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. 

Final Day of Year 3 (20/7/2020)

I submit the final report, this marks the end of my university life. This semester has been challenging for all of us as we are stuck in the comfort of our homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is happening around the world. Before e-learning took place, the thought of e-learning is staying at home, we don't have to get up early to get ready for going to campus. It's similar to working from home. When the reality of e-learning came in this nightmare, it was harder than we thought. 

First and foremost, distractions from family members. Even though we have set up the time to remind family members that we are attending "university" from home, they just walked in casually into the room which sometimes annoyed us all, especially when sharing a room. During the first day, it's quite alright but on the second day it's just walking into the room, which can cause a lot of "chaos". 

Secondly, the internet connection. Let's just face that technology really helped us a lot thanks to the Internet. Not all of us are lucky to have strong internet connections at home which led to some technical issues. If we are listening something important "in class", the internet connection cut off in the middle of the class and that would take some time to get the connection back. 

Thirdly, turning on web-camera or webcams. One of the reasons that our lecturers encouraged us to turn on the web-cams so they could see our facial expressions and body languages. Not all of us are comfortable turning on our web-cams "in class", as we could feel thousands of eyes are staring at us. Some students preferred to have their webcams turned off because the teaching content is more important. 

Fourthly, the absence of face-to-face learning. Although we were "in class", we couldn't sit next to our friends like we used to and talked before the lecturer comes in, instead, our computer screens replaced the physical presence. The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia made the announcement that full face-to-face learning will be resumed in October. In July, campuses were opened as an early phase for students to come back to have access the facilities on campuses. That's all the challenges that were faced during online classes, gladly it's all over for now. 

Although I couldn't meet my course mates physically, we still keep in touch through social media. I'm lucky to have them in my university life. I bet you wanna know more about them right? I'll tell you one by one. First off it's my best friend, Pamela, I call her Pam for short. We bonded over a hand-made pebble ring during our short semesters in January 2018. As they always diamonds are girls' best friend, clearly the bling did the bring us close together! She is the best big sister that I could ever ask for! She is my rock both physically and mentally.  

Next up, another best friend of mine is Shree, I met her through Pam too. She has been my confidante throughout the semester, especially on the mental side of it because the final semester is always the toughest and the most challenging for any final year student. My mental health took a toll on me a couple of times, so we talked it out about the struggles we faced. 

Need someone to cheer up? We have Raphael and Co! I'm talking about Aloysius, Ben Kin, Chester, Desmond, Raphael, Shaun and Nasrin. They sure put a smile on everyone's face. At some point in conversations, I have no idea what was going on, they sure shine a light in my university life.  What's university life without any music and fashion? Carlson and Jinson are the people we are looking for! Fashion-wise, take a tip or two from Yuki, she always amazes me with her fashion, alongside with her PowerPuff Girls - Dayana and Shivani. 

We can't reset the clock, but I wish we could to put everything at a stop and enjoy the moment for that one bit, but surely we can go beyond labels to achieve our dreams. The journey is almost coming to an end, hopefully, we will meet each other again sometime in the near future.   

Back to University: Online Lecture (8/4/2020)

It's back to university! What am I going to do? I'm back in my hometown. I'm going to university online. It's true! All the classes for this semester will assessed online, which means university from home. Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, we are on the second phase of the movement control order (MCO), we're staying put until the order is over.

I'm all set for the semester cause I'll be here in my hometown, Melaka. Usually I will pack food from home and bring it to campus but this time I have home cooked food. Talk about going to classrooms, I have to wait to be at the lift by half an hour before class starts, cause by 15 minutes before class, everybody will be lining up and it will get squishy. At home, I set my alarm clock, have some breakfast and set up the computer an hour class, I'm good to go. It's advisable to wake three or two hours before class time, so we have enough time to buffer and get everything done. 

Recently, during the MCO period I was hooking up to games which I left off. Now that university has already started, it's the best to put a timer to time ourselves for not going overboard on the games. Do not miss any class no matter virtually or face-to-face and always be on time! It's a good practice, when we go to the working world punctuality is everything unless we have a leeway in between. 

Another tip on university from home is make sure the room that we are in is noise free, good connection of the Internet (sometimes we will face bad connection), a big study space to put all the university go-to "essentials" such as books, laptop, pencil box, phone, iPad etc. Most importantly make ourselves presentable, some lecturers want to see our faces, be confident and don't be camera shy. Also, have a good set of earphones if we wanna block out the noise around us.  

Instead of a physical classroom, we use Zoom as a virtual classroom to be connected with our lecturers and course mates. I'm really happy to see all of my course mates again. We may not see each other like we used before on campus but I'm sure we will meet physically one day. This semester is going to a bumpy ride, I hope I can achieve my goals! Hope everyone stays safe. 

