A pillar of support for the student community

To CHUA Cheng Ling, Year 4, Data Science and Analytics, the greatest takeaway from his experiences as a student leader is the importance of building a strong community, especially since community bonds are a strong part of NUS’ culture.

He served as President of the NUS Students’ Science Club in Academic Year 2018/2019 and was appointed Vice President (External) of the NUS Students’ Union in Academic Year 2019/2020.

We speak to Cheng Ling about the mantle of student leadership.

What do you hope to achieve as a student leader?

I hope to be able to make a difference to the community in NUS and to those around me. I would like to inspire other students to take on leadership positions and gain understanding that student leadership is not just a title “in name”. We deal with very real problems that matter to all students.

Share a key moment from your student leadership experience.

I am involved in a variety of student life matters, from orientation to school-wide issues. One of the more significant matters was working with NUS’ Global Relations Office on managing overseas exchanges in 2019 and 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak. Students’ overseas study arrangements were greatly affected. We had to act fast to resolve these problems. My NUSSU team mates and I assisted in seeking solutions and communicating information to affected students. There were also issues such as international students’ housing – we engaged various stakeholders to find places for them to stay.

Tell us more about a particular cause that you are championing.

Currently, I believe that the most important cause is the safe transition into an endemic COVID-19 state. When I think back to my experiences as a freshman and losing the opportunity to go on an overseas exchange, I am driven to do what I can so that this does not happen to my juniors. It is my hope that opportunities for in-person community building and overseas learning can resume in the near future.

How do you juggle academics with your leadership commitments?

I try to slot in study times during breaks in discussions with other student leaders or my other leadership commitments. I also make it a point to plan my entire schedule like a timetable, where I treat my work as a student leader as another NUS “module”. This helps me to plan and manage my workload.