After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over 1000 students, parents and guests from the Methodist Schools in Singapore attended the ONE ACS Career Forum at Anglo-Chinese Junior College on Saturday, 22 July 2023.

Organised by the ACSOBA and sponsored by ACS Foundation, the ONE ACS Career Forum is an annual programme for students in all ACS schools. It draws on the collective wealth of experience amongst ACSians in the workforce and attempts to demystify industries as well as understand the reality in diverse career fields. In addition to the students from the ACS schools, students from all the Methodist Institutions are also invited.

The forum kicked off with an Opening Panel featuring Professor Kenneth Mak, Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health, and Mr Wong Kee Joo, CEO of HSBC Singapore. Touching on the theme of Resilience in Life and Career, both Kenneth and Kee Joo frankly shared about their philosophy in leadership, and how they were able to build the mental resilience to overcome the toughest times in their respective careers. Both gave credit to their respective teachers in ACS who had imparted in them a strong ethical and moral anchor that served them well in their careers. They closed with a moving tribute about the spirit of the late-Mr Adrian Tan, former President of the Law Society of Singapore, who was originally supposed to join the Opening Panel, encouraging the students to serve others, and also advising the parents in attendance to support their children as they sought to find their paths in life.

Following the Opening Panel, over 70 ACSian alumni participated in 15 separate career and skills track panels in three sessions across the morning, sharing their insights into specific industries, demystifying the jargon and providing frank and unvarnished views about different career paths. In addition, the six autonomous universities also set up booths to engage our students, and show their course offerings. It was heartening to see the students engage their seniors with thoughtful and sometimes provocative questions. It was clear that the students appreciated the sessions, as some sought to engage the speakers after their respective panels.

The ACSOBA would like to thank all the ACSians who participated in the ONE ACS Career Forum, and gave up their Saturday morning to demonstrate the power of the ACS Spirit to our students. We pray that this tradition continues and that the attendees of today will be the speakers of tomorrow.

To God Be The Glory! The Best Is Yet To Be!

The Organising Committee
ONE ACS Career Forum