Evelyn Phua – Class of 2024

A disciplined and passionate advocate for the environment, Evelyn has demonstrated unwavering commitment to sustainability throughout her time in Eunoia Junior College. From personally collecting and sorting recyclables to ensuring more effective waste management on campus, she has led by example, proving that small, consistent efforts can contribute to meaningful change. As she embarks on a new journey as a naval officer, she reflects on the challenges she has faced, the lessons she has learned, and the values that continue to drive her forward:

“Initially, like many JAE students, I was very worried; integrating into a JC with three feeder schools, coping (ie. doing well) with new subjects and trying to build a strong portfolio. Despite my hopes, many of those things had not gone as planned and I hadn’t involved myself in many other activities either. Although, in spite of my struggles, I learnt to put my heart into other issues like the environment. During my two years, I have collected waste papers, primarily  cardboard from around school as well as the bookshop (occasionally plastic bottles), to recycle at material-specific bins. While EJ does have blue bins and recycling bins on campus, blue bins are mostly for general recyclables and the recycling bins were treated more like trash bins containing rubbish which contaminates the recyclables. Thus they tend to not be properly utilised hence I opted for more intentional recycling. Personally, this ‘project’ was more of a habit because I believed it is meaningful to put in just a bit more effort to ensure recycling becomes a slightly more effective process in environmental protection. While the effort relative to the problem was small, and I still got odd stares every now and then, it was a simple matter of it being better than nothing and hoping that these small efforts would accumulate and someday effect some degree of improvement.

I would like to thank the teachers and non teaching staff for their unwavering support for my ‘project’. From contributing to my efforts, providing me with trolleys, allocating space to act as my recycling point and believing in my initiative, I am thankful for all the administrative support given to me to make my processes much more efficient.

I would also like to thank my classmates 23-U5 for being a source of comfort amidst the struggles. Thank you for being a listening ear to my many concerns and the much needed manpower to carry around all my recyclables.

Besides the environment, another area that I feel strongly for is international relations. That, together with the desire to protect the things I care for had led me to enlist and pursue a career as a naval officer.”