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Keeping The Spirit of Odyssey Alive!
The Spirit of Odyssey
Former
NUS President, Prof Shih Choon Fong,
gifted the NUS Overseas College program with seed funding of
$200,000 to set up the Odyssey Fund.
The fund
embodies the Spirit of Odyssey that students have the courage to
venture into the world, be tempered by the challenges of global
waters and return as alumni to NUS to share and make tangible a
portion of that spirit of leadership, risk-taking, discovery,
collaboration, adventure and achievement which has come to
characterize the students' time at NOC.
About
the Odyssey Fund
The fund
will be jointly administered in consultation with NOC students and
alumni and its intended beneficiaries will be people and programs
who can best promote the Spirit of Odyssey.
The gift
will be equally matched by the government and the income will be
used to support the activities of the fund. However, in order for
government matching funds to be part of the Odyssey Fund so as to
maximize its total income, the threshold amount required to be
gifted is S$250,000.
138
new donors including 127 alumni follow Prof Shih Choon Fong in giving to NOC Odyssey Fund
Altogether
139 donors, of whom 127 are alumni of NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC),
have made gifts and pledges worth S$65,350 to the Odyssey Fund as
of 3 February 2009. The endowed Fund was made possible by an
initial gift of S$200,000 by former NUS president, Prof Shih Choon Fong, to support students and programmes that embody the “Spirit of Odyssey”.
Their gifts and pledges now bring the total value of the Fund to
S$265,350.
The
“Spirit of Odyssey” is a theme that Prof Shih often invoked during
his speeches to describe what he believes is quintessentially
important for NUS – and in particular for NOC - that students have
the courage to venture forth into the world, to let themselves be
tempered by the challenges of global waters, and to return several
times back home as alumni to contribute to and to renew their
communities.
The
Odyssey Fund will be administered by the CEO of NUS Enterprise and
Director of NOC, who will consider inputs from NOC students and
alumni in the awarding of grants from the fund. All gifts will
attract the prevailing dollar-for-dollar government matching grant
which will go towards the Fund.
Tris Tan ’08, who went to NUS
College in Bio Valley in 2005, is one of the donors. She said: “For
everything that I have benefited, I'm glad to have the opportunity
to give back and support the NOC program. I hope this will help to
further develop the entrepreneurship spirit in Singapore by
nurturing young minds and growing the entrepreneurship landscape in
Singapore.”
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