At Temasek Polytechnic’s Main Graduation Ceremony on 6 June 2006, Steve Teo Wai Ming was presented the Lee Kuan Yew Award.

A six-pointer for his O level results, Steve Teo had made up his mind to take up the Diploma in Information Technology course at Temasek Polytechnic long before he even sat for his preliminary exams at Temasek Secondary School. From the start, Steve only aimed to get good enough results to go to the university after getting his diploma and confesses that the first time he heard about the Lee Kuan Yew Award was only two months ago.

The only child of a library officer and a retired civil servant, Steve's three years in TP proved to be very smooth-sailing. His knowledge and proficiency in IT became apparent not only through his academic performance but also in the competitions he has won. In 2005, he became one of two students selected to represent Singapore in the Microsoft Office Specialist Academic Challenge in Florida, USA. More recently, Steve has qualified for the national finals of the World Skills Competition (Software Applications category) which will be held in July 2006. Together with three other course mates, Steve also recently clinched the "Best Process" award in the Java Jive competition for tertiary institutions. The project his group presented was actually their final-year project which is a Science Practical Assessment System for Secondary Schools using tablet PC. The same project had earlier won the 'Top Project' award for his course at the Temasek Information Technology School's final-year project show.

Steve also served as a Pacesetter, student ambassador of TP, in his second and third years and was the president of his School's Gaming Club which helped in the organisation of the World Cyber Games event at TP last year. He was also very active in marketing his School's latest diploma in Game & Entertainment Technology, at TP's recent Open House. A computer whiz kid, Steve's all time favourite PC game is World of Warcraft.

So doesn't this young man with an impish grin, who bagged 20 distinctions, seven A's and two B's ever do anything that's not related to IT? Well, believe it or not, Steve is an aspiring Disc Jockey. A fan of techno, euro dance and trance music, Steve is trained in turntablism and music mixing. He also participated in a recent music mixing competition organised by the North-East CDC.

Though sociable and easy-going, he does admit that he is quite serious when it comes to things he is passionate about. Steve hopes to enrol in either the School of Computing in National University of Singapore or at the National Institute of Education after NS. Eventually, he hopes to teach Maths, Science or Information Technology.

If the future is going to be anything like his life has been so far, without a doubt, Steve Teo is all set to achieve his goals, ambitions and much, much more.

The Lee Kuan Yew Award

The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science for polytechnics is awarded to the top technology or computer science graduates in each of the polytechnics. This Award is funded by an honorarium that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew received from an overseas speaking engagement. The Award was first presented at the 1993 Temasek Polytechnic Graduation Ceremony.