The James Stewart '32 Theater is close to capacity. The applause dies as the audience waits for the next writer to read her work. Ruby Pan '06 steps up to the microphone and leans in closely.
"Joyce Carol Oates is all about letting us do our own thing, so this is a little unconventional," she says. "It's a monologue. So here we go."
Her tone changes and her speech quickens. The audience leans in to listen as Pan becomes her character — a young girl immersed in the Singapore nightlife.
The audience bursts into laughter at her comedic piece, but Pan maintains her composure.
An English major with a love for theater and the arts, Pan is one of several Princetonians sponsored by their home countries.
The Singapore government pays for Pan's tuition, room and board and books — in exchange for her service after graduation.
Singapore designed the Public Service Commission program to enable its citizens to benefit from the finest educational institutions available in the world. But instead of simply sending students on their way, the government asks them to give back.
"It's a way for them to stop migration," Pan said. "They want people with these great educations to come back to their home countries and work there as opposed to staying in America."
Receiving government sponsorship is a mark of high prestige in Singapore. The country's "streaming system" benefits gifted children early on. Throughout primary, middle and high school, students are arranged according to their aptitudes.
Coming to Princeton without Singapore's sponsorship would have been a substantial burden for Pan's family.
The tuition and expenses would have come out of her mother's pension — an asset Pan did not want to drain.
"It really helps people like me out — and, of course, Singapore benefits as well," Pan said.
Educator and artist
Pan was marked as a gifted child early on and worked hard throughout her education. During junior college — the last two years of high school — she chose to undertake the immense challenge of applying for a sponsorship to attend Princeton.
Students go through a multi-step process, beginning with the Cambridge Exam which is similar to the SAT. From the most gifted pools, applicants take more tests that measure aptitude, I.Q. and personality. After the exams, students write application essays and are grilled by a panel of seven officials.
Applicants choose one of several tracks — ranging from law to foreign affairs — all corresponding to a program in the government. Very early in the application process, students also select their career upon return to Singapore.
"It's really hard to make these kinds of decisions at age 18," Pan said. "I know people who are not too far from graduating who still don't know what they want to do."
To fulfill the duties of her scholarship, Pan will teach in Singapore public schools. After one year of training, she will teach for several years and eventually work for the Ministry of Education. But she does not intend to stay with the federal education system and ultimately hopes to pursue a career in the arts.
Nurturing a long-held love of writing, Pan has enrolled in several creative writing courses.
"The entire creative writing department is so supportive," she said. "It's because of these people that I'm getting close to finding my voice — and that's very exciting."
Pan is currently co-writing a play, a friend's senior thesis project. Her current efforts taught her the challenges of collaborating and also shed new light on one of her passions.
She hopes her talent and efforts will motivate Singapore's arts community and help to open doors for experimental art in the country.
"I'm locked in as an English major — but I think I'm gaining the tools now that will help me down the line," Pan said.
Policymaker
Unlike Pan, Su Mei Ho '05 is on an open scholarship, also sponsored by Singapore's civil service. Early in her Princeton career, however, Ho became dissatisfied with her major.
She originally declared to the government that she would be a molecular biology major. Many students who study the natural sciences, however, end up with lab jobs.
"But I thought more seriously about it — it just wasn't really what I wanted to do," Ho said.
Because Singapore schools teach little or no politics and do not provide a real social science-based education, Princeton first exposed Ho to these fields. By her sophomore year, Ho decided to become a Wilson School major.
Ho said she learned the most valuable skill at Princeton — the importance of questioning systems and assumptions — not only through her major, but also through the University's intellectual setting.
One of the highlights of her Princeton academic experience was her spring task force, which focused on U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan. The chance to become very familiar with issues concerning Asia gave Ho a taste of what she might want to do for Singapore's civil service.
Her scholarship also gave her the opportunity to see firsthand what she could do after graduating.
In the summer after her sophomore year, she returned to Singapore and worked with the trade ministry. Despite mostly researching minor issues, she said she felt she had a real impact on Singapore's government policy.
Though many of her fellows in the program think of working in the public service as a mundane desk job, Ho looks upon the prospect with excitement.
"This is a great time for Singapore," she said.
Ho added that she believes as the people of Singapore become more interested in global issues, the government will follow suit and will have a whole new set of challenges.
"I'm interested in working with the domestic sector because I feel that I can make more of an impact with people," Ho said.
She will fly home after graduation to complete the sponsorship process. Another series of interviews will help her supervisors determine where they should place her within the ministries. Though she will not have direct control of her path after Princeton, she still sees Singapore's program as a great opportunity for students who want to have a unique experience after college.
"It's a good start for someone fresh out of university," she said.
A philosopher
Xiuhui Lim '05, another Singapore open scholarship recipient, won the country's President's Award — the scholarship's highest honor. Considered to be a tremendous accolade, about two to five students are chosen each year for this distinction.
"I don't really know what I did to get it, but it's certainly an honor," she said.
Like many scholarship recipients, Lim first declared economics as a major.
"It was just practical," she said.
However, after taking several social science and philosophy courses, Lim felt engaged in a way of thinking she'd never before experienced.
During her sophomore year, she decided to switch to a philosophy major.
Lim said she is possibly the only student in the history of the scholarship program to successfully convince the Singapore government that philosophy is a practical major.
"I just wrote them a letter telling them what I want to do, what I've learned and how what I'm doing here at Princeton as a philosophy major will benefit the government," Lim said.
One of Lim's major concerns is Singapore's government-imposed censorship.
As many people in the nation are "morally conservative," there are very strict standards over communications and the arts.
In a more liberal country, Lim argues, intellectual and creative expression would go hand-in-hand, one complementing the other.
Lim is no stranger to arguing and debating policy. A junior fellow of the Human Values Forum, headed by professor Peter Singer, Lim has long been committed to intellectual discussion.
As a freshman, she took over as the organizer of the Whig-Cliosophic speaker series. She later became vice president of the organization and also founded the discussion-based magazine, "The Soap Box."
"You have to engage people," Lim said. "It's wrong to leave any issue undiscussed, no matter how controversial it may be."
Impressed by the quality of education at Princeton, Lim hopes to see reform back at home.
"Singapore needs to start teaching philosophy and really engaging students at a young age," she said.
Read More
PSafe increases patrols after Brown and Sydney attacks, says no threat to Princeton
Hayk YengibaryanThe email from campus officials follows a mass shooting at Brown University that took the lives of two students and injured nine others and a terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney.
The email from campus officials follows a mass shooting at Brown University that took the lives of two students and injured nine others and a terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney.
Dean of Graduate School hosts TigerSide Chat to celebrate 125th anniversary
Ambre Van de VeldePriestley highlighted Princeton’s continued leadership in graduate education, noting four new PhD programs just within the past three years: biophysics, bioengineering, quantum science, and material science engineering.
Priestley highlighted Princeton’s continued leadership in graduate education, noting four new PhD programs just within the past three years: biophysics, bioengineering, quantum science, and material science engineering.
‘I thought someone was playing a prank on me’: Princeton releases early action decisions for the Class of 2030
Hayk Yengibaryan and Benedict HooperConsistent with past practice, the University did not release data on the number of students admitted through Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA).
Consistent with past practice, the University did not release data on the number of students admitted through Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA).