SINGAPORE – All she remembers is seeing a bulletin on the billboard below her Housing Board block, but that was enough for Ms Marianne Wang to start her journey of volunteering at just 12 years old.
She started out tutoring kids with non-profit Smart Guppy, and went on to volunteer with Youth Corps – an organisation that gives youth opportunities to serve their community – and Meet-The-People sessions.
Ms Wang, now 18, said that her parents grew up poor, but they worked hard and gave her the comfortable life she has today.
“I grew up having the awareness that someone worked hard to get me to where I am, making it is natural for me to give back and not take this privilege for granted,” she said.
Ms Wang is one of three 2024 President Scholarship recipients, awarded to those who are committed to serving the public, have good character, and are dedicated to making life better for Singaporeans.
This is the most prestigious of all undergraduate awards given out by the Public Service Commission. From Raffles Institution, Ms Wang, whose parents both work in the IT industry, will be heading to Harvard University in the United States to study economics and government.
Meeting diverse groups of people through volunteering or school has inspired her, Ms Wang said. “People describe me as driven, but this drive comes from the people I’ve met and who I volunteer alongside with.”
“I see people who are strong in academics, in arts and sports, and I work with the kindest volunteers, and they all add to different parts of me which has made me a versatile person.”
Fellow scholars Emily Tan, 19, from Raffles Institution, and Dylan Toh, 20, from Hwa Chong Institution, also started volunteering from a young age.
Ms Tan and Ms Wang both also received the Public Service Commission Scholarship, and Mr Tan the Singapore Police Force scholarship.
Including Ms Wang, the three recipients spent their youth volunteering, including sitting in for MPS’, where the stories they heard spurred them to want to do more for the community.
Ms Tan, whose mother is in the public service and father a researcher, will study economics at Stanford University in the US.
Mr Toh, whose father is in the armed forces and mother in the finance industry, will be pursuing data science at the University of California, Berkeley, in the US.
They received their scholarship awards from President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the President’s Scholarship Award Ceremony held at Shangri-La Hotel on Aug 13. The ceremony had about 60 guests in attendance, including Education Minister and Minister-in-Charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing, and Mr Tharman’s spouse, Ms Jane Ittogi.
Three receive President’s Scholarship; driven by desire to help others from young
