ACS Sitiawan....

How do you feel about something that you spend 13 years of your life in? I'm finding it difficult to get a word that sums it all up....ACS Sitiawan is unique in the sense that both Primary and Secondary schools are just next to each other. In fact, when we were schooling there, both schools shared the same field.

Those days, crossing the imaginary line behind the old hall meant we had joined the big league (translate that as secondary). And that would be the most major event of our short lives up till then! And the secondary side had 3 canteen operators - Chinese, Indian, Malay. How multi-cultural more you want to be? Food was good....(well it tasted good back then) Friends made last a lifetime. I still know of those classes before mine who still make it a point to meet for basketball or climb the Ungku Busu Hill during CNY. And mind you, these are not your regular young 'uns.....I think it was 2 New Years ago that these oldies played basketball with the youths at the WM Church. They were panting but still good enough to give the 17/18 year olds a run for their money....and I supposed in the process, touching base with a part of their childhood again. And they have also come together in times of needs as well. Such is the bond of friendship built over the years.

While in sec school, we could still pop in and visit our primary school teachers....news of both schools would filter either way. Being in the same compound placed in most of us a sense of stability.....I mean, how often do you find people who get to spend that much time of one's life in one compound? For those of us who did F6, it was a time of consolidation, time we assumed greater responsibilities which in many ways helped prepare us to face the future. 13 years seemed a lifetime in those days.

MYF was one of those activities considered part of the school co-curricular activities until it was taken out of the list in the 80s. We would meet every Friday afternoon in the Old Hall. Saturday afternoons would see us having Bible Study around the school compound, followed by a session of captain ball beside the palm trees. The trees are still standing there. Boy! If only they could talk....a few of us even crashed into it on our bikes...learner bike riders we were, awkward and clumsy behind the wheels.

The school is more than 100 years old today. Her sons and daughters have done well by most standards and 'have been flung' to all the 4 corners of the world. We had great teachers who were also our mentors. A friend of mine was telling me fondly about Mrs. MacGraw, one of the teachers in the early days, of her dedication and commitment to her work. And who can forget the formidable Moses Tay? Students would cringe at his sight. But it was also under his watch that ACS carved a name for herself as one of the top schools for HSC (the predecessor of STPM) in Malaysia. Not to mention those who were before and after him...Rev MacGraw, Tai Swee Kee, Ling Ong Sing and countless others....will continue..