That’s what our guests from Malaysia found out.

The Tourism Academy @ Sentosa hosted 15 bright young high school students (see picture 1) from Malaysia on 29 March 2008 as part of a three-day visit to Singapore. These students were lucky draw winners in The Star Education Fair (KL and Penang) as well as the Tourism and Hospitality Campaign organized by the Singapore Tourism Board (Malaysia) and CoursesNOW!

Part of their win included a visit to The Tourism Academy. Through an interactive activity planned specially for them, they found out some interesting snippets about us (see pictures 2 to 4):

• During the 1840s when the school was a British artillery camp, the wages for cleaning the camp was SGD two dollars a month, compared to what graduates from The Tourism Academy now earn (about SGD 1,800 a month at least)
• Our student training restaurant with its modern equipment and a seating capacity of 30 used to be the stables where the British kept their horses!  
• Black metal objects just outside the barracks (now the classroom building) used to be boot scrappers for the British soldiers back then, not for resting tired feet of lecturers or students today! (see picture 5)
• The heritage buildings set on top of a high ground is now the campus for both local and internationals students from 18 countries studying hospitality & tourism.

Two of our students who are native Malaysians, Clara and Dilys, were on hand to play hosts(See picture 6).

Dilys said, “It was fun mingling with students from my home country. After the treasure hunt, they had loads of questions! Really glad to share my wonderful school with them.”

Said Clara: “It was a pleasure for me to participate in this event as it was very heartwarming to have students visiting from my country. I am also very honoured to show them around the school campus that I am currentlystudying in. Besides that, being able to share with them my wonderful experiences here prepares me to become a better speaker.” (see picture 7)

Thanks Dilys & Clara! And thanks too to STB, COURSESNOW and STAR for having the campaign in the first place and for letting us share the fun!!

Picture 1: Fresh and jubilant from the treasure hunt, the Malaysian students are seen gathered in front of The Tourism Academy @ Sentosa. Standing (from right to left) are lecturers Mark Kor and Tay Kay Hwee and student hosts Dilys and Clara.

Picture 2: Students being briefed by lecturer host Kay Hwee before the start of the treasure hunt.

Picture 3: Getting one’s bearing right on the Parade Square is the key to winning the  Treasure Hunt.

Picture 4:  “Wow, this State of the Arts building has a history going as far back as 1878!”

Picture 5: What a treasure, a boot scrapper left behind by the British Army!

Picture 6: Our guests having a sandwich lunch together with The Tourism Academy’s student hosts (standing from right) Dilys and Clara.

Picture 7: Student host Clara sharing with our guests her interesting experience in school.