SWHF Honours Former RGS Principal, the Late Miss Norris and RGS Alumna, Ms Gan Siow Huang

Former RGS Principal, the late Miss Noel Evelyn Norris and RGS alumna, Ms Gan Siow Huang (RGS class of ‘90) were among the eight inspiring women who were newly inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame this year. They were honoured during the International Women’s Day Gala Dinner 2019 and 6th Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which was held on Saturday, 23 March 2019 at the St. Regis Hotel.

Principal, Mrs Poh Mun See (8th from right) and Head Girl, Goh Shi Sien Sarah (extreme right) were invited by the organisers to join the celebration. Alongside SWHF inductee Ms Gan Siow Huang (9th from right), they were all also part of the RGS community who turned up to celebrate the late Miss Norris’s induction.

Excerpts from the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame website on Miss Norris and Ms Gan:

“Evelyn Norris had a long and storied association with Raffles Girls’ School (RGS). She was a student, then a teacher there and, from 1961 to 1976, its Principal. Her connection to the school was such that when she was ailing in her 90s, with no immediate family to look after her, a panel of six alumnae got together to apply to the Courts to be deputies for her care… As RGS principal, Evelyn was a dynamic and hands-on leader who made some innovative changes to ensure that the school kept pace with Singapore’s evolving education policies. A firm believer in the importance of an all-round education, she made sure that all students took both science and humanities subjects. This continues to be a pillar of RGS…”

To read more, click here.

“When Gan Siow Huang became, in July 2015, the first woman Brigadier-General in the Singapore Armed Forces, it was not a surprise to those who knew her. She had already chalked up a string of firsts in the SAF… When Siow Huang took the leap to join SAF in 1993, female commanders were rare. Women were mostly in logistics and support functions then. But as Siow Huang and her contemporaries proved their mettle within the military, they began to take on wider responsibilities and paved the way for more career paths for women. Today, the SAF sees a growing number of women in combat roles and there are many more women in senior leadership positions…”

To read more, click here.