On Saturday, August 3rd 2013, the ACS OBA hosted the 2nd ONE ACS Career Forum at ACS (Independent) for over 1,000 students, parents, alumni and staff of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, ACS (Barker Road), ACS (Independent) and ACS (International). Just like the inaugural forum the year before, the objective remained the same; to introduce different perspectives of a variety of professions in a candid and informal format so that the students were exposed to the diverse ways in which people make choices.

Unlike last year’s forum however, which had 4 sessions with 16 speakers, this year’s ONE ACS Career Forum got bigger and better with over 50 speakers from 9 different professions speaking on 5 simultaneous panels over 3 time slots. In addition to the more traditional panels of Law, Medicine, Banking & Finance, Engineering and Accounting, we introduced Media, Entrepreneurship and Communications, and the Civil Service. This format was designed specially to give students greater choice and increase the interaction with the speakers in smaller interest groups.

The speakers were all-ACSian and each panel was hosted by a moderator covering topics such as “Tell us about the Highs and Lows of your career” and “What a typical day in your profession is like?” This is meant to complement the existing career talks that the schools host individually and to give a more ‘up close and personal’ insight into what each career entails. In addition, there were plenty of opportunities for questions and answers as well as personal interactions with industry leaders.

The attendance was overwhelming, and from the feedback that the organizers received, both students and parents found the candor of the panelists to be insightful, thought-provoking AND entertaining! For all of the speakers, it was an opportunity to reconnect with other ACSians across the generations and refresh school connections.

The ACS OBA would like to thank the ONE ACS Career Forum 2013 Planning Committee and our speakers for all their time and effort and most importantly, for rising to our call to serve our ACS community. We are reminded that this is what makes ACS unique; the lifelong ties we have to the school. And of course, the passion to carry on our ACS tradition of humble service and loyalty.

"Our Hearts, Our Hopes, Our Aims Are One"