The ACSOBA continues to strive to be relevant to the alumni community. One of the challenges we face is how we can make the ACSOBA and its activities more and more relevant to the different demographics within our ACS family. One of the ways we wanted to address this, was to find a way to hear the concerns and feedback from the different demographics of the alumni. With this in mind, we decided to target a segment of alumni that were from the mid-20s to late 30s. We invited 2 ACSians from the cohorts of 1997 to 2003; they represented the institutions ACS (Barker Road), ACS (Independent) and ACJC. We planned for them to come down on a Saturday afternoon to give insights on how the ACSOBA can better serve the alumni needs.

On the Saturday afternoon of the November 17, 2018, the ACSOBA organised our inaugural Townhall for 24 boys and girls. The spirit and theme behind this latest initiative were ‘Building the ACS community together’.

The session opened with the president of the ACSOBA (Lim Tat) sharing the purpose of holding this Townhall. This was followed by the participants breaking up into smaller groups and voicing out their views to the ACSOBA Management committee members. These smaller cluster discussions allowed us to hear every participant’s views on this matter.

The lively discussions sparked off many insights and event ideas that were relevant to that demographic. Some suggestions include holding an ACS Alumni TED Talk, assisting cohorts in organising their significant anniversaries (eg 10, 20, 30 etc), organising industry gatherings and even offering mentorship programmes.

It was refreshing to hear from the represented group what they felt was the most important role that the ACSOBA could do at their current stage of life.

Towards the end of the Townhall, all the participants had the opportunity to get to know each other and hopefully forge new friendships amongst our ACS family.

The useful feedback from participants will enable the ACSOBA to chart new directions and provide activities and events that cater to the diverse interests of all ACSians

We look forward to ACSians stepping forward and building the ACS community together with us.

Jason Ho
OBA Management Committee Member