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Capturing those precious moments before saying farewell to school

They say school days are the best days of life. With more students heading out of the country for extended periods of time after graduation, that often means leaving behind these precious memories for good. Even for those who remain, our hectic schedules prevent us from visiting our alma mater or catching up with old classmates on a regular basis. At the quick rate that schools undergo refurbishment or relocation, there is a greater challenge to keep these memories intact!

In fact, just last year, it was announced that eight secondary schools would be merged into four, one of them being First Toa Payoh Secondary at Toa Payoh East which will merge with Bartley Secondary. It will operate out of Bartley’s campus from January 2016. First Toa Payoh students would certainly want to keep snapshots of memories of their old school before they move on.

At Kheng Cheng School in Lor 3 Toa Payoh, work will be carried out to redesign classrooms, the band room, dance studio and the performing arts studio. Again this year will be an opportunity for students to capture a piece of the past before the changes take place.  Here are some ideas to preserve physical memories so that you may reminisce the ’good old days’ with old friends, or with your future generations.

Go on a photography / selfie spree

You don’t have to wait for the last day of school to take a tour of the whole campus and snap lots of photographs. Having spent several years studying in the same place, many places should carry your stories; the running track where you won your first school medal, the library where you met the love of your life, the canteen where you ate and banter with your classmates, the car park where you said your last words of goodbye to your favourite teacher who retired, the toilet where you freaked out during Fright Night at freshman orienta- tion camp, or even the classroom where you spent the most time learning.

A friend reckons that if he had taken photos during his school days before his school got torn down decades ago, he would be holding on to a priceless archive of history. If you’re old enough, perhaps you might remember that black- boards and chalks were the norm for teaching tools, along with the creaky overhead projector with the yellow light and clear sheets. Today, they are replaced with Whiteboards and markers, laptops and screen projectors. These are the types of transitions our generation and beyond are able to easily document with the convenient accessibility of photography equipment, and we should not let it go to waste.

Coffee table books and throwback time

Now you’ve got the pictures, what next?

Leafing through a physical album of photos feels more personable than scrolling through your Facebook album or Instagram feed. This is especially so if you also put in some effort to decorate the book with things like doodles, captions, stickers and colourful paper. Place this album somewhere easy to retrieve so that you may take it out to reminisce from time to time or show it to the guests.

Of course, social media is still a better platform for connecting with your old friends. Once a week (Throwback Thursdays come to mind) or even just once a month, designate a day where you post an old photo or a few, and tag your old friends for an online reunion.

Personalised autorgraphs

It may be goodbye for a long time. Why not delight your friends by giving them five minutes of celebrityhood – having them autograph a printed portrait photo of themselves? (and encourage them to ask the same for you). These photos make amusing, treasured memorabilia if you intend to maintain the friendship. And who knows, you might hit the jackpot if your friend becomes someone rich and famous!

Trinkets on a corkboard

Corkboards are light, highly versatile plat- forms to decorate on or display. They can be mounted on the walls or angled against the wall on the table. With push pins, you can attach just about anything that is not too heavy or bulky to the board. Push pins and cork- boards are easily available at many places that sell office stationery, including Daiso. Photos, CCA badges, friendship bands, shoelaces are examples of items you can put on your board to remind you of those innocent, carefree and youthful days.

– This article first appeared in a lifestyle magazine