2359 SU Fashion Drama: Reset the Clock (14/11/19)

It’s a rainy day for today’s 2359 Fashion Drama but the weather doesn’t dampen the spirits of the students of Sunway University, especially the Communication gang- as they are out in full force to support their fellow cousemates in the Aug 2017 batch. Before I go further, let’s do a bit of memory refreshing. What is 2359 Fashion Drama? It is an Event Management project run by Year 3 PR Project Management students under the Department of Commnication (DoC) at Sunway University. It is to raise awareness on environmental and climate that the world is facing today. It's fashion with drama!

To suit the theme, I choose a floral dress which I dub the "SUNMUN dress". The colours on the dress kind of incorporate with the promotional poster, just to give a little nod to the event. I make my way up to the Art Gallery, as the time is still early, students and guests are waiting for the registration time. To kill time, yummy food and drinks to make that tummy happy! For me, I just have a drink of orange juice and chocolate cheese cream- a favourite dessert of mine, as well as curry puff. I want to have the egg sandwich but my tummy is full.

Chocolate cheese cream cake

As the time reaches 5pm, I head over to the registration counter to sign myself up and back at the JC auditoriums’ corridor to wait for the doors to be opened in an hour’s time. I have a catch up with the students in my batch. To know more about the event, there is QR code for us to scan which leads us to the intineary. We are given the green light to enter the Art Gallery, our environmental warriors act as our guides to our seats. Lucky for me, I have my own "VIP seat".

Our senior, Ruwan is back to his emcee gig! A promotional video is shown at the ceiling before the show, I find it cool! Environmental warriors, are you ready to take out your weapons to save the Earth? Let the show begin! First off, we have Mother Terra- a guardian to all land creatures. From the crawling ants to the furry foxes, you name it! As time passes, humans are starting to build big buildings that we see today, deforestation, and illegal poaching for fur of the animals in the fashion industry, which destroy the creation of Mother Terra!

Secondly, the guardian of sea- Ocena, a little bit of King Triton from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Like King Trition, Ocena guards the underwater world, all fishes are living the dream under the sea. The nightmare comes as sharks are fished for their fins for shark fin soup that are served in Malaysian Chinese restaurant, especially weddings; fishes are lying dead. Ocena angrily stumps her trident, that one day all that humans will pay on what they have done to her sea kingdom.

The intro of I See the Light from Disney Tangled is on, featuring my singing buddy and performer of the night- Siak Foong. Lady Skye gracefully flying her way to the stage. Butterflies, birds, bees, and bats, you name it. The sky is the best place to soar and break free from all the worries. All it seems to be perfect but the discard of plastics on beaches causing sea gulls to suffocate, bats are unable to pollinate and butterflies, they can't help but to see to their homes destroyed once more. For Lady Skye, it will never be the same for her!

The nature's enemies such as plastics and polystyrene, have become a part of our lives but at the same time it's killing all the three elements that guardians of Mother Nature have created, some day we humans will pay all the crimes that we have committed!

SDG 13: Climate Actions
SDG 14: Life Underwater
SDG 15: Life on Land

Maybe we should add one more- Life on Sky!

Reset the clock, let's do this together! We have a part to save the Earth. Tell me, how can you save the environment in your own way?

If you want more green information, check out their official social media websites:
FB: 23: 59 Fashion Drama
Instagram: @23.59_su

The stage is ready

Lady Skye and our performer- Siak Foong 

Flower power (Source: 23:59 Fashion Drama) 

Protecting our endangered friends 

I'm with Yuki- our environmental warrior 

2359 SU Fashion Drama Promotional Booth.

After my class, I head straight down to the university foyer hoping to see a tree but it's no where to be seen, all I see is three campus clubs' booths. Where could the tree be? "Well if the tree is not at the university foyer, it must be growing at the college side," I thought. Sure enough the tree is "growing" at the college link bridge.

Once I reached the booth, I'm offered to write a message to Mother Earth. What would I want to see in our world in five years' time? I also include a Sustainable Development Goal in my message (hint: it has to do with the environment can you guess which goal is it? ). If you wanna say something to Mother Earth, you can "leaf" a message and help them to "grow" a tree.

 After much warming up, our environmental warriors are at the booth ready to get their weapons out to save the environment! Whenever students pass by the booth, they are doing the best to get some of them to stop in their tracks. To make it more effective, the environmental warriors take their "weapons" out to promote the event around campus.

I feel that I'm in a tropical forest as I can hear the birds singing, and we have a tiger as well? Relax guys, they are just animal sounds on the bluetooth speaker not the real life ones. But, we have a role to protect their homes as these beautiful animals are loosing their natural habitat due to illegal deforestation and poaching.

If you ask me, how would I save the environment? I would use a reusable bottle because it can save up 167 plastic bottles. Besides that, I would separate the rubbish into the right category. In addition, whenever I follow my family on grocery or shopping, we would always bring our recycle bags with us. These are my tips on saving the environment.

