SARAH BINTI KHAIRUL ANNUAR (MIC190045)

GIG1005 : SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

REFLECTIVE ESSAY

VISIT TO SMK LEMBAH SUBANG

SARAH BINTI KHAIRUL ANNUAR (MIC190045)                                      DATE : 22 APRIL 2020

          At first, the subject ‘Social Engagement’ confuses me. When Dr. Puah, our lecturer for this course introduced us, the first-year students and the second-year students about the subject, I was already thinking about the workload I will have to face. To be honest, it agitates me at first because I thought we will have to work with the seniors, but as I am writing this essay, I never thought that this course is actually one of the courses that I really enjoyed this semester.

         Before we actually begin with our social engagement activities, Dr Puah conduct a meeting with us first, to set up the group members and I was relieved that we are able to choose our own groups because that would be fun to work with. We were informed that we will be going to SMK Lembah Subang for our social engagement activities and we will teach them a few things about DNA. Knowing that, I was thrilled to be able to go back to school and guide the students about what we are actually studying, but in much simpler terms of course. After that, Dr Puah set us up for our group workshop sessions and keeping us well informed through e-mails and WhatsApp, even though it was pretty confusing at first, plus the first wave of covid-19 situation forcing us to change the schedule a little but we pulled through, thanks to Dr Puah. So, on late February, we had our social engagement workshop and from there, we knew the topics that we are going to be teaching the SMK Lembah Subang students. As someone who loves documenting through photos and videos, Mas and I volunteered to be the photographers and video editors for the video report later. Honestly, best decision I have ever made. Throughout the workshop, we had Dr Puah, Dr Kee and few of our seniors guiding us throughout the process to help us understand.

         On the day for both of our visits, we were full with energy despite having to wake up quite early on Friday mornings. SMK Lembah Subang was beautiful and seeing students in class were giving me nostalgia about the good days back in high school. We had our breakfast then proceed to the science lab to meet the students. I remember feeling so nervous and excited at the same time but documenting everyone and everything helped me stay calm and enjoy the moment. We introduced ourselves to the students and our group leader, Adlina led the introduction. The students paid attention to the presentation held by the presenters and I was amazed they were interested and understood the concept because they were not science stream students. It feels good to share them information and allowing them to relate in real life situations. The most exciting part is the experiments that we conduct with the students. Since the students are not science stream students, its rare for them to do experiments like this, so it was fun guiding them throughout the experiment and activities even though our experiments are all DIY-based. During the first day, we extracted DNA from their own saliva and fruits, meanwhile during the second day we did a DNA PCR to investigate a crime scene. The students gave us full cooperation and participated in the activities. However, they were most energetic during the quiz session. It was thrilling to watch their competitiveness and energies to answer the quizzes so they can win the prizes we prepared. The cooperation and energy given by the students also gave my teammates the energy and passion to continue the session.

         We were relieved after we had successfully completed both days of our social engagement activities at SMK Lembah Subang. After the activities ended, this is where my work still needs to be completed, which is the video documentary. When editing and compiling the videos and photos, it gave me so many good memories and also helped me to be able to engage more with younger people, the students. Other than that, its good to see us as a team to bond during these activities. Honestly, the activities and the work that we had to do for this course doesn’t feel like its an assignment at all, because we certainly enjoyed it. Looking back, I am so glad I was able to join all the activities for this course that are arranged by Dr Puah, starting from the workshop until the end of the event, even during my video editing session after the event. Hence, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Puah especially, for helping us with this course because without her help, I don’t think this will all be possible and fun. Thank you so much Dr Puah. Also, thank you to Dr Kee, for guiding us during the workshop and also being there for both our events with Dr Chai, the seniors who guided us during the workshop, Adlina the group leader, who did a wonderful job leading us for our respective assignments and tasks. Lastly, of course, thank you to my team mates, for making this activity a fun one, instead of a stressful one. I am glad to be able to participate in this event and it had opened my eyes a lot more on how fun social engagement activities could be.

(911 words)