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SINGAPORE: For much of his life, Mr Wong Yee Keong thought that enrolling in a university was an “impossible dream”.<\/p>\n
After completing secondary school, he joined Keppel Shipyard as an apprentice and climbed the ranks to become a marine engineering manager over a career spanning more than 40 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even as he built a successful career and raised a family, his ambition to earn a university degree never faded.<\/p>\n
Now, at 71, the father of two and grandfather of three has fulfilled that dream, graduating from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and literature on Tuesday (Oct 13).<\/p>\n
He is the university\u2019s oldest graduate this year and one of nine retirees graduating.<\/p>\n
However, there are two people he wishes could see his achievements: his late parents.<\/p>\n
“When I was accepted into SUSS, one of the first things I did was go to my parents’ niche at Bright Hill Temple and tell them,” Mr Wong told CNA in Chinese.<\/p>\n
“I can’t wait to tell them I’ve graduated with a degree. Even though they\u2019re no longer here, I feel that I\u2019ve fulfilled that wish for them.”<\/p>\n
Mr Wong grew up with five siblings. His parents worked hard to provide for the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After\u00a0finishing his secondary school education, he joined Keppel Shipyard, where he worked for more than 40 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even while building his career and raising a family, he continued learning through technical and vocational courses and took the A-Level examination.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After retiring in 2019, he enrolled in a diploma programme and later volunteered at a community organisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, in 2022, Mr Wong read about a SUSS graduate in his 70s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE: For much of his life, Mr Wong Yee Keong thought that enrolling in a university was an “impossible dream”. After completing secondary school, he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--qcGNavS2--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/10\/13\/ayt_1795.jpg?itok=DKreW720","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12022,1185,31607,13137,9710,5425,4883,6246,1765,28837],"class_list":["post-92647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-71yearold","tag-completely","tag-distinctions","tag-graduates","tag-grandfather","tag-initial","tag-lost","tag-multiple","tag-struggles","tag-suss","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}