For Eugene Tan (BAcc & BBM 2019), life is a journey – in his speech to his peers during Commencement on 30 July 2019, the SMU Class of 2019’s SPH Valedictorian recounted his four years in university as a voyage across rough seas. Despite the challenges, Eugene has emerged with an impressive list of accolades under this belt: he was a double award winner at his graduation ceremony, having also been named the DBS Bank School Valedictorian for School of Accountancy. In his final year, Eugene became the first student from a Southeast Asian university to clinch the prestigious Student Certificate of Distinguished Performance by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), for his outstanding score on the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam.
The newly-minted alumnus is now on the fast-track to achieving his CMA professional designation, and working as an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. What is his “secret” to navigating this journey that he has embarked on? He named two key motivations: a firm commitment to self-improvement, and a keen consciousness to give back. Read on for his full valediction:
Eugene delivering his valediction at SMU Commencement 2019's Opening Ceremony. He was also awarded the DBS Bank School Valedictorian Award for SOA.
“Four years ago, standing at the crossroads of NTU, NUS and SMU, I had set three goals for myself: To be a more confident speaker, to be a more critical thinker and most importantly, to give back to the community in any and every way I can. Taking a leap of faith, I chose the youngest university, which at that time branded itself as “A Different U”. Four years later, I am glad to say that I had made the right decision, and I have never looked back since.
Having set my eyes on my destination, I began my voyage with two key thrusters propelling me forward. Firstly, an unceasing desire to keep growing, learning and bettering myself; going through the challenging curriculum at SMU humbled me from the very beginning and constantly kept me on my toes, eager to learn and improve myself in all areas of my life.
A pursuit of academic excellence and global exposure brought Eugene (first from left) on an international exchange programme to The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvannia.
Secondly, a love for the community to give of whatever growth I’ve experienced back. Being part of a university that offers a plethora of opportunities to serve the school community avails me the avenues for giving back, be it in SOA Peer Tutors, The Mentoring Circle, or the Career Champions, of which are all very dear to my own heart. With an equal balance of both thrusters, I was able to move steadily in the right direction and inch ever closer toward my goals.
With a heart for the community, Eugene served on Project Neora, an Overseas Community Service Project (OCSP) to India. (Left photo: Eugene (3rd from right) with his team mates and the children from Neora Valley. Right photo: Eugene in action teaching the children about animals.)
Now that said, it is impossible for one to go through four years here in SMU without having faced a setback. Yet, amidst our greatest adversities, we all turned to something… and that something or someone helped us hang on, no matter how rough the seas got. For me, I am deeply thankful for my professors and friends here who constantly encouraged my heart, my family members who showed their unconditional love and support and most importantly, I thank God for His grace in seeing me through the storms of life.
Eugene (middle) in a group photo taken during Commencement 2019, with his SMU friends Kan Shing Chun (left) and Winston Yao (right) from School of Accountancy.
So here we are at the end of our voyage, battered and bruised by the challenges we’ve faced, but we’ve all made it to the end together, and haven’t we become stronger? Did I achieve the goals that I had set for myself four years ago? To a large extent, yes, and I believe many of you did as well! But is our journey then complete? Far from it! With each passing year, we discover new areas to work on and with a new phase of life ahead, a new voyage has just begun!
The journey ahead is not going to be a smooth-sailing one, the seas are going to be rougher and winds stronger than they’ve ever been; there will be struggles and disappointments. We may find ourselves hard-pressed on every side, but we shall not be crushed! Let us persevere with strength of mind and humility of heart, forging new memories and leaving our marks wherever we are called to be! Thank you!”
You may also be interested in the story of: Class of 2019's SMU SPH Salutatorian and CIRCLE Award Winner, Tan Rui Feng (BBM & BSocSc 2019). Check it out here.
