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Wind beneath his wings

This article is more than 12 months old

A future career as an aircraft and aerospace engineer is made possible with Singapore Polytechnic student Joshua Leong’s entry to the Diploma in Aerospace Electronics

On a family holiday to New Zealand when he was five years old, Mr Joshua Leong’s first flight of his life sparked a lifelong interest in aviation.

He says: “The moment I saw a plane for the first time, I was fascinated with the gigantic plane that I was going to sit on. The whole journey got me very curious and amazed at how such a humongous vehicle could fly. From then on, I developed a passion in aerospace and was eager to discover more about aviation.”

To fuel his interest, Joshua chose the Youth Flying Club (YFC) as a co-curricular activity (CCA). He says: “In the YFC, we learnt the basics of theory of flight and how to fly and build remote controlled planes. We did flight simulation and even entered competitions for both radio-controlled airplanes and aviation simulation.”

Through his CCA and physics classes in secondary school, he also realised that he prefers studying electronics over mechanics.

Now an 18-year-old second-year Singapore Polytechnic (SP) student enrolled in the Diploma in Aerospace Electronics, Joshua is on track to fulfil his childhood ambition of becoming an aircraft and aerospace engineer.

Joshua chose SP because he felt that the polytechnic is strong in teaching engineering subjects. SP has 14 full-time engineering diplomas, ranging from bioengineering to marine engineering.

His education at SP has helped him gain domain knowledge in the field. He says: “In this course, I learn about the electrical components of the plane and how they work. The course trains us to be aerospace engineers and is the perfect course for me to achieve my career goal.”

His interests lie in the electrical circuitry, wiring and electronics of the cockpit display system. His favourite modules include those related to digital electronics as well as principles of electrical and electronic engineering.

There is a special touch to Joshua’s entry to his dream course. He applied for and was accepted to Singapore Polytechnic via the Early Admissions Exercise (EAE) in 2016.

The EAE gives an applicant who shows aptitude for the course of his or her choice early conditional admission, even before the applicant sits for the O-level examinations. The application period is from June 21 to June 27 this year.  

Visit https://www.sp.edu.sg/eae/ and https://eae.polytechnic.edu.sg/eaeStudIns/menu.jsp for more information.

Singapore Polytechnic