The ACS OBA’s Role in the ACS BOG
Over the years and as members became aware of the need to go beyond one-off events and annual dinners to something deeper and having more impact on the collective ACS community, there was a growing desire among the Old Boys for an intimate concern in the welfare of the school and so the need for a Board of Governors was felt and first discussed in 1951.

The Association’s request for a Board of Governors for the ACS was finally approved in 1954. Formal recognition of its crucial role within the School was enshrined in the Constitution of the ACS Board of Governors. The General Committee of the OBA would nominate three members to represent the OBA on the Board. Far from sitting on the sidelines, the OBA took a bold step to sustain critical participation in the management of the school and secure its heritage of a widely acknowledged tradition of all-round excellence for future generations – a milestone in the history of the OBA.

Key Events
The OBA did not merely exist so that the Old Boys could network among themselves. Both individually and under the umbrella of the OBA, they made their presence felt throughout all ACS units via three distinct events that have since become firm traditions: the annual Founder’s Day Dinner, which continues till this day to be characterised by “boyish freedom and friendliness”; fund-raising (e.g., the Fun-o-Rama) and “Past vs Present” Games. Additional events that have now become a regular fixture on the ACS OBA calendar include the Retired Teachers’ Day Dinner, various social mixers and new members’ welcome, and the ONE ACS Career forum, which introduces different perspectives of a variety of professions in a candid and informal format so that students are exposed to the diverse ways in which people make choices about their careers.

The Oldham Club – Mentorship through Sports
Oldham Club, the sporting arm of ACSOBA, was a new addition in 2010 with the objective to facilitate mentorship through sports.The club began with rugby as the pioneer sport and has now grown to include tennis, badminton, water-polo and squash. It seeks to serve as the melting pot for Old Boys, present-day students as well as for friends and supporters to come together to form a closed-knit community where sport is the excuse for true relationships to form.

At Oldham Club, we have found a way to pursue our love for sport and the need to help our younger charges through the guidance of mentorship.

The intention however, is not just about the affection for a fraternity of people with similar interests, but also the love and charity for our fellow human beings. This means serving and caring for the community at large. In 2014, we spent a day out with the Singapore National Cerebral Palsy Soccer team as well as organized a food donation drive for residents of Jalan Teck Whye with Fei Yue Family Service Centre.

Changing with the times
With the rapid expansion of ACS into 7 schools to meet the demands of the 21st century education, much of its success has hinged decisively on the engendering of strong support from the ACSOBA. As with ACS, the ACS OBA has evolved with the times and reached many milestones since. The OBA has come to realise that it is not enough to get new blood into the association, but young blood as well. While the internet portal was launched on March 1st 2001, the OBA has moved with the times into social media including Facebook, in order to reach out to the increasingly net savvy populace.

Through this portal, more opportunities for networking and support are created, and Old Boys kept easily in touch with their alma mater.

Going forward-keeping our traditions alive
Our ACS family has grown to proportions that Bishop Oldham would never be able to fathom- over 10,000 students spread across 6 schools in Singapore and 1 in Jakarta, over 1,000 staff and numerous alumni spread across the globe. All singing 1 anthem, bearing 1 crest, with 1 motto seared into our hearts. It is the responsibility of every ACSian to keep our traditions alive and pass them on to the next generation. That is the ACS spirit, and what makes our school unique.

As Mr Loh Siew Whye, then a Senior boy, in a letter to the editor of the 1938 ACS Magazine, lamented: “Too much of the work of the Association, we presume, was left in the hands of Old Boys who were old in the literal sense of the word; when they died, the Association died with them”, the ACS OBA must be careful to continually reinvent itself and remain relevant to the very people that it was set up to serve.

So that is what we must do. Rise to the call to serve. The ways are many- Come forward to the OBA to volunteer your time and expertise, donate to the ACS Foundation to support our ACS family, return to coach a sport in an ACS school or the Oldham Club, join us on September 1st for our Retired ACS Teachers’ Tribute Dinner, offer to mentor our students...the list is endless. It is the debt that we as ACSians can never repay for the rich, God-breathed education that has made us the people we are today.

The ACS OBA will continue to evolve, but will never lose sight of its mission to preserve the ties that bind ACSians with the twine that ‘discord n’er will sever’.

Our ACS Forever!