Showcase Saturdays: Chew Jue Liang

Photo above: Jue Liang (third from left) at Run for GOLD roadshow.

Name: Chew Jue Liang
Course: BSc (Hon) Business Management, Sunway University
Experience: Vice president of Sunway University Student Council 2011/12

Getting involved in activities at university has opened doors to many opportunities as it encourages us to discover our interests whilst studying.

Throughout my time at Sunway University, I associated myself with various departments/bodies such as a student representative of the Diploma in Business Administration, and vice president of the Sunway University Student Council 2011/12 which has taught me invaluable lessons, especially those of character building.

Personal discovery

One of the key issues students today face is the lack of confidence in communicating with others, which includes speaking in front of public, or extending their help to someone.

My role as the vice president of the student council has changed my life since. Prior to this, I was a technical person who dealt primarily with designing and stage handling.

But after taking this role, I have learnt about managing people in a team while supervising them from within, as well as managing the welfare of students and building trust and respect in others.

The position comes with a steep learning curve that comprises many intangible objectives: balancing rights with responsibilities, identifying problems and generating creative solutions, considering differing opinions, building consensus and more important – dealing with failure.

Run for GOLD event

One of the most memorable events I joined was ‘Run for GOLD’. GOLD (or Generating Opportunities for Learning Disables) is the non-governmental organisation that our student council supported.

Organised as part of our corporate social responsibility project, led by president Lee Ying Ying, the run concluded with a grand total of RM25,000 channelled to GOLD and 1,100 participated in the running event.

The event was simple but I learnt a lot in organising the event, where many extenuating factors were considered such as rain and participation.

I truly enjoyed the process as it bonded us even more while it allowed me to put my skills into practice, leading a small (but loud!) team in the committee as marketing manager cum co-designer.

Prior to the event, we reviewed every anticipating factor that might happen on the actual day. As the event approached, we did a run on the route to ensure the utmost safety of our participants.

We successfully attracted a huge number of runners with 100 from our kind sponsor – CPA Australia. The whole process really enhanced every aspect of my leadership skills and my knowledge in marketing.

Concluding thoughts

In retrospect, such an event would not be possible without the passionate team and the dedicated president behind the whole event.

The satisfaction post-event was unquantifiable as we brought the event to a whole new level, which was featured in The Star as well.

Indeed, it was a fruitful and great learning opportunity as I gained experience that no textbook could teach, friendship that lasts a lifetime and skills that will propel me into the future.