By Yee
Ling, NCBV Batch 11 Jan 08' intake
“525,600
minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600
minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In
daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches,
in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600
minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?”
-Seasons of Love, Rent
To the
graduating students of the NCBV batch 10, their journey in Philadelphia had come a full circle on June
26, 2008
at the grand Downtown Club in Center City Philadelphia. Gracing this graduation
ceremony as the guest of honor was Mr Bhairav Trivedi, founder of Payquik, who
had previously participated in the NOC program. In his opening address, he
emphasized on the importance of being open-minded and sensitive to potential
market opportunities as an entrepreneur.
His
address was promptly followed by the certificate presentation ceremony. Despite
the limited airtime, not unlike in an elevator pitch, the NCBV July Batch 10
poured out feelings of sweat, frustration, anger, effort, tears, blood and now
triumph during this year long journey. Tears brimmed in the eyes of those who
listened on, as they too were touched by the students’ nostalgic recount of
their NOC experiences. This one precious minute certainly did not do justice to
the entire year of lessons learnt and meaningful experiences gained, all of
which have helped them grow into mature and enterprising individuals. For the
batch 11 students, it was a reminder that it would be their turn next to
graduate in 6 months from the NOC program.
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Batch 10 in their final picture together in
Philadelphia
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The special segment that
followed after the cocktail reception was especially poignant for the departing
batch 10 students. Yong Ann had specially created a video capturing all the
fond moments worth reliving. And after that? NCBV students’ favorite activity—Photo
time!
As He Fangyuan, NCBV Batch 10 had
mentioned in her speech, this farewell is but the beginning of a new chapter
for everyone. The year long internship and intensive entrepreneurial lessons
had given our graduating batch the confidence to become the successful
individuals they aspire to be. On behalf of all of batch 11, let us wish them
all the very best in their future endeavors.
"Going on NOC felt
like a frog jumping out of a deep well. Where for the longest time I hear about
the world out there, while staring at my little piece of sky. I
now experience for myself how big the world really is. The feeling
can only be described as liberating!"
- Li Zongyin, Batch 10 Jul 07'