Library Newsletter First Issue
PROMOTION OF THE LIBRARY Updates on Our Recruitment!
LIBRARIAN EXPERIENCE First-hand information of the taste as a librarian
SPECIAL Feature INTERVIEW WITH ALUMNI! Featuring Yannie Choi, SPCC 2012 - 2018
SPCC's
Amazing September - October 2018 | Issue
Library
where we EXPLORE & DISCOVER
Top Patrons x Message
Promotion
Librarian Experience
1. Liu Ho Ming 1C09 2. Kim Isaiah 1G03
3. Wong Yuek Lam 4H15
Top Patrons x 3 Interview with Yannie
Dear schoolmates, Hello, we are Ivy and Kenaz from the librarian team, the newly appointed editors-in-chief. It’s the beginning of the school year, and like other clubs and societies, the librarian team will be recruiting librarians from F2 to F5 soon! This issue, our librarians will share with you their experiences in being a librarian, and if you find it interesting, you can sign up on the google form provided. In addition, we have also interviewed an alumni, Yannie Choi, who achieved 45 marks in the IB exam. She will be giving advice on many common challenges we face in college from her personal experience. We hope that you enjoy this issue, and wish you a happy reading.
5E Kenaz
4I Ivy
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w e n e m o s e m o c l e w e r e As we h , y l i m a f r u o o t n i s n a i r r u o libra m o r f s d r o w e m ! are so t n e s e r p & t s a p s n a librari I have e njoyed my exp Before, erience I only re of being g a who on r d e a senio d s tudent l ly packe r libraria i b d r a and she rians as n. more th lved bo b an just e i n g the on oks, bu that. Be we also es t i t s ’ s i d actually es cata have to loging a so muc organiz the Boo nd man h e activit k Week a g i e i n s g , which held by books, try our b i s t h h e a l r i b der than est to p rary, su romote ch as e schoolm x p e cted for the libra ates. H we hav ry and r owever e to with my e , a b d eing pa i n g leaders a m ong our rt of the hip and my rela l i b r c a o rian fam mmunic tionship ily helps ation sk with my ills, and fellow li I treasu brarians --Nicole re a n d Wong, t e a c h e Senior. rs a lot. 4D
“So……do you read all day?” Perhaps that is the general perception of librarians: that we are a group of bibliophiles, and we read all we want during duty. The answer is no. We don’t read all day, not when there are new additions to be shelved, books to be borrowed, and magazines to be processed. A librarian has to deal with many tasks every day, and reading takes a backseat to that. But amid all the shelving and circulation, we still have our fun moments, like making friends, sharing interesting titles, and having a laugh at inside jokes. For me, the experience of being a librarian is a journey of learning. Learning more about myself, learning more about different people, and learning more about leadership. The essence of being a librarian is not reading books, but reading and understanding the complex stories of those around you. And I am grateful to have played a small part in your stories, as well as the library’s ongoing story. --Grace Chan,Former Head Librarian, 6B
I have always enjoyed the time spent on carrying out librarian duties as it is a great honour to be serving our schoolmates in a better environment for study and leisure reading. I especially enjoy chatting and exchanging views among ourselves, and through sharing said views, we have managed to build friendship across forms. The major jobs of being an assistant head librarian include making sure our librarians are responsible and disciplined and to give suggestions to proposals librarians have made, such as proposals for the book week’s activities. At some points, librarians can even give the head librarian team some suggestions of improvement for the library that can be made. It was definitely a fruitful experience for me this academic year. --Veronica Yu, Former Assistant Head Librarian, 5G
Serving as a librarian for a few years, I learnt much more about how the library operates and its daily activities. I was given a lot of chances to be in charge of various events that put my skills to the test, coupled with gaining of valuable leadership and communication skills. What I enjoyed much was the times we librarian team shared our jokes and had chats with each other, during which we had closer bondings in the team. It had absolutely been a fruitful year and I am looking forward to working with my partners in the coming school year. -Alison Tang, Head Librarian, 5E
After joining the librarian team, I became a more compassionate and caring person. We have loving and amiable teachers—Ms Huang and Ms Wong—who guide us through problems. I also made many friends in the librarian team and my understanding of the library has also greatly improved. It is a great pleasure to work hand in hand with all the close friends I have in the librarian team and establish a favorable environment for our fellow students to read and learn. --Ian Leung, Senior, 5A Being a librarian is often seen as a boring and nerdy job. Organising books and shelving them every day. It seems that there is no way that one can enjoy being a librarian. However, it is not true at all. Our librarian team is a closeknit team consisting of many devoted librarians. The head librarians, Duncan and Grace, are especially enthusiastic in facilitating our work. Miss Wong and Miss Huang are the two teacher librarians that guide us through hard times. Not only can we form close bonds by working together, but we can also train ourselves to become more responsible and hardworking individuals. --Alvin To, Librarian, 5A
Interview with Yannie Choi! Former Librarian Shares Tips on Secondary School Life
