A new orchid A first for all schools	Dr Chin (left) presenting Ascocenda Anglo-Chinese School's "birth certificate" to Mr Tan. -- ACJC picture.

THE ACS Family of Schools scored another first on March 1 when it had a new orchid hybrid named after it. And it is the first school in Singapore to be accorded such an honour.

At a ceremony marking the unveiling and naming of the orchid at the National Orchid Garden of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Ascocenda Anglo-Chinese School was presented to the school.

To the joy of members of the ACS Board of Governors, alumni members, principals, teachers and students from the ACS family, Dr Chin See Chung, Director of the Botanic Gardens, handed over a pot of the new orchid and a "birth certificate" respectively to Bishop Dr Robert Solomon and Mr Tan Wah Thong, Chairman of the ACS Board of Governors.

Orchids have often been named after visiting foreign dignitaries and other VIPs, but this was the first time that such an honour has been bestowed on a school.

A delighted Mr Tan said the ACS Board of Governors "welcomes the new orchid as the school flower because it embodies the values of an ACSian education".

It is being incorporated into the landscape in all the ACS schools, and will serve as a symbol of the ACSian values for all generations.

Ascocenda Anglo-Chinese School - a cross between Ascocenda Kwa Geok Choo and Vanda Poepoe "Diana" - is a hardy, lightly scented hybrid that produces flowers throughout the year. Its sepals and petals are an attractive light purple to pure white, and the mid-lobe of the lip is broad with red to orange-yellow hues.

Each upright spray produces six to eight flowers.

Mrs Kathryn Koh, Head of Department (English) at ACS (Barker Road), finds the orchid "distinctive and unsurpassed in its embodiment of an ACSian education". It catches the eye with its combination of elegance, symmetry and quiet grace, she said.