‘Kim Possible’ Strikes Top Student Award

2019 Deaf Achievers' Award

It has been more than 18 years since Kimberly Quek Hwee was diagnosed with hearing disability. Yet, she has never allowed her disability to be an excuse for not pursuing excellence. At 19 years old, Kimberly has accumulated a commendable report card of achievements in sport and academics. Therefore, it came as no surprise when she won the Outstanding Deaf Student Award (Tertiary) from the Singapore Association for the Deaf at the 2019 Deaf Achievers’ Awards on 21 September 2019.

With only two years of competitive bowling under her belt, Kimberly earned a place at Singapore Sports School and began her secondary education in 2014. The Bowling Academy student-athlete’s outstanding work ethic allowed her to join the school as one of the top student-athletes academically, and helped her maintain her status throughout her school years. Kimberly is known to put in extra effort at training and in her school work, and takes an active approach to seeking help from coaches and teachers when clarification is needed. She even picked up a new language and scored the highest possible grade – 7 points – in the IB Malay ab initio examination. Not only does she work hard to achieve her personal goals, she extends her help to others through taking up serving her peers as a student-athlete leader or engaging in community service activities.

Despite her heavy academic commitments as an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Year 6 student-athlete, the bowler was Singapore’s most bemedalled athlete at the inaugural ASEAN Deaf Bowling Championships in Manila, Philippines, in April 2019. She returned with 4 gold and 1 bronze medals.

The bowler’s drive for excellence and commitment to fulfilling her sport goals remains strong even during her final year of the IBDP. Following the ASEAN Deaf Bowling Championships, Kimberly competed in the 2019 World Deaf Bowling Championships in Taiwan in August and will be donning national colours again at the Asia Pacific Deaf Games in Hong Kong from 1 to 12 November. The student-athlete has been granted partial deferment of the examinations till May 2020.