Each year, many of our students achieve encouraging results in both DSE and IB curriculums. Last academic year was no exception, and we are very lucky to have Yannie Choi--an alumni who scored full marks in her IB examinations--sharing her experience with us today. Yannie believes that her success came from effort and some luck, stating that she was glad her effort wasn’t paid in vain. When asked about the most important factor leading to her success, Yannie told us that peer support was her most crucial element in studying IB, encouraging you to form study groups, as it helps to enhance your efficiency, to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and to motivate you to continue on. In addition, by discussing extensively with friends, you could all discover the best approach to a question, and utilize it in exams. The older you get, the more coursework you have to put up with. Yannie admits that her journey was tough as she had to hand in various important pieces of coursework, including IAs, TOK, CAS, EE, and FOA. There are also many other things to do such as university applications and organizing club activities. While Yannie believes that peer support is certainly crucial, time management is the key to dealing with all of these coursework. Procrastination is unrecommended--Yannie tells us she prefers staying at the school library, a nearby cafe, or a study room to study before she goes home to relax, and that after a few tries you can find the place that enhances your efficiency the most.
Every F3 student has to go over the same decision of choosing the DSE or IB syllabus. Yannie emphasizes that there is no right or wrong choices, only the choice that suits you the most. She encourages identifying your way of learning: if you are a self-motivated learner and willing to learn beyond the textbook to gain a holistic understanding of the subject, then IB may be the more suitable choice. In addition, she advices that IB may not be suitable for those vulnerable to stress and not that good at time management due to the many deadlines. There is no need to fear essay writing that much, as it is ultimately your personality that should dictate your choice, and Yannie reminices that it was her personality identifying with the IB profile that was the main reason for her choosing IB. Back in her day, Yannie was quite an active participant in school, having been the vice chairperson in the harmonica orchestra, chairperson of the Chinese society, horn part leader in school orchestra, and a prefect. Yannie reiterates the importance of setting priorities, stating that it was how she managed to juggle between ECAs, clubs and societies, and schoolwork. Courseworks such as IAs and SBAs are of utmost importance since they count in real exam grades, and time should be spent wisely on homework. Only then should you focus on ECAs. You also should stay concentrated after setting up your priorities, so that you don’t mess them up. Many students stay up overnight non-stop to finish tasks, and are constantly stressed out to breaking point. Yannie agrees that she, too, was overwhelmed by stress, and the ways she coped with it included listening to music, and eating fruits or sweet foods to keep herself energized. She also specifies to be sure to take breaks in between intense studying.
Looking back, Yannie suggests that all the lower form students focus more on exploring their areas of interest. She expresses that in lower forms, there is a huge variety of subjects needed to study, and not all of them can be invested in completely. She recommends first dealing with subjects that you are interested in, since you are likely to choose them as electives in higher forms. However, the other subjects are still important to a degree since the F3 transcripts will be sent alongside the F6 ones to universities, so your F3 grades are still of certain importance. Yannie set out to be a doctor when in lower forms, and recalls that she put too much unreasonable expectations too high to be achieved. She advises that all of us should not compare ourselves to everyone else and be super competitive, but instead learn from people you admire. She also recommends being more confident in your own strengths and abilities--do not let your own--and others’--expectations undermine your ability and effort paid. Yannie plans to study medicine at CUHK. She encourages those who are opting for HK studies to focus on their academics first, since the HK universities look at exam results more prominently than profiles. She also promotes receiving working experience related to the field of your choice so that you can understand the nature of the subject you opt for. As for those planning for overseas studying, she recommends drilling on the personal statement, and enriching it with lots of past experience in related fields of study. She also highly encourages starting to enrich yourself from lower forms while you have more time to do so, since overseas universities look to justify your passion in subjects you have chosen. When asked about whether she has any more advice for our students, Yannie said that although we can easily get lost and bewildered, we shouldn’t hesitate to lay back on our peers and teachers, who can always provide us with the best support. In addition, we can feel free to emapproach our seniors since they have first hand experience on what we are going through and can easily guide us along the way. Lastly, Yannie tells us to always give ourselves a bit of confidence and positive self talk.
"A READER LIVES A THOUSAND LIVES BEFORE HE DIES"
~ George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons