USM-MIID ID STUDENTS’ SATURDAY
The annual Students’ Saturday jointly organised by the Malaysian Institute of Interior Designers (MIID) and the Universiti Sains Malaysia was held for the first time in Penang on 30 November 2019.
A very meaningful theme, ‘WARIS’ (meaning 'Heritage' in English), was picked for this event to commemorate the UNESCO World Heritage Status of George Town, and that the competing pieces of artworks/performances should carry and reflect the value of heritage of Penang.
The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) hosted the 23:8 MIID Students' Saturday and hospitably welcomed about 600 participants together with their academic staff from 25 universities and colleges nationwide. It was indeed an event- and action-packed day with several creative competitions running concurrently in the main campus of USM. Namely, they were WARIS Design Competition, WARIS Videography, WARIS Costume, WARIS Kiosk, WARIS Sketch, WARIS Performance, and MAICA Creative Competition.
Maica Laminates is honoured to be the main sponsor for this event.
At 8.30am on 30 November, the event kicked off with an opening ceremony that was well attended by the academic staff of the School of Housing, Building, and Planning, USM, as well as the council members of MIID, representatives from sponsors, exhibitors, alongside the 600 students and their lecturers. Maica’s Sale Manager, Mr Mohd. Sallahruddin, representing the management to receive the token of appreciation from Professor Dr. Aldrin Abdullah, the Vice-Chancellor of USM for Student Development Affairs and Alumni, as the main sponsor for Students' Saturday.
In fact, much preparation was put in for this event by all parties. On the part of Maica, it started to fabricate sample chips of different sizes, shapes and colours since October 2019 for the participating institutions of 'Maica Creative Competition' (a creative competition specially curated for Maica). Alongside sample chips, we also provided white gloves, contact adhesive, thinner and white cloths as well as a white-laminated base of 600mm x 1200mm each to the participating institutions for the installations to stand upon.
The second key preparation work was equally monumental as Maica was allocated a prominent spot at the foyer of Dewan Tunku Syed Putra on the event day. Despite being an one-day event, Maica's Design Team took it seriously as it was with any other international trade shows, by designing and constructing the exhibition booth with in-house resources. It was a run-away success, attributing to the attractive booth design that drew visitors, students, academic staff, and industry professionals to stop by for a visit. We also allocated a maiFunZone corner for students to have a go with the maiCompact-made DIY toys. We trusted that the students had so much fun in assembling them.
On the same day, Maica delivered a talk on maiProduct Application to a group of 30 strong students at Balai Pese'ban Agung, School of the Arts. The students were also given some hands-on experience on the use of maiCompact-made DIY toys.
The specially curated Maica Creative Competition ran from 10.45am to 2.45pm at the Convo Park. Alongside 3 other judges comprising of reputable industry professionals, Maica’s representative, Mr Lee Kwang Lik, worked hand-in-hand with them from 3pm onwards to identify the first, second and third prize winners from the 10 participating institutions who presented their sculptural designs that were supported with rationale.
At the closing ceremony beginning from 8.30pm on 30 Nov 2019, the audience was entertained by some remarkable performances and fashion shows, all delivered by the students, for various categories of competitions. It is felt that the audience was genuinely inspired by and awed at the standard of performances and the artistically-inclined ID students in Malaysia.
Maica’s Assistant General Manager (Human Resources and Admin), Ms Oon Kim Wah, representing the management to give away the certificates and cash prizes at the closing ceremony for Maica Creative Competition. The first, second and third prizes for Maica Creative Competition have been won by UITM Perak, The ONE Academy and INTI College respectively.
Such a day, is believed to have enriched all who attended, by they young or old, students or academic staff, visitors or anyone for that matter. We have come away from the Students’ Saturday rich, inspired and spirited as Maica is now put on the map (quoted the CEO of Maica) . We are all elated after a short stint at the main campus of USM. And, the feeling seems to linger still at the point of writing.
Bravo to all!