Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur
WHEN Team Zephyrus from Chong Hwa Independent High School won the Outstanding Award in the Star-NiE contest, the two other teams from the school that had taken part in the Game4Life competition, joined in the celebration.
The award was presented by Star Media Group editor-in-chief Datuk Leanne Goh to the team members: Isabelle Lee, Lee Ann, Faun Zhi Yi and Mellody Nizam. Also present at the ceremony were the school’s principal Chia Song Choy, its board of directors chairman Datuk Seri Lim Keng Cheng as well as teachers Tan Choon Moi and Jaspal Kaur and Star Media Group NiE editorial manager Sharon Ovinis.
Three teams from the school had taken part in the competition but it was Team Zephyrus that finally made the cut.
Even so, there was a sense of camaraderie as all three teams had from the start, worked together.
Team Zephyrus picked up the baton from last year’s Outstanding Award winning team which was also from their school, continuing Chong Hwa Independent High School’s reign as the school with the best NiE contest entry in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur for the second year.
Lim, who is managing director of Ekovest Berhad, said he was proud that the team had clinched the award.
He said that with so many talented students in the school, he was more than delighted to sponsor the PSA by Team Zephyrus as a full-page advertisement in StarEducate today.
The PSA poster not only ticked all the right boxes when it came to addressing the contest theme, but also hit the message straight home.
Chia said that he liked the PSA very much, which was about breaking down barriers with sports.
“We shouldn’t have barriers between people. This is a very good idea. Unity, friendship, and connectedness – all these are very powerful words which the students have used in their PSA.
“I admire the students – they are only in their teens but they are mature enough to think so deeply.”
Isabelle Lee, was magnanimous in sharing the team’s victory with her teammates whom she said had worked hard and offered valuable tips.
Feedback from the school’s other teams enabled Team Zephyrus to cross out ideas that were less pertinent.
“Essentially, our PSA was how discrimination can be put aside through good sportsmanship and respect,” she said.
Teammate Lee Ann said, “I never had an interest in drawing. But after the contest, I appreciate it more as drawings have the ability to express what words can’t.”
Mellody commented that the team members had become closer as they spent so much time together working on the PSA. “And some of us had only just met!”
“We also learnt to see things from other people’s perspective,” she added.
As for Zhi Yi , she said that Chinese is used predominantly in the school and she seldom had the chance to speak in English.
“It was only while working on the project that I saw how my teammates, who are in the debating team, express their ideas in English. It has been an interesting journey for me.”
Pioneer teacher coordinators in the NiE contest, Jaspal Kaur and Tan have been organising the contest for the school since 2012.
Jaspal Kaur said that the contest encouraged language learning.
“Students would need to read a lot to come up with a good PSA. We ask them to use English during their discussions.
“I can’t understand Chinese so they have to speak to me in English anyway. Working on the project provided the right environment for students to speak the language.”
Although it was a challenge to oversee the contest entries for the teams, she said that she had found a good partner in Tan.
Agreeing, Tan said: “We’ve been working on this for so long. We are quite ‘in-tune’ with each other.”
Tan, who is also the school’s Department of Voluntary Service head, said that it was a diligent exercise selecting the right students for the contest.
“We made sure students understood that they had to have commitment, passion and responsibility if they wanted to take part in the competition.”
Looking forward, Tan expressed high expectations for the contest next year.
“We aim to get into the finals! Hopefully, we can win the grand prize before Madam Jaspal retires (in two years)!”