Students see their own ‘growth’ through school’s orchid hybrid programme
Students from Teck Whye Secondary School who had grown a "golden orchid" for the school's 50th anniversary which they named 'Dendrobium TWSS 50'. Back row, from left: Jeralyn Ching, 17, Ei Phyu Phyu Kyiwin, 18, Rubini Murugan, 17. Front row, from left: Sherilyn Loh, 16, Ridwan Hakim, 16, Raymond Hartono, 18. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY
SINGAPORE — The orchid plant holds many lessons for Raymond Hartono, but chief among them was learning to embrace the journey in all things, not just the end result.
Noting that he used to be “very results-oriented”, the 18-year-old alumnus of Teck Whye Secondary School said: “If I put in 100 per cent, then I expect to see the results immediately.” Then he learnt more about how orchids germinate and bloom, and applied it to his own reality.
Growing an orchid, from sapling to glorious bloom, takes around three years. Raymond, who is now a second-year student at Anderson Junior College, said: “It has taught me to be more patient and appreciative of processes.”
Teck Whye Secondary School is home to an orchid hybridisation programme, where students in the upper secondary level take part in workshops to learn more about how to hybridise the plant.
The programme is supported by funds from the Education Ministry, and the school works with industry partners such as botanists from orchid farms.
Secondary 3 students in the programme learn theoretical concepts relating to plant biology in the first half of their school year. In the second half, they visit an orchid farm to get hands-on experience in growing orchids.
Since the programme came about in 2011, some 280 students across five cohorts have tried their hands at hybridising orchids, and in other related activities such as gardening, marketing and selling of orchid products. They also learnt about conservation.
Last year, as part of the school’s 50th anniversary celebrations, students successfully cultivated the golden orchid — a hybrid named Dendrobium TWSS 50.
The school was mentioned by Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng in Parliament on Tuesday (March 7) as he sought to show how applied learning could help foster an entrepreneurial spirit.
“The simple project of experimentation goes to show the important role that schools can play in nurturing (qualities such as entrepreneurial dare, and a joy of learning),” he said.
For 17-year-old Jeralyn Ching, who finished her studies at the school last year, the programme has taught her the importance of teamwork — something she found useful in her current course of study in the polytechnic.
Her class, she recalled, had to redesign the school garden as part of the lesson plan, and while students had many different ideas about how they wanted the garden to look, they “soon learnt to compromise with each other” to decide on one design.
Jeralyn, a biomedical science student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, also told TODAY that the programme has “had some impact” in her choice of course in the polytechnic.
Another student from Teck Whye Secondary School, 16-year-old Ridwan Hakim, said that the programme fuelled his passion for botany. The Secondary 4 student, who grows cacti at home, noted that orchids needed much more care. Since he is “usually very careless”, Ridwan said that he learnt to be more meticulous not just in handling orchids but also in other areas of his daily life.
Madam Tang Li Tang, a biology teacher who oversees the school’s programme, observed that students tend to become more confident as well because they have to present ideas during lessons.
The school added that the orchid was chosen because it was more adaptable to its environment — something it hoped its students would be even after leaving school.
