him back when he lived in TTDI. I saw PK in school as well but she left early. I also left early that day. I remember Cik Ng tried to stop me but I left for home anyway :P I remmeber JG telling me he wondered how the the teachers were going to differentiate us in class later as we shared the same first name. By the time I went home that day, I was 70% sure that I wanted to transfer to SMK BU.

I attended the rest of the Lower 6 orientation that week. I remember we had to help organize rhe teacher's day celebrations on Friday, May 16 2008. I remember Pn Chia appointing me to lead the organization effort. I guess even then she already felt I was the right person to become leader of the Form 6 students. I hope I lived up to her expectations.

After 1 week in SMK BU, I still wasn't 100% sure I wanted to transfer there and I wanted to give SAS a chance. So I attended the SAS orientation from 20-22 May 2008. By the end of the SAS orientation, I was 90% sure I wanted to transfer to SMK BU. Adter SAS orientation was the mid-year school holidays so I had time to make a final decision about my pre-u studies in peace. During the holidays, I attended the KBU open day as a part of me was still thinking of doing A-levels. By the end of my visit to KBU I had made a final decision, I was doing Form 6 at SMK BU. It is a decision which I have never regretted.

Looking back now, I can say that Form 6 did not turn out the way I had expected it to. I thought I would be a studious nerd as I was initially aiming for a CGPA 4.0 in my STPM. Now that Form 6 is over, I'm thankful I didn't become a studious nerd as I now know that I would never trade all my experiences during Form 6 and all the lessons I learned for a 4.0 CGPA.

Form 6 was like a second chance for me, a chance for me to achieve things I had always wanted to achieve, a chance for me to atone for past mistakes and a chance for personal redemption for past failures. It was also a chance for me to consolidate the new beginning in my life which had started during my exchange year in Germany in 2007.

And what a second chance and a new beginning Form 6 turned out to be! I achieved my dreams of becoming a head prefect, of becoming a top student in a graduating class of winning a real gold medal, of delivering a valedictory(farewell speech) at my own graduation. There were also other special moments, like finishing in the top 30 for the school merentas desa, leading a perbarisan group during school sports day for the first time in my life, coaching softball players who were selected for MSSS and many other moments.

But more important that all my achievements in Form 6 was the fact that I found great friends! They were unlike any friends I had before and I probably won't find friends like them ever again since Uni life and working life is rather different from school life. They were friends who supported me during good times, friends who let me hang out with them and who actually remembered my birthday! More importantly, they were friends who stood by me through all the challenges and down times I faced during Form 6 and for that I will always be grateful. Thanks guys! I hope that I was there for them too when they needed me.

I hope and pray that I will never forget the times in Form 6 which I shared with my friends. I will always cherish the memories of all our outings, trips, open houses and birthday celebrations. I still remember the first class birthday celebration in Form 6 was for Hui Leng and I remember Pn Wong spoiled the surprise :P ( Roy's b'day celebration since it only involved the ex-bud4 students and it wasn't a class celebration. I remember he got condoms for his b'day though :P ) I remember the first Form 6 trip was to parliament and I remember Cikgu Zul fell asleep during the parliamentary sitting :P I remember camwhoring in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. The Penang trip was of course a high point and it was unforgettable! I only regret thay I could not spend more time in Penang with my friends :( Now whenever I visit to the island of my birth, I will look back nostalgically to the magical time I had there with them. The Genting trip was also good as we faced our fears together. There are of course many other occasions which I remember but they are too many for me to blog about for now.

To all my dear Form 6 friends, you all have been great! You guys are really sweated bananas(credit to Ches for coining the term ;) ) but I'm a sweated banana too and proud of it! Though there have been times when we've fought and had our differences with one another, I'm glad that we've managed to overcome those obstacles and remained friends. As Shakespeare said, " Alls well that ends well" :) Though we have begun going our separate ways, I hope that we will never forget one another and that we'll still do our best to keep in touch and that we'll remain friends for years to come ;) I wish everyone all the best for the future! I'll miss all of you though I'm already looking forward to our future class reunions ;)

I could go on blogging about my time in Form 6 but I might never stop so I'll end this post with a quote from Nobel Prize winning humanitarian Albert Schweitzer "Das einzig Wichtige im Leben sind die Spuren von Liebe, die wir hinterlassen, wenn wir weggehen" This is the English translation according to Google "The only important thing in life are the traces of love we leave behind when we go away" To all my dear Form 6 friends, all of you have left traces of your love in my heart and in my life and I hope that I have done the same for all of you too ;)