We have a role to play to save our Earth and the environment. Miss out the booth today? Don't worry, our environmental warriors will be on campus walking around, be sure to say hi when you see them!

Note: Early birds ticket are on sale now only RM 15, normal price is RM 20 (all ticket prices are inclusive of light refreshments).

Reset the clock, 2359 let's do this together!

If you want more green information, check out their official social media accounts:
Facebook: 23: 59 Fashion Drama

Instagram: @23.59_su

Hidden Figures SU Fashion Walk 2019 (19/6/19)

Penny and Katelyn at the after-party of Hidden Figures

What comes to our mind when we think about fashions walks? Tall models with the perfect height? High street designer clothes? Celebrity guests and top designers at front row seats? No, not even one! We are bringing you a fashion show where all shapes and sizes are celebrated! We have KL Fashion Week, but at Sunway we have Hidden Figures!

Hidden Figures is an Event Management project run by Year 3 PR project management students (Jan/Mar 2017) under the Department of Communication (DoC). FI8GURES, as the team is called, aiming to serve as a platform for fashion to be showcased by students and staffs on campus as well as boosting self-confidence. This totally changes the perception of the fashion shows that we usually see on television, magazines or even Fashion Week showcases.

As this is my very first fashion show on campus, dressing up for the big night to impress is kinda hard. After much thought, I decide to wear my go-to white lace dress, a pair of Pazzion flats and a Sherini and Shentel headband to complete the whole look. I hand my tickets to my course mates and it's off to have some cakes and chocolate to satisfy the cravings in my tummy. Along the corridor, they photo booths, calligraphy writing and glitter face painting.

I'm joined by Aloysius, Raphael, Yu Qi and Co for the big night. We have lots of fun at the photo booth. Doors are opened at 6.50pm, all the guests are given the green light to make their way to the Art Gallery. I'm about to sit at the back seat but I'm informed that I have a "special seat" in the front row. Wow! Luckily, I'm small in size which is easier for me to make my through the walkway.

With opening remarks from the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wilkinson, let the show begin! "Mums and Dads" and "Artistic" are the first two collections. Next up, we have performances by Alix and poem by Amelia.

The second part is Marvel Bounding and Rocker Chic Street Style. Well I'm not a fan of Marvel but I do love the collection! It's time to get lucky with the first session of lucky draw- a set of necklace and earrings from JY Trendy House. The second performance is from poet Pavithrah and a dance performance from L'Queen.

We have a sharing session from Ms. Lisa, who has been designing clothes from extra fabrics to turn them into something out of extraordinary. Why need to buy, when we can elevate and create our fashion by recycling fabrics? It's sustainable fashion! Before the final performance, a final walk from the models showcasing their styles one last time. My favourite performance of the event is from Penny who perform two songs- Never Enough by The Greatest Showman and Diamonds by Rihanna.

At the end of the show, we have closing remarks from event director himself, Ezac. Through the event, the team hopes that everyone will love themselves for who they are and be confident in ourselves each and every day. I could say that one part that I love about my body is my eyebrows because they have this natural curve.

After the show, it's the after-party! I have a catch up with one of the performers, Penny, she introduces me to her guitarist Wei Keat, as well as her friends. Endless photo sessions with the organising committees and the models are the best way to end the night. We have to be confident in our skin, it's not on the outside but what's more important is on the inside- the true us, who are the real hidden figures.

If you miss out the fun night, check out their official social media sites
FB: Hidden Figures Fashion Walk
IG: @hiddenfigures_su

Diamonds are girl's best friend: My prize for the lucky draw

I'm out to support my PR mates at Hidden Figures

Striking a pose after the show. Glam up for the night

Beyond Labels SU Closing Ceremony (12/6/19)

Raph and KM: We definitely go beyond labels!

Are you ready to beyond labels? That's the question I'm asked during my class as I share Beyond Labels' closing ceremony on Facebook page. Am I ready to go beyond labels? Well, let's find out! Let me take you to have an insight on The Story Behind.

If you guys wondering what is Beyond Labels, let me refresh the memory again. Beyond Labels is a PR campaign project run by Year 2 PR and Corporate Communication students (August 2017) under the Department of Communication (DoC) at Sunway University. The campaign is to break social bias that we live by everyday, we can go beyond what we see.

At 6.07pm, I head to Level 1, NUB, for the closing ceremony of Beyond Labels. I head over to register counter to sign myself up, since I made an RSVP online. After signing up, I receive a mini booklet and a dinner ticket redemption. I have to make my way down back to the university cafeteria to have dinner. All that dinner sure gives me a happy tummy!

