Curtin Young Associates member wins oratory competition

Miri – 8 August 2012 – It was a proud moment for Keeshaanan Sundaresan, a member of the Curtin Young Associates (CYA) of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak), when he emerged the winner of an oratory competition held in conjunction with the International Youth Leadership Convention in Miri recently.

Keeshaanan walked away with a RM1,000 cash prize in the competition, which was aimed at developing self-confidence of the participants and providing them an avenue to showcase their public speaking talents.

The International Youth Leadership Convention, which was jointly organised by Curtin Sarawak, SMK Lutong and IBS College Miri, attracted participants aged 16 to 20 from 21 educational institutions, including two from Brunei and one from Indonesia.

The CYA was represented by Sakinah Maharani and Keeshaanan Sundaresan in the oratory competition and related workshop, while Sharifah Shazzana Wan Taha, Faizal Friday Hardanto and Mohd. Budriz Abdul Aziz were its representatives at the workshop.

The convention themed ‘A Value-based Society for Our Future’ was designed to help the students develop leadership skills as well as provide a platform for them to network.

Political Secretary to the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Dato’ Sebastian Ting was the guest of honour for the closing ceremony.

Apart from the oratory competition, there were also paper presentations and a workshop that saw participants brainstorming ways to create a value-based society and identifying challenges and opportunities in achieving this goal.

The CYA, launched in 2010, is run by students of Curtin Sarawak and has over 500 members from schools throughout Miri. Its objective is to inspire secondary school students to pursue tertiary education as well as to create a community for students of different social and cultural backgrounds to interact and expand their network of friends.

The CYA regularly organises self-improvement camps, educational talks, pre-exam workshops, sports events and other activities for its members. Other benefits of membership include up-to-date information on higher education, online academic support, useful study tips, access to updates on happenings and developments on the Curtin Sarawak campus.

Oratory competition winner Keeshaanan (2nd right) posing with Dato’ Sebastian Ting and representatives from other participating institutions.