Diversity in a community of learning

Reading up on Tembusu College’s diverse course topics, such as emotions and society and proof and truth, to name but a two, fired Natalie TOH’s imagination and motivated her to join the College.

The Year 3 Food Science and Technology (FST) student wanted to stay on campus and chose a residential college (RC) to take college-specific courses and participate in interest groups. These prompted her to contemplate social issues beyond the scope of food science, which then led her to choose a minor in Sociology.

She says, “Sociology provides a lens through which I can better understand or examine existing social structures.”

She adds, “It also helped me develop a more nuanced understanding of social problems and to better appreciate the underlying factors contributing to such phenomena.”

And food is very much a social phenomenon! For instance, individuals from different social classes, ethnicity and gender will provide different responses to the same questions on what constitutes food, or how it ought to be prepared or consumed.

The College’s flagship events, including the Tembusu Forums, Tembusu Conversations and Master’s or Student’s tea, significantly enriched Natalie’s interdisciplinary learning journey. Through these gatherings, she had the opportunity to engage with distinguished experts, delving into topics ranging from COP, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to the future of Web3 and even landscape architecture. 

She says, “The courses cover a range of social to philosophical topics, which are relevant to life and serve to make me a better thinker.” For instance, in taking the course UTS 2114: Technologies and Ageing in Singapore, she gained insights into the contributions from medical professionals, urban planners, economists, engineers, scientists and even architects who design living spaces for the elderly.

She says, “We tried to form a cohesive storyline or merge similar themes together. To me, this is the essence of interdisciplinary learning.”

In short, her RC experience gave her the space and freedom to explore a wider range of activities, and to interact with friends from different academic majors, allowing her to see beyond her “little bubble”.