A*STAR Science Award (Upper Secondary) (Continued)

My last post on this topic was all about the $XXXX.00 cheque. It is definitely not an useful source for more info on the A*STAR Science Award (Upper Secondary) . Hence, I shall probably rant (or elaborate) about the benefits of this award, aside from the monetary aspects of this award.

In no particular order, here are some benefits of the award:
1. Make new friends
It was compulsory for the award recipients to attend a two day Research Exposure Programme. In those two days, I made a couple of friends, mostly those that had taken part in the National Science Challenge 2008. Heck, it was interesting to get some of their viewpoints about the show.

2. Gain lab experience
What more can be said about this? It is interesting to look at the machines that the researchers use, for they are not readily accessible elsewhere. Also, we got to listen to the researchers explain about their research topic, knowledge that isn't taught in school. Things like cross-flow filtration, etc. ...

3. Free food
Ok, so the A*STAR folks would cater to your lunches. That means you do not have to bring anything but yourself and an Ez-link card (for transport) (and probably some writing materials) .

4. No bonds
This only means flexibility in choosing what jobs I can take in the future. If there is a bond to this award, even if the award is for a million dollars, I might choose not to take it, especially if I am going to be attached to some institute in Biopolis. But as for other institutes in Fusionopolis, I'll have to see about that ...

Above are just some benefits of the award that I can think offhand. Even with some of bad points (which I'm too lazy to elaborate) , the cheque can keep me (and other award recepients) going through. So there, the cheque is a good carrot (think carrots and sticks) .