A Meaningful Collaboration for Sunway College

A team of students from the Victoria University Business Program (VUBB) had chosen to serve the elderly and engage themselves with their community partner, Amazing Grace Home. The students executed a thorough clean-up of the Taman OUG branch and planned a special treat for the residents from the Subang Jaya home. They collaborated with the Sunway Diploma Student Council (SDSC), who just organised their Talent Showcase and were geared up to provide the entertainment for elderly folk in the home.

While the VUBB students were given a comprehensive informative session by the home manager, Mr Raysonick, who specialised in elderly care, the SDSC leaders prepared their music selection specifically dedicated to the golden oldies’ era. The senior citizens visibly enjoyed the renditions of classic hits such as Jamabalaya, Country Road and Edelweis as well as traditional favorites with some eagerly standing up to dance. To the students, it was a blast from the past as they had the pleasure of delivering selections from Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong a John Denver while some danced with the old folks to give them a memorable time.

The students were amazed at the energy levels of more abled elders and felt honored to be involved with such engagement and collaboration. As a special treat, a guest performer was invited, Mr Nelson Kirby ,who livened up the atmosphere further with his guitar and ukulele. Hew Zi Jin, the Project Manager for GOLDEN AGE GIG, the project for elderly expressed his sentiment on the outcome of the project. “It was a fun and experientially meaningful experience while learning about depth of societal issues. We got to see how the senior citizens homes were being managed and learnt a lot from the Home Manager.”

While the students from VUBB were pursuing business specialisations, the Sunway Diploma Studies Council (SDSC) students came from the Diploma school of business, IT, accounting and communication. President of SDSC, Shannon Kamilus acknowledged an interesting perspective with their involvement. “It was such a humbling experience to see individuals dedicate their lives to the caring and nursing of the elderly. Each worker had a distinct look of pure joy written on their faces, especially when it came to the elderly dancing and singing along to some of the songs being presented,” said Shannon.

The relationship between the Amazing Grace Home and Sunway College was forged for future mutually benefiting programs. However, this was not the first project to engage with the elderly. The variety of community engagement projects for Social Issues and Community Engagement module (SICE) allows for collaboration with the community and early this year, the cause for the elderly was initiated to give more abled senior citizens Digital Literacy training.

Life is an endless highway and young adults tend to have their eyes on the road with the intent in reaching their destination but community engagement serves to consider the speed at which they are travelling on. Being among the elderly was a reminder to always take time to slow down, appreciate the gift of life and most importantly to, live life to the fullest.

A team of students from the Victoria University Business Program (VUBB) had chosen to serve the elderly and engage themselves with their community partner, Amazing Grace Home. The students executed a thorough clean-up of the Taman OUG branch and planned a special treat for the residents from the Subang Jaya home. They collaborated with the Sunway Diploma Student Council (SDSC), who just organised their Talent Showcase and were geared up to provide the entertainment for elderly folk in the home.

While the VUBB students were given a comprehensive informative session by the home manager, Mr Raysonick, who specialised in elderly care, the SDSC leaders prepared their music selection specifically dedicated to the golden oldies’ era. The senior citizens visibly enjoyed the renditions of classic hits such as Jamabalaya, Country Road and Edelweis as well as traditional favorites with some eagerly standing up to dance. To the students, it was a blast from the past as they had the pleasure of delivering selections from Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong a John Denver while some danced with the old folks to give them a memorable time.

The students were amazed at the energy levels of more abled elders and felt honored to be involved with such engagement and collaboration. As a special treat, a guest performer was invited, Mr Nelson Kirby ,who livened up the atmosphere further with his guitar and ukulele. Hew Zi Jin, the Project Manager for GOLDEN AGE GIG, the project for elderly expressed his sentiment on the outcome of the project. “It was a fun and experientially meaningful experience while learning about depth of societal issues. We got to see how the senior citizens homes were being managed and learnt a lot from the Home Manager.”

While the students from VUBB were pursuing business specialisations, the Sunway Diploma Studies Council (SDSC) students came from the Diploma school of business, IT, accounting and communication. President of SDSC, Shannon Kamilus acknowledged an interesting perspective with their involvement. “It was such a humbling experience to see individuals dedicate their lives to the caring and nursing of the elderly. Each worker had a distinct look of pure joy written on their faces, especially when it came to the elderly dancing and singing along to some of the songs being presented,” said Shannon.

The relationship between the Amazing Grace Home and Sunway College was forged for future mutually benefiting programs. However, this was not the first project to engage with the elderly. The variety of community engagement projects for Social Issues and Community Engagement module (SICE) allows for collaboration with the community and early this year, the cause for the elderly was initiated to give more abled senior citizens Digital Literacy training.

Life is an endless highway and young adults tend to have their eyes on the road with the intent in reaching their destination but community engagement serves to consider the speed at which they are travelling on. Being among the elderly was a reminder to always take time to slow down, appreciate the gift of life and most importantly to, live life to the fullest.