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