If you know a group of friends from your Secondary school who went to NYP, chances are that you also know some in PFP, albeit maybe in a different school from yours. And if you’re also in PFP? Great! You guys not only take common modules like English, Math, and Project Work ☠️ which you can help each other with, but you also have the chance of becoming acquaintances with their classmates!
Rinse and repeat this cycle of occasionally meeting someone from a different school, and you begin to realise the same faces appear in different situations. Assuming you’re a fairly social person who doesn’t just sit in one corner of the classroom playing Project Sekai or some other gacha game (You know who you are 👀), you’ve probably ran into a couple of these social butterflies from time to time.
For example, you would probably be familiar with these names, especially for the reasons in brackets:
- Wei Jun (Open House 2024 Overall In-Charge)
- Keshu (Open House 2024 Assistant In-Charge)
- Felix (Student Union leadership events)
What's in their head?
I interviewed Felix to get a better idea of how a social butterfly like himself forges connections with PFP students from other schools so seamlessly, and while I did expect some of his responses through logical reasoning, I found others rather interesting:
Transcript:
Alright, your name is?
My name is Felix Chua, SIT, PF2331.
Alright, nice to meet you Felix. Pretty awkward since you’re my classmate but anyways, on to the interview.
How many PFP friends do you have in other NYP schools?
You mean like, in SDM?
Yep, any school other than your own.
Excluding SIT I have… 30, 40? Friends from other schools. But they’re scattered, mostly concentrated in SDM. I have a few in SBM, one in SHSS, and I think one from SAS but I’m not sure. It’s scattered around the whole school.
Any in SEG?
Yeah I have a few there as well.
Ok cool.
Generally, how did you meet them?
Usually I meet them through events or workshops. For some they’re a friend of a friend, and overtime I got closer with them.
What was the most interesting instance where you met someone else from PFP?
I think… at least for me, I got closer with my SDM friends through P.E. Because when I see them during P.E. I say hi, and joke around with them. So I think that would be the most interesting part. I don’t think I have many interesting first impression stories, ‘cause I don’t usually have those.
Oh that’s nice. I wasn’t going to ask this but since it’s relevant now, do you get along well with the people in your P.E. group?
In my P.E. group like my class or just in general?
As in, because your P.E. class is hosted with a bunch of other classes and some of them are from different schools, how do you get along with them?
Oh. Umm… how do I get along with the other classes in P.E.?
How you get along with your own class and other classes.
Ah. I mean at least for me, it’s just playing sports and joking around. Because during P.E., we have a good amount of downtime during games or training. So it gives us more than a few minutes to come out and discuss and chit-chat.
So nothing beyond the surface level, just casual talk, got it.
No it can get deeper than that, but it’s just the time. You don’t have deeper talks during lessons because you’re usually paying attention, drinking water, or just relaxing. ‘Cause it’s been very tough.
Alright alright, understood.
Next question: Do you tend to meet up with other PFP friends during breaks?
During breaks? Sometimes if the chance is there. Because for me, I never go to their side of the school, so I never go past SBM or SHSS often. I never really see most of my friends there. Usually they would either come to Koufu, South (Canteen), or Foodgle. Those are the main canteens that I usually eat in during break times.
So generally speaking it’s a matter of them meeting you, not the other way round?
Usually I don’t plan the meetups. If I know that my friends are eating at Koufu or South (Canteen), I’ll just go meet them there. I don’t pay attention to the break times of other classes, so if I meet them one day it’s usually by pure luck.
Oh, so you always join them for breaks impromptu?
If they’re there I’ll sit next to them
Are you closer to some friends from other PFP schools than those in your own school?
I think most of my close friends are from SIT because at the end of the day, it’s a working environment. We work, study, and discuss together. We are constantly in the same environment, so it gives us time to talk and chit-chat. And if need be, let the deeper conversations happen.
So you’re generally closer to SIT just because it’s where you are physically close to the people you interact with?
Yeah because at least to me, physical proximity is the thing that defines most friendships. You can be best friends without meeting each other, but it’s much harder to get close quickly if you aren’t friends beforehand.
Alright thank you so much felix
Okay, no problem
(Handshake)
Take from that what you will, but I believe some of what Felix said also applies to those who aren’t social butterflies, but are still relatively outgoing.
If you’re still keen to hear more about what Felix has to say about PFP’s interconnectedness, I have a bonus set of interview questions I asked him in the audio recording below:
Austin Ho 
Hani Marsya 
Brandon Sapitan