Once I'm back up, I head to the photo booth to take a picture. I'm going Disney for the night, because in Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear always says this tagline: "To infinity and beyond!" I thinnk Mickey wants us to go beyond labels as well, I borrowed one of the Mickey Mouse ears at the photo booth. With Vart as the campaign's sponsor for photo taking, we just need to take a photo and upload to our Instagram with the hashtag #vart.my along side with your creative caption, the photos can be printed out with Instagram as the photo frame. How cool is that?

I also look around the exhibition as I missed out a few sessions. One of them featured my course mates, Joanne. Doors are opened at 7.30pm, everyone is given the green light to head in to JC 2. The ceremony begins with the remarks from the campaign director himself, Chester Toh. He thanked the whole Beyond Labels team for putting so much effort and hardwork to make every event a success.

A sharing session by Giselle on how the transgender community in Malaysia face discrimination everyday throughout their lives. That kind of reminded me of my time in Communication Theory and Practice back in Year 1 in semester 2, Ms. Nisha also had a similar sharing session. Well, no matter who we are, we are still human in the end. Why do we have label people just by their appearance? Can't we just go beyond labels? Accept for who we are as a person both inside and out.

A promotional video is shown before the second session of the closing ceremony, a panel discussion moderated by Ben. During the discussion, I find out that no matter what we do, there will be some discrimination. We can't please everyone. People can label us whenever they want, it's up to us to go beyond that and show our true colours.

Wait, there's more! We can't the end the night without any music right? While they are setting up the instruments on stage, a short highlight video is presented on the events they had done throughout the campaign. My favourite is definitely the bazaar! Carlson sure win our hearts with his new original song- No Turning Back. I immediately fall in love with the song! If we want to go beyond labels, there is no turning back.

The ceremony ends with the handing of tokens of appreciation and tearing of the labels to mark the end of the campaign. That kinda of reminded me of the campaign which I worked on last year, TogetherLAH!  The campaign celebration is not over without an after-party right? I congratulate the team for a job well done, and finally I have a proper catch up with some of the team members, we even take photos to capture the heartwarming moments.

I want to congratulate to all the Beyond Labels team for doing a fantastic job! Identify, not classify! There's more beyond the reef! To infinity beyond! This is not the end, it's a whole new beginning. Am I ready to go beyond labels? Yes, yes I am!

 If you missed out any of the beyond actions, check out their official Facebook page and Instagram account:
Facebook: Beyondlabels_su
Instagram: @beyondlabels.su

Beyond Labels' campaign director, Chester, giving his remarks at the closing ceremony

Desmond and KM after the closing ceremony

To infinity and beyond

Beyond Labels SU Bazaar (28/5/19-29/5/19)

We live in a society that labels us for who we are, there are some certain rules which have been set for us to follow. We are expect to "follow" these rules, so we won't be labelled as the "rebel kids". I know sometimes following these rules can make us small, each time we want to break out, seems like there is no way out of it. Not anymore! It's time to go beyond with Beyond Labels! 

What is Beyond Labels? Beyond Labels is a PR campaign management project run by Year 2 PR and Corporate Communication students (August 2017) under the Department of Communication (DoC) at Sunway University. The campaign is to break social bias that we live by everyday, we can go beyond what we see. Okay, let's get into real business! 

I missed out the soft launch of the campaign, so a trip to the bazaar will make it up. On the first day, the moment I arrived on campus, I saw two big food trucks were located either side of the walkway between college and university.

The sun was scorching hot and everyone was drenched in their sweats, usually at this time I would order my favourite ice blended chocolate. Unfortunately, I was running down with flu and cough,  so I had to forgo the cold drink and chose Belgian hot chocolate instead.  Luckily I'm a big fan of chocolate and desserts, either one of them was fine. As there was no seat around the walkway, I headed to the college boulevard, thanks to the kind team members of the campaign who assisted me.

After I settled myself down one of the benches at the boulevard, but I was still sweating from the heat. How do I cool myself down? Easy, honeydew pudding with no ice. Actually, the upper part of the freezing box is not that cold, so I got to taste of the dessert. They also have cupcakes and everyone's favorite nasi lemak. I had to rush off to class after that.

The second day, I headed back to the college boulevard to have a good look around. Apparently, the time was still early, some of them were setting up. I was convinced by the team members to play a game of balloon darts, but I'm afraid of balloons popping. The walkway between college and university, there were three food trucks. As I'm about to head to the university foyer, the pink balloons slipped and up in the sky they go! Now that's what I called "beyond labels"!

I think we can be just like balloons, once it is released, we can go way beyond! We never might know where we end up at, or discover something that we never have tried before. I had so much fun at the bazaar!It's time to go beyond! Are you ready to go infinity and beyond?

Identify, not classify! 

Find out more at Beyond Labels' official social media accounts: 

FB: Beyondlabels_su 

IG: @beyonndlabels.su