By CELINE LIM

THE odds were against him graduating with top honours.

For one, Mr Terence Ong, 27, was still coming to terms with an accident which claimed five of his teammates' lives.

The national dragon boat rower was also juggling several work and coaching commitments, and earning his degree full time.

The Bachelor of Science (Banking and Finance) student's grades were not stellar, going into the last year of his three-year programme at SIM Global Education (SIM).

Mr Ong had obtained only two distinctions at that point.

To attain first class honours, he would have had to get distinctions for at least three out of his final four subjects.

So imagine his surprise when he found out he had graduated with first class honours last Friday, along with 65 other students from various University of London degree programmes.

Now a banking associate at Standard Chartered Bank, Mr Ong recalled how, a few months into his final year, his teammates drowned when their boat capsized after a race in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 23 Nov 2007.

Of the 17 survivors, Mr Ong said he was "one of the first few out of the water".

He declined to go into the details of the tragedy to avoid upsetting his late teammates' families.

After returning to Singapore, he took a week off before resuming his lessons.

But he said he "couldn't concentrate" on studies in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

He said he "was close to all five teammates", and that he had to make an extra effort to avoid thinking about the tragedy.

"But it helped that the whole team stuck by one another after the accident."

Supportive university staff

The university staff also proved "supportive", said Mr Ong, who was one of six national dragon boat rowers from SIM.

He said staff from the university's student care and services department had called on the day of the accident to make sure he was all right.

SIM staff was also in constant contact with the students when they were in Cambodia and when they returned to Singapore, said a spokesman.

Professional counselling services were also available to help students cope with the psychological effects of the incident, the spokesman added.

Said Mr Ong: "Our lecturers also sent e-mails to ask how we were doing and if we needed extra lessons.

"One lecturer advised me to attend the lectures of another group she was teaching as well as my own since I'd missed a week of school after the incident."

The offer was appreciated, especially since he was working part-time as a freelance personal trainer and as an executive assistant at the Singapore Sports Council.

Not only did he stay on with the national dragon boat team, he also continued coaching the SIM school team and two corporate teams.

A week or two after returning from Cambodia, he had to decide whether to accompany the SIM team to Penang for a competition.

He eventually decided to join them even though it was a "challenge" for him.

"I was in charge of the technical aspects so it was my responsibility to be there to oversee the team," he said.

SIM dragon boat rower Gavin She, 26, was partially responsible for Mr Ong's results.

Mr Ong explained: "I was study buddies with Gavin, and every time I found out that he knew something I didn't, I made sure to brush up on the topic as I didn't want to 'lose' to him.

"We both ended up with first class honours."

This article was first published in The New Paper.