McDonalds’ Talk

  The August edition of the Macdonald’s Talk was held on the 31^st of August. The speaker for this talk was Dr. Yeo Sze Ling.

  Dr. Yeo lost her sight at the age of four due to glaucoma. However, she was determined not to let her “disability” stop her from living a full life. She bravely embraced hard work, earning three degrees including a PhD in Mathematics and was awarded the A*STAR Graduate Scholarship and the National Scientist and Technology Award. Her passion and unstinting efforts in mentoring visually disabled youths at the Society for the Physically Disabled have helped others like her gain renewed hope and purpose.

  Throughout the talk, she shared with us her personal journey with Mathematics as a visually impaired. She shared her experiences on how she overcame the difficulties of studying without her sense of sight. This has greatly inspired all of us. Overall, this talk was very enriching and it taught all of us the values of perseverance and diligence.  

 Reflections:

The event was one that was organized for student councilors, by student councilors. In my opinion, it was a well-planned, highly organized and fruitful one. I was very impressed by the fact that the students could plan such an elaborate event and were able to keep it running almost flawlessly despite the little screw-ups here and there that they recovered from effortlessly. Even though we mostly faced awkwardness from our peers from the other schools, there was always someone to speak up and overcome the tension in between. There were a couple of unexpectedly knowledgeable leaders among the other schools too. This truly reminded me of the “don’t judge a book by its cover” phrase. Overall, the food was good, the venue was suitable, and it was a truly enriching experience
                                                                                                                          Raelene Kong


  I felt inspired and honored to have attended this talk by Dr Yeo Sze Ling. Dr Yeo lost her sight at the age of four but did not succumb to her disability. Instead, she went on to earn 3 degrees in Mathematics. She is now an outstanding Research Scientist at the Institute for Infocomm Research.
  I admire her perseverance which helped her to attain high achievements in Mathematics despite her impairment. The talk made me realize how fortunate I am to be able to study with no obstacles. As compared to Dr Yeo, who had to take extra effort to translate all her textbooks to Braille through her education years, I realized that I should not take things for granted.
  Lastly, I have learnt that determination is an important aspect that everyone must have in order to succeed. In Dr Yeo’s case, she must have put in a lot more determination and effort than all of us to be able to achieve what she has now. Hence, the talk had inspired me to do my best in everything that I do.
                                                                                                                            KiuHuiLing