I’ve put this off for so long, but now that my USA trip and school semester are both over, I’m finally starting to scrape together some time and can catch up on some of my blog backlog, like these yearbooks. I have the Dunman High 1997-2000 ones scanned, and by the gods I will get them all uploaded eventually.
This is the 1998 yearbook for Dunman High School in Singapore. The school year ran from January 1998 to December 1998, and I was in Secondary 2 at this time. This was my last, best year at this school, and the last time I was featured in the yearbook, as my family moved to Canada at the end of 1998. (Still got the yearbook though, no idea how.)
Not everything was roses and sunshine, but I still count my experiences at this school as some of the most valuable, fun, and formative experiences in my life, and am finally again (after 20 years) in touch with most of my friends through our joint 1KL WhatsApp group. There are a couple people missing from this group though — you know who you are, and please reach out (jesskitten at gmail) so I can help you get in touch with everyone else again. Or at least reach out to say hi to me!
Mega.nz folder link to JPG and TIF files here.
Most of this page was written on Apr 11 2022. 11 months after I did the 1997 yearbook. Eesh.
Table of Contents
ට Introduction (Page 1-12)
ට Teaching Staff (Page 13-24)
ට Secondary 4 Class Photos (Page 25-51)
ට Secondary 1-3 + Misc Class Photos (Page 52-72)
ට Events (Page 73-96)
ට Enrichment (Page 97-114)
ට Extra Curricular Activities (Page 115-160)
ට Pupils Say (Page 161-168)
Links to my other major Dunman High scans:
ට Dunman Link Newsletter (Mar 1997)
ට Dunman High School 1997 Yearbook (Dec 1997)
ට Dunmanian 21 Outcomes (1998)
ට Dunman High School 1998 Yearbook (Dec 1998) (You are here)
ට Dunman High School 1999 Yearbook (Dec 1999)
ට Dunman High School 2000 Yearbook (Dec 2000)
Links to some Dunman High-related diary entries:
ට Some extra class photos (My Diary #019)
ට Descriptions of my classmates (My Diary #059)
ට Revisiting Dunman High 23 years later (Rose-Tinted Goggles, Singapore Day 6)
Links to some miscellaneous scans on archive.org.
Introduction (Page 1-12)
This category, according to the Table of Contents in the book, contains:
School Motto (Pg 2)
School Crest (Pg 3)
School Song (Pg 4)
School Advisory Board (Pg 5)
Principal’s Report (Pg 6)
Guest of Honour’s speech (Pg 11)
This layout is similar to the 1997 yearbook, though last year’s was missing a Guest of Honour’s speech. Also, I definitely won some of those Math awards the principal highlighted in his Report, though which ones exactly I will need to find out by scanning some of my awards and certificates eventually.
Teaching Staff (Page 13-24)
This part is in the same order (and exact same page numbers!) as the 1997 handbook. I had most of the Gifted Education Department teachers there, though not all. Mrs Shu, the lady in the center of the back row, was the form teacher for our 2L class, and our science teacher. Ms Tan was our Math teacher. Ms Wong was our Geography teacher. I don’t recognize Mr Sng, Mrs Jalleh and Ms Ho from the list.
I also really appreciate that they have pictures of the non-academic staff, so like the cleaners and custodians and probably the tuckshop/canteen vendors and such. Those people are often left out of memorial books. It’s too bad their names were omitted, although names were included in the 1997 yearbook for the ones that were present for that too, as well as the 1999 and 2000 yearbooks.
Apparently our principal left at the end of the year too. Just like me. I didn’t remember that, or maybe I was too self-absorbed since we were packing up and moving ourselves.
Secondary 4 Class Photos (Page 25-51)
Full of memories for the respective people involved, these are. They’re usually the highlight of a yearbook for me — the graduating class’s page spreads.
Secondary 1-3 + Misc Class Photos (Page 52-72)
O kawaii koto.
I don’t believe there were pictures for the Music Elective folks in the previous yearbook, but there are here. I recognize a couple of the girls from our 2L class. I don’t remember which class the music elective class replaced for them in the schedule.
I was in Class 2L this year, my last year in Dunman. I’m not in the 1999/2000 yearbooks.
Enrichment (Page 97-114)
It’s a bad picture, but I’m in the Math Olympiad one. I think that was the year that I finished 2nd nationwide in the individual rankings, though I’ll have to check my books and awards to be sure.
I also seem to remember either the Chinatown Heritage Trail or perhaps one of the other tours.. either this year or in 1997.. under the History Field Trips section. I have a really odd memory of going on a Chinese-themed tour with my class as part of a cultural excursion, and eating a Chinese tea egg inside a little egg holder cup in a shop by a river (or possibly a large canal or drain). Out of everything, that one memory has stuck with me all the way to right now, 25 years later, for some reason.
Extra Curricular Activities (Page 115-160)
Dunman High had (and probably still has) four “uniformed group” clubs, the Scouts, Guides, St John Ambulance Brigade (SJAB), and the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC). If you check the ECA section of any of our yearbooks, the Prefects group was always featured first in the “clubs” lineup, even though they weren’t considered an ECA (and you still had to be in another actual club even if you were a prefect), and then the four uniformed groups were always displayed 2nd to 5th in whatever random order was selected that year. Then the music groups always came next, and then the culture clubs, and everyone else, and finally sports. This showed the relative “prestige” of each club in the eyes of the Dunman school administration and students, or at least of the Dunman back in 1997-2000. All four of the uniformed groups were very hmm.. discipline/parade/martial/obedience-oriented as well, since it was quite a traditional school, and some of the music and other clubs did marching parade stuff and similar discipline-oriented things to that as well.
Also, I always thought it was odd that Dunman never had a soccer club either.
Pupils Say (Page 161-168)
Student essays! This was the only year out of the 4 yearbooks I had that they had this section, I believe. Mostly a collection of various essays written by students for this or that competition or showcase. Neat!
The essay on page 165 came out weird though, there’s a line that goes “a taste of the nîrdships uô” in the third last paragraph. I have two versions of the 1998 yearbook (one hardcover and one softcover) and they both have this mistake — this must be some OCR error or something in the original manuscript that wasn’t caught.
Document dated: December 1998.