Sunway Project for Asia and International Relations Annual Conference 2023 (21/10/2023)

Sunway Project for Asia and International Relations better known as SPAIR 2023 is back! This year's theme is Human Capital: The Gap on Gender and Education, which mainly focuses on SDG 4: Quality Education and SDG 5: Gender Equality. I always wanted to attend a SPAIR conference but it always clashed with my schedule, mainly on Model United Nations, it's always on the weekend! 

Now, not anymore! I'm attending and in a SPAIR conference panelling on the topic of education. It was a month back when Farhana, the current Vice President of SPAIR. She went through my profile on LinkedIn and Instagram (my personal account) and found out about my advocacy for disability inclusion. After some thinking, I said yes. 

The meeting was arranged to get first-hand of the program flow, and who were the people I was gonna panel alongside. For education, I wasn't the only Sunway alum, there was gonna be another fellow Sunway alum for that session but I wonder who he or she was. A week or two before the event, the full list of panellists was out and the questions were in to have a concept of what the moderators would ask. 

On the day of the event, I was led by the volunteer team of SPAIR to the Chancellor Suite - where they host VIPs. I called it the VIP room. Breakfast was served with light snacks and refreshments. Sunway campus has been upholding "Campus with a Conscience" by practising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on campus. I had my favourite Nyonya kuih (pastries) too! At 10.15am, we were given the green light to head over to JC 1. 

I thought the room would be packed with 100 people and it was the weekend. Turned out it was less than I expected. It's okay anyway, I like a small crowd on a panel session because we interact with the audience more. The event with the singing of the national anthem the Negaraku, followed by an opening remark from Sunway Education Group CEO - Dato' Professor Dr. Elizabeth Lee and the President of SPAIR - Farhana. 

The first panel session was on Gender Equality. I would like to take on the mention of parental leave. In society's expectations, the mothers are the ones who spend and nurturing newborns in the first three or six months but the question is: What about the fathers? Nurturing and raising children requires both parents to be involved in the process. Not only parents but also grandparents (from both sides) also play an important role too! 

I'm lucky I was raised by my grandparents, it was a big help for my parents, especially my mummy to focus on her career 100% and not worry about my younger sibling and me being left at home alone after school. After that, it's lunchtime on the Mezzanine floor. I had delicious Mac and Cheese with iced lemon tea! Before we headed back, Jeff, the moderator briefly introduced himself as we are heading back to JC 1 to continue to the next session - Quality Education. 

At the beginning of the session, each of the panellists what does education mean to them? I shared a fond memory of my ah gong (grandpa) - who is a retired educator who bought me essay books to prep me for essay writing in Year 3 of primary school.  I was asked how education and how can we make them inclusive? 

I talked about the difference between the inclusivity between Australia and Malaysia. Students with disabilities like myself are not able to have 100% inclusivity in class whereas in Australia, I was there during my yearly physiotherapy checkup. I could see the educators emphasised inclusion.

The education blueprint went well with other countries but with Malaysia, it doesn’t go anywhere, it always goes back to the same point. The role of an educator also plays an important part in a student's life. There is always one educator who leaves an impact on the students. For example, an educator whose child loves drawing but doesn't recognise it, what the educator did is she got it tattooed to boost the child's confidence. I think this is what really can do to always encourage the students to discover their potential instead of focusing too much on the grades.

I ended the session by encouraging parents to send their children because campus life is a pathway to a bright future and eventually a class above! Thank you SPAIR team for inviting me back to campus and hope to come back again for future events. 

Follow Sunway Project for Asia and International Relations (SPAIR) for more upcoming events: 

Website: https://sunway-pair.wixsite.com/sunway-pair 

Facebook: Sunway Project for Asian and International Relations 

Instagram: @sunwaypair

LinkedIn: Sunway Project for Asian and International Relations

Let's connect: https://linktr.ee/katelynchin97

Back to University: Department of Communication Alum Sharing (20/10/2023)

Last time, I was in the lecture rooms listening to my seniors sharing their lives after university. I didn’t expect to return as a senior and share my experiences with my juniors! I received an invitation from  Ms. Priya last week in conjunction with the Department of Communication's (DOC) Townhall Meeting. Although it's quite last-minute, it's always good to be back on campus! 

I arrived early as I had a lunchtime meet-up with Xin Qi, a fellow UNICEF Malaysia Young Leader - she and I are part of the Young Leaders Programme (YLP). We ate lunch at our favourite vegetarian food stall on campus. Xin Qi asked me about having me as a guest speaker for the opening ceremony of the yearly Sunway Model United Nations (SUNMUN), I said why not - there's another reason for me to head back to campus next month!

After lunch, I stayed for a while at the college's physics lab as Xin Qi was helping out with the A-Levels graduation night. At 2.45 p.m. I headed to the Jeffery Cheah Hall on the north side of the college building. Prof. Pauline Leong was waiting for my arrival and I quickly made my way to the stage and started sharing about my journey on campus from Monash University Foundation Year (MUFY) to a BA (Hons) Communication graduate.

One of my favourite memories in the Department of Communication was the campaign of TogetherLAH! The closing ceremony fell on my 21st birthday too! It was almost five years since we ran the campaign, and it's still vivid in my mind, that we wanted to change the perception of how people think about Malaysia. After the sharing session ended, I was given a goodie bag by Dr. Padma as a moment to mark my visit back to campus.

This wasn't just any ordinary town hall meeting, a game session held by the student body of the department for lecturers and students to bond with each other. I gave a try on the bingo game and I got a bingo! Before ended the visit, a group photo was taken and for me, I took a solo photo in front of the stage. Did you know the Magicman - Jackson Wang held his dance workshop in conjunction with his Magicman World Tour in Kuala Lumpur last year! 

Thank you to the Department of Communication (DoC) team for inviting me back! I can't wait to join more activities in the future! 

Here is an upcoming event by the Events Management student team: RAWK Commcert 3.0 - it's to promote Malaysian talents in the music industry and they want you to be part of it! Head over to their Instagram account @rawkcommcert to learn more! RAWK Commcert 3.0 is coming your way on 16 December 2023 at Jeffery Cheah Hall from 3pm to 6pm. Bringing everyone through the evolution of music from 1970's till the present day.