Figure This and Stand Out

By: Teo Xing Zhi & D Sonia Kaur Kairon
Photos: Jasper Foo, Lee Quanta, Nurul Farahin Bte Selamat

The Open House happens during our school time. In this time, you may be tempted to head into the blocks to see the students actually at work. If you head into the right block, you may just see the course you’re looking for. But if you haven’t (or can’t figure if you have), here’s a simple guide to figuring out which school or center you’ve wandered into, based on general (stereotyped) appearances.

Centre for Culture and Communication (CCC)

CCC students are the media folk. Whether headed for print or broadcast, you can be sure that these communicators will be dressed in comfortable but stylish clothes. With an enforced dress code, CCC students are always clad in decent attire. Yet, these vivacious students are still able to find ways to express themselves. Sleeveless clothing would be covered by fashionable jackets or cardigans, and the only bit of leg you’d be gawking at would be somewhere near the feet, because everyone’s properly covered up. Students here love to chatter (hey, they do communications!) and are often found having uproarious lunch outside the classroom before they pop back in to continue their tasks of the day.

Appearance: Semi-formal wear

School of Technology for the Arts (STA)

STA is the land of the fashionistas. With so much creative energy penned up, it’s not difficult to understand why these students would allow that to flow into how they dress. Instead of the bulkier sweaters, students here generally opt for scarves instead. The more artsy ones would even wear berets and other cutesy items into class. Of course, there are those who feel that they are what they wear, and enter class in casual clothing you’d find them wearing at home. Those who aspire to be game designers are often gamers, found in class during break times, battering away at their laptops or game consoles to win games against their friends. Others are found with cameras around their necks and other techie equipment nearby.

Appearance: Think artsy

School of Engineering (SEG)

A feel of professionalism comes when you peek into the classes of the engineering students. Quiet and attentive, these students tend to unassuming, simple clothing. Dressed for comfort, they don clothes such as long-sleeved shirts and pants. There are occasions when you see some of them in blouses and button-downs, but for most part, these students are happy in their homey clothes. These students prefer to work outside the sometimes stuffy classrooms, and teams of them can be found around the study clusters or library, quietly discussing engineering stuff over large pieces of paper or blueprints that the rest of us will never understand.

Appearance: usually dressed in lighter clothing. If you’re not a clothes person, just feel the aura of industrious study radiating off them.

School of Information & Communications Technology (SIT)

Ah, the people who’ll likely be those helping you with your laptops in the future. Meet the IT school denizens. They are usually found in street casual clothes…that is, jeans and tees. When they need to, they’d suit up into business outfits, and look really smart at it too. They’ve also got their cool labs with advanced, up-to-date equipment. When you see people handling all those equipment with ease, you know you’ve either reached SIT or you’ve turned into the STA studios. During breaks, these SIT students are mostly seen in canteens with their friends. They’re a mixed group, with a number tapping away on their programming programs, and an equal number outside, talking amongst themselves as they work on their daily assignment.

Appearance: Street casual

School of Applied Sciences (SAS)

SAS students are dressed pretty much as normal kids do. But when you near the labs, you can find them decked out in the clothes you’d expect science people to wear: lab coats, goggles and covered shoes. Watching them, you’d feel this sense of cleanliness as if you were at a clinic. It’s probably because these people will be scientists and doctors in the future, and that’s required of them. These students are extremely studious, and you can find them in their classrooms half an hour before the others start streaming in, already hard at work.

Appearance: casual on some days, lab wear on others, but always with a studious aura around them

School of Sports, Health and Leisure (SHL)

The sports people aren’t difficult to figure out. What with exercise and sports in their daily regime, these students are allowed to be decked out in sporty clothing. Jerseys and muscle shirts are just part of their wardrobe. Bermudas and track shoes are also worn. These sportsmen (and sportswomen) are seen around school carrying sports equipment. Don’t be afraid when you see someone walking up with a huge oar; that’s probably not meant to hit you with.

Appearance: Athletic sportswear

School of Hospitality (SOH)

SOH is the easiest to differentiate from everyone else. Their strict dress code requires them to dress professionally. To tell them apart from the rest, simply look for those in formal clothes. Button-down shirts and pants for the guys, and long dresses or blouses and skirts for the girls; that’s how you’ll know you’ve wandered into the area where the rules and etiquette of those of polite society are recommended and upheld. Though all dressed up, SOH students are still the same fun people inside, and you can always find them chattering away with their friends in the canteens or near their block.

Appearance: Office attire