Media Releases/Articles
Extraordinary Exchange
By ITE, May 2010
What do the cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants, Aspirin making and the Amazing Race have in common?
They are all part of a student exchange programme that ITE offered to a group of six students from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Polytechnic located in Calgary, Canada.
New Media Production and Design students Joy Elder, Davidson Liau and Mario Puyo experienced what it felt like to be SpongeBob SquarePants animators when they learnt how to use the software behind the celebrated cartoon series at ITE’s School of Design and Media. The software is developed by Toon Boom Animation Inc., a software company, coincidentally Canadian, which is also ITE’s industry partner.
“Learning Toon Boom and getting to play with a whole new software
that we don’t use at SAIT is amazing!” said Joy, “It’s
really awesome that we got to do the animation. We really enjoyed that.”
During their three-week stay in Singapore from 7 to 28 May 2010, the three students not only manipulated animation software, but also worked on elaborate projects involving photography and magazine cover design, and went on industry visits.
“We visited VHQ, a post-production company in Singapore responsible for editing 60 per cent of the country’s television commercials. It was great to talk to the Operations Head and understand how he got to be in that position,” commented Mario on one of the industry visits.
Meanwhile, Chemical Process Operations exchange students, Nathan Bernhard, Wayne Tams and Alexander McBain got to try their hand at Aspirin making during a laboratory lesson under the Nitec in Chemical Process Technology (Pharmaceuticals) course.
“ITE has a pharmaceutical plant where we conducted a mock trial of Aspirin making. This is not available at SAIT as we only concentrate on petrol-chemicals at Alberta,” said Wayne, referring to the petroleum-industry-centered province where Calgary is located.
Next to Aspirin making, Nathan and Wayne agreed that the MegaZip course at Sentosa island was the other highlight of their sojourn in Singapore.
“I saw it on Amazing Race a few months back and planned on doing it,” explained Nathan, who lived out his Amazing Race reality series fantasy the very second day of his arrival in Singapore when ITE coordinators brought the visiting students to Sentosa.
Besides the Cable-Ski Park at East Coast Parkway which was a hit with the
students, Alexander was fascinated by the flood gates of the Marina Barrage
and the architecture of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. As for Davidson,
he was thrilled to have attended the Adobe Creative Suite 5 Roadshow in
Singapore and understood how Adobe’s creative workflow enhances productivity.
Interactive Media Design Teaching Associate, Mr Kevin Chin, supervised Joy, Davidson and Mario during their lessons at ITE College Central. “I found the three SAIT students really interesting to work with. They are highly energetic whenever they come to class and will engage you while you are delivering your lesson. In this kind of teaching environment, the entire scene becomes more of a sharing session rather than a one-way traffic whereby only the teacher is talking.”
Joy summarised the group’s three-week experience at ITE this way:
“The hospitality is great! Everyone kept asking us, ‘What do
you want to do?’ and ‘What have you not seen?’, and they
would find out everything about it for us. I wish we had one more weekend
here!”
Chemical Process Operations exchange student from SAIT, Alexander McBain,
monitoring the pressure of water being purified at the Pharmaceutical Process
Laboratory at ITE College East
Exchange students from SAIT, Nathan Bernhard (third from left), Davidson Liau (fourth from left), Joy Elder (fifth from left), Wayne Tams (centre, in white), Mario Puyo (sixth from right), and Alexander McBain (fourth from right), as well as Ms Cynthia Johnston, SAIT Hospitality and Tourism Instructor (fifth from right) who accompanied the SAIT students to Singapore, take a group photo with ITE staff after receiving their certificate of participation from Mr Callistus Chong, Director, School of Design and Media, ITE College Central (first from right)
SAIT exchange students (from left) Wayne Tams, Joy Elder, Nathan Bernhard and Alexander McBain, as well as Ms Cynthia Johnston, SAIT Hospitality and Tourism Instructor who accompanied the SAIT students to Singapore, in front of the Merlion, one of Singapore’s iconic landmarks
Chemical Process Operations exchange students from SAIT, Nathan Bernhard (first row, right) and Wayne Tams (second row, left) posing with their ITE peers after learning how to make Aspirin at the Pharmaceutical Process Laboratory at ITE College East