Paying It Forward

Bullying, stealing from parents, shoplifting – Jeremy Loo got into a lot of serious trouble when he was in primary school.

But after being caught for theft red-handed once, and witnessing the touching scene of his parents pleading with a security guard not to go to the police, he decided to turn over a new leaf. Later, under the guidance of a tutor from CDAC, he became more motivated in his studies and made it to university. He has now returned to CDAC as a volunteer with Project YOUth Can Shine, supervising his younger peers in their studies in order to pay the kindness forward.

Mr Chee Fook Sing, a volunteer maths tutor at CDAC, left a deep impression on Jeremy, “Mr Chee was modest and kind, and the class warmed up to him very quickly, he also inspired me to become a teacher like himself.”

Looking back on his experience teaching the class, Mr Chee said, “The class was very rowdy at the start, but they built up a good rapport very quickly and helped one another. The following year, among the eight students, six won awards for improvement in their results.” As Mr Chee looked at some past photos he took with his students on his phone, his love and pride were clearly on display.

Jeremy started volunteering at CDAC’s Project YOUth Can Shine two years ago. One of his students is Ang Le Xuan, a quiet and introverted Secondary Two pupil. Maths is one of her weaker subjects, but now she turns to Jeremy whenever she encounters problems.

Jeremy is passionate about his volunteer work, “I hope to help students who don’t know who they can turn to; it gives me a lot of satisfaction to be able to help others.”