‘Life never gets boring’

Finger in every pie: Allison believes in the benefits of cultivating multiple interests.

AMONG the many things adults like to find out from us students are our ambitions and hobbies.

From as young as the age of six, we have been directed these questions. Imagine asking kindergarteners what they want to be in 20 years when they don’t even know what they want to have for lunch.

As children, we are encouraged to be curious and to expand our interests. Thus, we sign up to be members of various school clubs, pick up instruments, and play sports. But once we reach a certain age, we are told to “stop daydreaming” and to start thinking of a job or field we are interested in pursuing.

We are then labelled accordingly: art student, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student, sports student and so on.

It is great if you have a specific field you have been interested in from young. However, we often forget about those who have a variety of interests and still have the desire to learn and explore more.

Let me introduce you to the word “multipotentialite”, which is defined as a person who has many interests and creative pursuits in life.

Notable multipotentialites include Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Each of them found success through their passions for various fields.

I admit that it was a headache for my parents to keep track of the number of interests I had growing up: theatre, astronomy, dance, biology, debate, singing, writing – you name it, I had an interest in it.

Now that I’m older, I can say without reservation that all of my passions growing up have helped me become the person I am today.

For example, through my interests in the performing arts and debate, I learnt to be more confident of myself and my ideas, and am now able to speak before large crowds with poise while treating these interests as mediums of creativity. Not just that, my interest in astronomy has helped me get through tough times by reminding me that there is a whole universe beyond Earth.

Indeed, there are multiple benefits of being a multipotentialite. The first is fast skill acquisition. The strong thirst for knowledge of multipotentialites results in these people being able to process more information quicker and pick up new skills faster. The number of things you may potentially be amazing at will surprise you.

Besides that, having multiple interests helps us in school and the workforce. When we have dipped our toes in several fields, we gain knowledge of specific areas and can reapply it to an entirely unrelated field.

By tackling a variety of interests and not being afraid to step out of our comfort zones, we are also less intimidated when new problems and challenges arise.

We can build off past knowledge we have acquired from pursuing our many interests and apply it to current real-world scenarios.

I feel as if I can connect ideas and multiple perspectives better and have a more diverse point of view when solving problems.

This is beneficial because you would be able to bring to the table out-of-the-box solutions and become a person many people would want to work with.

Although there are many pros of cultivating multiple interests instead of sticking to one, it is extremely important to carry out these interests in moderation and not drown yourself in work.

The truth is, I am not a master at everything I am interested in.

Despite that, the ongoing pursuit of finding more things I am interested in has helped me realise that life never gets boring no matter what age you are.

Allison, 18, a student in Penang, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team.

1. There are many letters in the word “multipotentialite”. How many words can you form by using the letters from this word? Give yourself a minute to list all the words that you can form. When you are done, compare your list with an activity partner’s. Who got the most words correctly?

2. Now, look in today’s copy of the Sunday Star newspaper. Can you identify any multipotentialites? Cut out their pictures and paste them in your Star-NiE scrapbook. What interests or passions do they have? And what are their notable achievements? Write them down around the pictures.

3. These are three idioms that are quite commonly used in written and spoken English.

“To dip one’s toes into” means to begin doing something unfamiliar.

“To bring to the table” means to offer something that will be useful.

“To have a finger in every pie” means to be involved in a lot of things.How would you use these idioms in your conversation? With an activity partner, look in the newspaper for pictures that show people having conversations with each other. You may even use cartoon strips from the Comics pages. Create speech bubbles for the characters, using the idioms above. When you are done, do a role-play of each conversation.

Since 1997, The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) programme has supported English language teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools nationwide. Through Star-NiE’s teacher and student workshops, annual contests and monthly English language resources for classroom use, participants of the programme reportedly showed marked interest in the language and progress in their proficiency. Now in its 25th year, Star-NiE is continuing its role of promoting the use of English language through a weekly activity page in StarEdu. These activities are suitable for use individually and in groups, at home and in the classroom, across varied proficiency levels. Parents and teachers are encouraged to work on the activities with their children and students. In addition, Star-NiE’s BRATs Young Journalist Programme will continue to be a platform for participants to hone and showcase their English language skills, as well as develop their journalistic interests and instincts. Follow our updates at facebook.com/niebrats. For Star-NiE enquiries, email [e-mail].