The College’s vision statement stressed the idea of Yale-NUS as a community of learning. The focus on community could be seen in how the students supported and cared for each other, especially through a number of student organisations that offered practical assistance, emotional support or access to information and resources.
This was part of creating a culture of care, ensuring that the campus was a safe, welcoming and nurturing space for all.
Formed in 2013 by the inaugural class of Yale-NUS, P.S. We Care was a student organisation that provided support and counselling to their fellow students. The letters ‘P.S.’ in the group’s name stood for Peer Support, stressing the peer-to-peer nature of their work.
They had trained student counsellors available for any student to talk to without needing to make an appointment.
They could discuss any topic, big or small, including relationship worries, academic stresses and homesickness.
The group had three core principles:
Although it was an independent student organisation, P.S. We Care was supported by the Counselling Centre where they were based, whose staff provided expert training in developing active listening skills, crisis management techniques and knowledge of mental health disorders.
In addition to providing counselling services, P.S. We Care organised many events to help build a supportive environment on campus, including art jam sessions, movie nights and workshops.
Read more about the P.S. We Care story written by Exco member Sundarimaa Erdembileg (Class of 2024).
The Body-Ody identity collective aimed to raise awareness and stimulate discussions about body neutrality. By building a support network on campus, they created a safe space where their classmates could explore ideas about their bodies, learn to respect their bodies and develop healthy relationships with food and exercise.
Body-Ody’s first exhibition, Body ___, was mounted in the College Library in 2021. It examined people’s experiences of their own body, highlighting how those experiences are influenced by the media, state and other institutions. It also served as an introduction to the ideas, terminology and literature of the body neutrality movement. The exhibition was interactive, with the audience able to write comments on the display chalk boards.
During 2022’s Diversity Week, Body-Ody held an art jam where participants created small paintings on the theme To Build a Body. The over 50 pieces produced were combined into a mosaic displayed outside the Intercultural Engagement Office.
Body-Ody’s co-founder Nageen Ayesha Rameez (Class of 2024) won the Commitment to Community and Social Change award at the 2022 Kingfisher Awards. Read more about her story here.
G Spot: Yale-NUS Gender & Sexuality Alliance was a student community that promoted diversity and inclusion, with a focus on gender, sexuality and feminist issues.
Their name was chosen to suggest a point of intersection—a ‘spot’—where ideas such as gender, gender identity, sexuality, sexual orientation, asexuality, race, class and disability meet and interact.
One of the very first student organisations to be founded at the College, G Spot were already active during the first orientation week in 2013 when they distributed contraceptives and educational collateral to promote greater understanding about sexual health within the College community.
In March 2020, G Spot joined with Yale-NUS Storytellers to organise the ‘Queer Together’ art exhibition where works by 13 queer-identifying artists were displayed.
The exhibition was part of an experimental project that aimed to create a conversation between Queer-identifying individuals within the Yale-NUS and NUS communities.
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The In-Betweeners Collective was a student support network for ‘First Generation or Lower Income’ (FGLI) students. They could be the first in their family to go to university, come from a low-income household, or simply be someone who found the college experience challenging.
The diverse Yale-NUS student body, comprising students from many different social and economic backgrounds, could lead some students to feel that they didn’t ‘fit in’. For example, students who received financial aid might feel that classmates from wealthier backgrounds didn’t fully understand their financial position. Similarly, students with no experience of tertiary education might feel at a disadvantage compared to someone whose family had attended university for many generations.
The In-Betweeners offered an opportunity for FGLI students to share their experiences and support each other, and also to link up with alumni who had gone through similar experiences in the past. They also worked with College’s leadership and the wider community to raise awareness of FGLI issues.
Aloe was Yale-NUS' mental health advocacy student group.
For World Mental Health Day in 2018, they collaborated with the Dean of Students Wellness Office to launch a year-long campaign to destigmatise mental health issues under the slogan ‘It’s OK Not To Be OK’.
They included guidance on handling anxiety, a reminder than stress is only temporary and a breathing exercise.
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