A String of Good News

It's been a special week filled with a string of exciting news.

First, Eric "the maths guy" secured a conditional scholarship from USM to pursue post-grad studies in top universities! For those not in the know, Eric is my friend since day 1 in Keat Hwa Secondary School, a model student and the record holder as a class monitor for 6 consecutive years. To quote from someone in his blog, he naturally exudes an aura of an professor, and his students are amongst the most fortunate people in the world. I was absolutely thrilled when I read his post about the scholarship. Eric is simply fabulous, and I can't congratulate him enough for his feat.

A few days later, I came across a news about four Malaysians who were admitted to MIT this year. At first the news seemed unrelated to me, but upon further reading, I was utterly surprised. Wei Jian, one of my secondary school juniors was one of the admittees! The whole Malaysian education blogosphere was hustling with the excitement over this record-number admittance, and I could say I am one of the happiest soul upon hearing the news. Why?

Because I used to dream of going to MIT last time.

Seeing someone close to me realize my dream gives me some kind of, how should I place it, satisfaction-by-proxy. Wei Jian used to be involved in IMO and maths olympiad competitions together with me, and in an occasion I used to be one of the "tutors" in preparation for the competitions. I would be lying if I said I played a part in his success, because I didn't help out much. And certainly he achieved so much more than me, with three consecutive participations in IMO and now, MIT admittance. It's not that I had any part to play with his achievements, but I do feel genuinely happy and proud of him. I begin to understand why teachers derive such great satisfaction from their job, even it's not exactly similar in my case.

I extend my heartiest congratulations to Eric and Wei Jian. Hope that they make full use of their opportunities in the land of liberty.