The feedback of the coverages of beYoutiful campaign had been receiving positively from the seniors. They liked the coverages so much, and offered me to be a part of the press team at the closing ceremony.
I was super duper surprised and happily accepted the offer because I always wanted to be a student reporter to cover big events on campus. Starting with your own course department is the first step. Let’s take a look at the scene shall we?
The event took place at Gallery View, Level 1, NUB. I had a hard time looking for the place as it was located right below the Art Gallery. The moment when I entered, the setting was absolutely stunning or should I say beYoutiful! They had a photo booth, the showcase of the complimentary boards which they had collected messages from students around campus and a food pantry for us to fill up our tummies!
I thought I was going to sit at the back of the room but my seniors told me they had prepared my very own "VIP seat"! Wow, that’s a first! Wait, there’s more! I got my very own media kit- a clipboard with free stickers and the itinerary of the closing ceremony.
Before we go into the closing ceremony, let me tell you about what is beYoutiful campaign. It was set up by Year 2 students from PR and Corporate Communication of Department in Communication and Liberal Arts (DCLA), to raise awareness on self-love and self-acceptance. As they always say, "Self-love is your first romance" which is so true!
Around 10.10am, students and VIPs started to fill the gallery up. The ceremony started with the welcoming remarks from our loveable emcee- Ruwan! At 10.20am, the closing ceremony of Beyoutiful campaign had officially started. They kicked off the ceremony with promotional videos, highlights of their activities and special shout-out from Malaysia’s famous YouTuber, Dennis Yin.
"Alright! That’s our promotional videos and highlights throughout our campaign. Now, can anyone tell me how do you break your insecurities?" Ruwan asked the questions to the crowd. Ooh, deep question! "Katelyn, I’m sure you have plenty of things to say," Ruwan said as he handed the microphone to me. "Well I think to break that insecurity inside of us, we have to be confident and courageous to stand up, so we can be
beYoutiful!" I answered. "So being confident and courageous are the key to break the insecurities! Give it up for Katelyn, everyone!"
Cheers were received from the crowd. Also, my fellow course mate, Oswald, was asked to come infront of the room to have a few minutes of friendly interaction with the emcee. The ceremony proceeded with speeches from the campaign director herself, Ms. Kelsie Keah, DCLA programme chair, Ms. Padma, acting HOD, Prof. Donald William Boyles and Vice Chancellor, Prof. Graeme Wilkinson
.
What’s with a closing ceremony without any entertainment? A contemporary dance from Sunway Dance Club and singing from our very own Amal! Lucky draw and Instagram online contest prizes to the winners. Tokens of appreciation were given to the VIPs and lecturers for thanking them to take their time off from their busy schedules to witness the ceremony. A group photo was taken to mark a close of the campaign
.
After the ceremony ended, I had my one-on-one with the campaign’s PR spokesperson, Ms. Shenna Padman.
Katelyn (K): Thank you for your precious time, shall we begin?
Shenna (S): Thank you for the opportunity!
K: What is the objective behind beYoutiful?
S: We wanna raise awareness among Sunway students and staffs on self-love and self-acceptances. There were some constraints but we wanna be sure that through this campaign, everyone can be comfortable in their own skin.
K: Who is the brainchild of the campaign?
S: I would say all of us were the brainchild of the campaign as this is a class team effort. Under the subject of PR: Planning, Implementation & Evaluation (P. I. E.), PR students will work on a possible campaign and they will have to vote on the potential ones that would be running in the next semester.
K: How were you inspired to set up the campaign?
S: People tend to change based on society’s view, so we thought "Why not creating campaign that everyone feels in comfortable in their own skin because everyone is unique in their own special way. Be themselves instead of what society think about them as a person.
K: What are the challenges that the team face throughout the campaign? How did you overcome the challenges?
S: The challenges that we faced as in booking the right venue and getting the correct date etc. The key to overcome the challenges is communication because it is a process builder which can build trust towards each other as a team.
K: Will you make this campaign a yearly event?
S: No, but we want to emphasise the importance of self-esteem which can create a deep confidence of an individual.
K: What are your hopes after the campaign come to a close?
S: We hope that the students and staffs of Sunway will continue be comfortable with themselves and love themselves regardless of people's opinion. Besides, self-love is your first romance! Haha!
K: How the activities help the campaign to achieve its objective?
S: Again, what we have mentioned earlier that we wanted raise awareness on self-love and self-acceptance. We also wanted to educate the people that it is okay to be yourself and look beyond what we see in ourselves.
K: Okay, one last questions before we wrap up. Is there anything you wanna say to the team?
S: Good job! Without the whole team's effort, this campaign wouldn't be a success. I hope they continue to love themselves and spread the love to the people around them.
There you go guys, the final coverage of beYoutiful campaign! I think I'm more confident with myself now after attending all the fun activities they had throughout the campaign. We must have the courage to step out of our insecurities, so people will see us in a different perspective. We can't change people but the only person we can change is ourselves.
For more highlights of the closing ceremony, visit the Beyoutiful campaign's official social media sites
FB Page: Beyoutiful SU
Instagram: @beyoutiful_su
