170th IJ Anniversary

“170 years ago, the idea of female education was revolutionary,” Ms Vivienne Lim, chairwoman of the IJ board, said in front of 16,000 staff and students and 1,600 former staff and alumni. All of these people, on 20 May 2024, had gathered together at the National Stadium for a purpose — to celebrate CHIJ’s 170th anniversary as one big family. It was truly a heartwarming sight to see the National Stadium packed with students, staff, alumni as well as nuns from all over the world that day. 

To start it off, we had a mass with the presence of Cardinal William Goh, head of Singapore’s Catholic Church, who imparted words of wisdom about the virtues that IJ girls hold: humility, justice, compassion, simplicity and love for the poor. We then recounted IJ’s long history and gave our thanks and appreciation to the many Sisters like Mother Mathilde, who had spent their lives tirelessly working towards the cause of female education. 

Moreover, our first ever CHIJ album, written by multiple students, teachers and alumni, was released on Spotify and Apple Music. The album consists of 12 songs and was officially launched on the day itself.To top it off, music videos of the album’s songs were shown, such as ‘I am an IJ Girl’ and ‘The IJ Spirit’. Everyone had a whale of time singing them! 

As the event came to a close, our fellow students hugged each other and sang their favourite song, ‘Hold On To Our Dream’, one last time. International jazz artiste and alumna Alemay Fernandez was a special guest who led everyone into singing ‘Hold On To Our Dream’! Our sisterly love remained strong and everlasting, as our voices rang throughout the entire stadium.

One by one, our students left the stadium and the tide washed out. We killed the lights, but the IJ spirit still burns bright.

Written by: Neo Rui Qin (3G), Nicole Lim (3L), Claire Kik (3P), Naomi Tan (3P), Alicia Chua (3T), Ng Xanafee (3U), Wong Yu Xuan (3W)