Prison School to NUS At 36, former drug abuser finds it's never too late to get a degree

Behind every academic result is a young person quietly chasing their dreams, beating the odds and hoping to make something of themselves. In this monthly series, More than Grades, we tell the stories of young people who are making waves in school and beyond.

- Elisha Tushara

In mid-2017, Mr Mason Lim woke up disoriented to find himself strapped down in the psychiatric ward of Changi Prison, subdued in a three-way restraint where only one hand was free to move.

He was then 28 years old, going through drug withdrawal symptoms, and facing the start of his four years and four months' prison stay and 10 strokes of the cane for drug-related charges.

For nearly three weeks, he lay confined on a plastic bed, never imagining how his life would eventually turn out.

On July 13, Mr Lim, now 36, graduates from the National University of Singapore, with an honours degree in communications and new media, a feat paved from a winding road that saw him quitting school twice.

In 2006, he joined Victoria Junior College but dropped out after just three months. "The textbooks were super thick, and back then I didn't like to read much," he said.

Upset that he was not allowed to join its football team because he had entered the school through its Direct School Admission scheme for hockey, he impulsively decided to leave.

That year, he enrolled in Temasek Polytechnic's hospitality and tourism management course.

Everything was on track until some schoolmates invited him to their poker games. That was when he realised how much more money he could make if he hosted the games himself.

He moved out of his parents' home in Tampines and decided to rent an apartment with a friend to host poker games together. Hosting five sessions a week, he pocketed at least $10,000 a month.

"At that age, seeing that kind of money, school was like secondary," said Mr Lim, who has an older brother.

He was almost at the finish line of his diploma programme, but left in his fourth year following changes the school made to tutorial attendance requirements.