SINGAPORE - The turning point in Mr Aman Singh Rahman's life came in 2015, when he was caught by the police at a music festival with enough marijuana to smoke a joint, just months before enlisting in national service.
Only 18 years old at the time, he realised he wanted to change.
This year, the 25-year-old graduated from Republic Polytechnic, and he was among a record 782 students who received the Sinda Excellence Awards on Saturday (Sept 24).
But the road to graduation was long and hard for Mr Aman, who had dropped out of the Institute of Technical Education a year before his skirmish with the law, after skipping classes and exams to play computer games.
Hanging out with friends he met online also introduced him to the addiction that led to his arrest.
Resolving to stay clean while awaiting his sentence, Mr Aman volunteered for as many duties as possible after enlisting in the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
"I knew I had to do something because at any moment I could go to prison, so I tried to prove my worth," he said.
His superiors noticed his behaviour and wrote letters of recommendation to the court, which led to his sentence being dropped to probation for two years and compulsory community service.
"I jumped for joy because I thought my life was over. It felt like God just told me that was my last chance and that made me really want to wake up," said Mr Aman, describing himself as an uncontrollable child with a history of getting into fights and even stealing.
Unexpectedly, assisting people with intellectual disabilities at non-profit Sun-dac as part of his compulsory community service made him realise that he enjoyed helping those who had difficulty expressing themselves.
"I fell in love with the process of taking care of them, so I saved the manager's number and continued to volunteer after my probation ended," he said.
After completing his national service, Mr Aman decided to study business administration in a local university.
"No one in my family had gone to a local polytechnic or university. I never liked studying but I understood that it was a golden ticket into the working world," said Mr Aman who was raised by his mother and has a younger sister.
Funded by his aunt and Sinda, he applied to take his O levels as a private candidate, which helped him qualify for a course in sports management at Republic Polytechnic.
But his dream was put on hold after failing to gain admission to three local universities despite scoring a grade point average of 3.61 and actively participating in extracurricular activities, including the student council.
"It might be difficult for me to deal with the baggage I carry, but I guess it is an added responsibility to prove to the world and help people in a similar situation; if I can make it, I'm sure they can as well," said Mr Aman.
He expects to work as a financial consultant by the end of this year after getting another qualification.
Another award recipient was Ms Nur Hasinah Al-Arifin, 26, who freelanced as a producer and serviced a student loan while studying for a degree in arts management at Lasalle College of the Arts.
"Management of the arts strikes the right balance for me. I wouldn't want to do something I am not interested in just for the money, I would rather do something that doesn't bore me and still helps me get by," said the marketing executive, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) earlier this year.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.