'We've made a lot of good memories': Catholic Junior College students react to upcoming Punggol move

On Jan. 16, current students at Catholic Junior College (CJC) found out along with the public that their school will be relocating from its historic Whitley Road campus to a new site in Punggol.

Two year-two students were surprised when they heard the news quite unexpectedly, before the rest of their peers, they told Mothership.

According to Lucas Teo and Adil Hermizan, the rest of the student body would only find out through a special announcement at school around 12:40pm.

As they were from CJC's Film, Sound, and Video Society, they were invited by their teachers to photograph the press event announcing the move that morning.

"We were actually not even sure of what the event was going to be about until today," Adil said. "That's why both of us were really shocked when we found out about this, and we had mixed reactions."

A lot of memories

Besides surprise, Teo also felt bittersweet when he first learnt his school will be leaving the campus it has called home since 1975.

"We made a lot of memories in the current CJC campus," he shared, adding that while the shift to the new one would bring benefits to future students, but he feels he will lose a lot of memories with the loss of the current campus.

Given that the move is targeted for 2034, eight years later, he noted that current CJC students would not be affected very much, and might even feel excited about it.

Adil, however, added that current students will be impacted in the future, when they return to school for events such as Teachers' Day and homecoming dinners.

"Most of us have made a lot of good memories in the [current] campus," he said. "So once the campus changes, it wouldn't feel the same as it was back then."

He envisioned that the facilities at the new site would be improved, but the students' favourite spots in the Whitley Road campus would be gone.

"The environment will just be way different," he said.

Location considerations

How much of a change will it be for CJC to move from the centrally located Whitley Road campus to Punggol in the northeast?

Teo believes it might not increase the commuting time too much, as the school community lives around the country.

"Quite a few of [my friends] actually stay in Punggol, so this move will actually be very beneficial for them," he added.

Adil, who lives in Jurong and has many friends similarly living in the west, had a different perspective.

The move will definitely affect the decisions of future students who wish to go to CJC, as location is something students consider when choosing a junior college, he said.

Exciting opportunities

At the same time, both Adil and Teo expressed optimism about the new opportunities future students at the Punggol campus would get.

The new campus will be a close neighbour to the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), one of the partners CJC will work with to engage students in learning beyond the traditional curriculum.

Noting such collaborations, Adil believed that students still unsure of what they want to do in the future will be able to gain more practical experiences to help them with their decision.

Teo concurred: "I feel that the partnerships with SIT in general, will be a great use to [future students], because SIT has the resources to provide students with opportunities in research, development, and other [areas] to specialise in. We should let future students have more opportunities to grow and learn in general."

Top images from Khoo Wen-en/Mothership and cse1217/Google Maps