A ‘Glowing’ Charity Affair by Sunway Students
Sunway University College was abuzz with excitement with the ‘iGlow’ Health & Beauty Charity Exhibition, organised by its Diploma in Conventions and Events students from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management (SHTLM). The exhibition was attended by some 1,000 visitors on 26 March 2007 at Sunway.
The one-day event was packed with fun-filled activities including latin and break dance performances by the exhibitors, make-up and hairstyling demonstrations, martial arts display, quizzes and a lucky draw with the grand prize of a holiday in Bangkok.
It was also at this event that the much-awaited winning booth designed by the graduating Events students was unveiled and presented to the beneficiary of the event, GOLD. The colourful booth was certainly the show’s highlight due to its striking concept and design.
The Diploma in Conventions and Events (DCEM) students (January 2005 intake) were challenged to design a suitable exhibition booth display for GOLD in aid of their youth with learning disabilities and had presented their proposed designs in front of a panel of judges comprising lecturers, GOLD coordinators and the media earlier.
GOLD, which is the acronym for Generating Opportunities for Learning Disables, is a project initiated by parents and teachers of the special class, at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandar Sunway to create vocational and life skills training opportunities for their special needs students.
Ms. Mae Tan, the Head of the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management said in her opening speech, “The School has always emphasised on broad-based experiential learning experience, which not only succeeds in training young minds intellectually, but creating well-rounded individuals who are sensitive to the needs of the less privileged in the society.”
“The School realised GOLD’s need to create awareness about their project as they lack a booth to display their objectives and crafts when they participate in road shows and other promotional activities nationwide. The School has taken on the challenge of designing a sturdy, functional yet portable display unit that GOLD can use to educate the public about the challenges faced by youth with learning difficulties” added Ms. Mae Tan.
Besides designing and building the booth for GOLD, these graduating students have also designed a website for GOLD. Founder and coordinator of GOLD, Puan Hajjah Juairiah Haji Johari said, “These students’ efforts are commendable. They have shown good commitment in promoting GOLD. The portable booth will be very useful for GOLD in future road shows. I am very satisfied with the website too and appreciate the students’ efforts.”
The talented GOLD special students treated the visitors to a series of special artwork demonstrations. Chairman of GOLD, YBhg Datuk Hj Zakaria Hashim said “I thank the SHTLM for putting in so much effort to help GOLD and am encouraged to see the interaction between their students and ours. I am certainly impressed with the student’s booth and I hope to see this relationship flourish”,
About the Booth Design
The winning booth design, “Art Attack”, unveiled and displayed at the “iGlow”- Health & Beauty Charity Exhibition was part of the fulfilment towards the students Exhibition Operation module of their Diploma in Conventions and Events Management.
About the ‘iGlow’ Health & Beauty Charity Exhibition
This event is organised by the Diploma in Conventions and Events Management August students (2005 and 2006 intakes). The ‘iGlow’ Health & Beauty Charity Exhibition is based on the concept that if one is healthy and feels good inside, one will naturally glow and as a result beauty can be seen by all, hence the name ‘iGlow’.
With the aim to raise funds for GOLD, the event is a colourful ensemble of exhibits where exhibitors and sponsors gathered to set up the 18 booths to raise funds for a good cause.
Besides raising funds, the event is also held with the aim of enhancing the students’ organisational skills in events management as well as to raise funds for charity. This event provided the DCEM students with the opportunity for hands-on experience in handling the various operational and management issues involved in planning and organising an exhibition.
The students have learnt how to plan, organise, execute, follow-up and manage an exhibition from scratch. The skills they have gained would make them highly employable candidates coveted by the industry when they graduate from their course.
In order to achieve their target of RM3,000, the students carried out various fund-raising activities prior to the exhibition, including a movie screening, charity sale and other pre-event activities.
About GOLD
The SMK Bandar Sunway is one of the selected schools in Selangor to have a special programme for students with learning disabilities. Generating Opportunities for Learning Disables (GOLD) was established in 1998 with an intake of 11 and now the total enrolment stands at 71.
The main objective for the special programme of learning disabilities at the secondary school is primarily to accord an opportunity for such students, learning experiences in an environment of a normal school setting so that they can develop their full individual potential and achievements; and at the same time they will also gain the following positive values:
- Equality of opportunity
- To experience a sense of individual achievement, acceptance by the surrounding communities and enhancement of self esteem
- To instill the activities of learning experiences in a life long process
- To achieve, use and improve the academic proficiency and Pre-Vocational and Life Skill training programmes
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