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ITE graduates Ryka Putri Eva Sabrinna Sabtu and Damien Koh Wen Hao pushed through adversity to excel, each earning this year’s Lee Kuan Yew Model Student Award. At 18, Ms Ryka Putri Eva Sabrinna Sabtu was taking her first examinations at ITE College Central when her parents kicked her out of her home after her estrangement from her parents came to a head. With the support of her lecturers, Ms Ryka rented a room and applied for financial aid, which helped to cover her school fees and meals. To pay for other living expenses, she worked 40 hours every week on top of her lessons – serving food, giving out flyers and cleaning toilets. The 20-year-old graduated from her Higher Nitec course in marine and offshore engineering in February 2025 with a grade point average of 3.957. She now dons the black-and-white seafarers’ uniform at SP’s Singapore Maritime Academy, where she is pursuing a Diploma in Nautical Studies. Meanwhile, her schoolmate Damien Koh Wen Hao, 19, graduated at the top of his Higher Nitec in sport management course at ITE College West. Now in NYP’s Common Business Programme, he started a ground-up initiative in March 2025 with five peers under a youth leadership programme, providing a free, comfortable space for other young people to study and socialise in.

[The Straits Times]