Call for Youths to Vie for the Youth Leadership Competition Awards

Sunway University College launched its inaugural Youth Leadership Awards Competition yesterday, which seeks to enhance and develop responsible and effective leadership among the youth of today. The objectives are to nurture and develop students who may be the future leaders of the nation through creating excellent communication skills sharpening their lateral thinking abilities and to build leadership qualities.

Challengers are in teams of three students and must be from the same club, society or uniformed body of the same school. A three-stage mode begins with a written project proposal, workshops in the development of the students and finally the project-in-action with seed money provided. A support workshop has been planned to assists students in the written project proposal. The projects proposed must relate to the school or to the community of the participants.

This competitive is open to students of Form Four and Form Five of the public schools, Senior Middle I and II of Chinese Independent High Schools, and Year 10 and Year 11 of the International Schools in Peninsular Malaysia. The competition will run in three stages from February till end-June 2007. Applicants are expected to have a minimum academic standard of C6 in all subjects in their last year’s examination results to be eligible.

Executive Director of Sunway University College, Elizabeth Lee said, “Following the benchmark of other globally recognised awards such as the Raleigh or Rotary Youth Leadership Award, the Sunway University College Youth Leadership Award hopes to find self-driven individuals who display exceptional leadership qualities in the management and execution of a project with due consideration towards the human and community aspects in the entire process.

All winning, second and third place team members will each receive scholarships of varying values (RM8,000, RM4,000 and RM2,000 each) to a programme of their choice at Sunway University College and prize money. The competitive award programme is organised in collaboration with HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, GTI Publishers (M) Sdn Bhd and Deloitte KassimChan.

The closing date for applications is 31st January 2007.

For more information on the competition, please email syucyla@sunway.edu.my or contact Eugene Chia 03-74918622 c/o the Information Centre at Sunway University College.

The Search for a Math Whiz of Secondary Schools Begins

Sunway University College once again launched its second inter-school math quiz challenge for secondary school students yesterday. Pioneered and developed by a group of 11 math academicians at Sunway University College, the competition which is conducted in English, promises to delight participants and the audience alike in the wonders of mathematics.

The main objective of the competition is to make the learning of mathematics fun and seed a long-term interest in the subject among students. The end result that is hoped for is that students may grow to appreciate and apply mathematics in their everyday lives and not just in the classroom.

The other objectives are to improve a student’s analytical and problem solving skills and to create a healthy sense of competitiveness among students.

The competition is open to students from Form 3 to Form 5 of national and private schools including vernacular schools, Junior Middle 3 to Senior Middle 2 of Chinese Independent High Schools and Year 9 to Year 11 students of International Schools.

Students are expected to know the history, general knowledge and applications of math and the SPM or equivalent Additional Mathematics syllabus.

Each school may field up to five teams comprising 3 members per team. There will be two stages of competition. Schools will compete in the preliminary round on 6 February conducted concurrently at 6 Test Centres across Peninsular Malaysia. The best ten teams from this round will proceed to the finals which will be held on 24 March 2007.

Corporate partners for the competition include Deloitte KassimChan, Pilot and Canon with Nanyang Siang Pau as a media partner. Prizes totaling RM25,000 are jointly sponsored by corporate partners. Among the attractive prizes are bursaries at Sunway University College for the champion school, cash prizes and a Canon digital camera for each member of the champion team and Canon printers, Canon scientific calculators and Pilot ball pens for other winners. The closing date for applications is 29 January 2007.

For enquiries on the competition, please contact Magdalene Lian of the Marketing Department, Sunway University College at 03-74918623 Extn: 8056

Sunway University College Students Organise Memorable Tour to Vietnam

15 Sunway University College students pursuing diploma courses in the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management (SHTLM) and their two lecturers recently brought a tour group to a land that conjures up images of conical bars – Vietnam.

The students taking majors in Tourism and Events put together a 5 day/4 night Sightseeing and Culinary tour package. They were wholly in charge of planning the itinerary, designing and executing promotional strategies. It took them four weeks to promote their package with personal selling, eye-catching posters and leaflets.

Chor Kah Loon, one of the student organizers who majors in Events said “We were even approached by curious public at our promotional booth to enquire about the tour”. “That was when we had the great opportunity to sharpen our one-to-one selling and communication skills,” added Rasika Wijekoon, another student organizer who specializes in Tourism.

Making sure of the smooth running of the tour was part of their key responsibility, customer satisfaction was their ultimate concern. True enough, the tour members whom the students succeeded in persuading to sign up for the tour package were not at all disappointed. It was a value for money trip. They enjoyed a cruise along the amazing scenic Saigon River, experienced how the Vietcong lived underground at the Chu Chi Tunnels, explored old, historical temples, strolled along the seaside resort of Vung Tau and climbed up Jesus Hill.

“The roads in Vietnam are traversed by a lot of motorcycles!” said Chor. “This unique sight is vastly different from what we see in the cities of Malaysia”. Rasika who loves nature more than anything else, was amazed by the vast, green paddy fields, carpeted the land of Vietnam. “The breathtaking view was unforgettable”, claimed the fourth semester Tourism student.

 

The highlight of the trip was the Cuisine Tour organized by a premier local Tourism School - Khoi Viet Language Tourism & Language School. The tour participants spent the day preparing their own meals consisting of authentic Vietnamese cuisines, taught by a renowned Vietnamese culinary expert, Chef Dzoan Cam Van. Among the Chef’s recommended cuisines were Seafood Spring Rolls, Sour Soup with Fresh Water Fish and the famous Vietnamese Pancakes.

Ms Mae Tan, the Head of the School of SHTLM commented “The planning, promoting selling and organizing outbound tours offer experiential and fun-learning that will harness the skills and knowledge of our tourism students. Having this experience under their belt, they gain an upper hand at the point of entry into the workforce”. Putting theory and knowledge into practice is part of the requirement in the tourism course offered by the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management at Sunway University College. Thus, creating balanced individuals who are ready to face the real and challenging world out there.