2007 ~ 2012 |
A NEW CAMPUS AND THE BIRTH OF SASS
The Now – 10 years on
These days, working in the world of Public Relations,
an exciting day amounts to ninja wordsmithing for
a tricky holding statement. It can be rewarding and
interesting work but nowhere near as fun as learning
crazy theories that shift your paradigm.
The corporate world is poles apart from academia.
You do miss the latter.
It was probably this odd nostalgia, which led me to
join the Monash School of Arts and Social Sciences
Alumni in March last year.
66
The MSASS Alumni: Bound together by sentiment, a
determination to bring indifferent Arts alumni together,
and an enthusiasm to dispense worldly advice to
the kiddos still in university – younger versions of
ourselves.
Circling back to close the loop back where it
all began.
Recently, the Alumni found ourselves organising a
career workshop for undergraduates. It was 10.30pm
on a weekday night. We had come together after work
and were brainstorming on the workshop flow as we
mainlined coffee, chicken nuggets and fries.
We were determined to help them be a little less
clueless than we were when we left SASS.
Halfway through, we just had a good laugh at the
irony of it all.
There we were, planning how to advise undergrads on
how to figure out their future careers and lives, when
we are still figuring ourselves out.
At the end of the day, the career workshop turned
out quite well and surprisingly was as useful to the
alumnus as it was to the undergrads.
I imagined metamorphosis to be a linear process
where you somehow progressed from Stage A
(clueless undergrads) to Stage B (wiser, better & more
worldly adults).
What it really is, is a state of continuous evolution
and we are just there for the crazy ride as we collect
memories and experiences along the way.
Maxine Lim graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2008.
She was awarded the Best Student for Bachelor
of Arts. She currently works as a Media Relations
Manager in Nestle Malaysia.
We had intense discussions about needing to give the
participants a reality check of life in the working world,
about learning to make the right choices in careers
and above all, not being carried off into the idealistic
sunset of what they imagined life after SASS would
be like.
▼ Dr Andrew’s gloriously salty feedback.
▼ Dr Helen’s thoughtful reminders.