A Riuh Raya of a Social Night! | by Lorraine Lim Xing Sien
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| Illustration by Atha Riadi |
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| Photo by Orientation Leaders |
Since it was Raya themed, the Orientation Leaders wanted to take advantage of the occasion and bring in some cultural elements into their event. This felt personally vital to them as it enabled them to showcase and appreciate Malaysian culture as well as provide an immersive experience for international students. The Orientation team certainly did a job well done when it came to incorporating the raya festivities into all aspects of the event. From the food to the dress code, everywhere you looked was sure to remind you of the classic raya holidays! For dinner, they had a carefully curated menu providing options that one would typically see served in a raya open house such as satay, lemang, rendang, kuihs and so much more. As if that wasn’t enough, they even had ice kacang stations set up! As for decorations, the buffet table was no stranger to the theme. A raya themed arch was set up at the entrance to greet all the freshmen heading into the event, and their photobooth strips had a vibrant raya themed design too. Not to forget the dress code, both the guests and fellow Orientation Leaders came beautifully clad in either traditional clothing or outfits that matched the hues of the event, which were the wondrous colours of green, yellow, black and white.
The night would not be complete without some music and performances to lighten up the mood, and that is exactly why the Orientation Leaders always look forward to collaborating with other clubs and were absolutely elated to have the Taylor’s Music Club (TMC), Taylor’s Lakeside Dance Club (TLDC) and ASK Dance Company showcase their talents on stage. They very kindly accommodated the Orientation team’s request to incorporate cultural and on theme elements into their performances. It was wonderful to witness the performance of Suasana Hari Raya by TMC, and TLDC did not disappoint as they showed the crowd their electrifying choreography to a song by DOLLA. Not to mention how ASK enchanted guests with traditional Malay dances.
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| Photo by Orientation Leaders |
As a way of encouraging the freshmen to interact with each other, there were also games in between each performance. During the first game, the freshmen at each table were required to work together to solve a puzzle. The second game was a fun spin to the typical rock, paper, scissors game where they were each given a set of papers, either with a rock, paper or scissors on it and they had to challenge other individuals. The winner got to keep the other person’s paper. Last but not least, for the final game, a balloon was passed around each table while music was playing. When the music stopped, the freshman holding the balloon had to complete a challenge given by the emcees. It is safe to say that there were smiles all around by the end of each session. As a reward for their efforts, the fastest to complete the puzzle in the first game, and the table that managed to collect the most papers for the second game, received a hamper.
To top it all off, a catwalk session was held where six candidates, both male and female best dressed nominees, got to showcase their outfits. There was strutting, twirling and plenty of posing. Eventually, the crowd determined the best dressed ‘Sultan’ and ‘Sultanah’ of the night. This session was followed by a lucky draw, where three lucky winners went home with prizes kindly provided by their sponsors.
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| Photo by Orientation Leaders |
Towards the end of the night, during the mingle session, a nostalgic classic, ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber played with the lyrics projected on the big screen. It wasn't long before the crowd started singing together; all clearly having a blast as they sang their hearts out. Finally, as the event came to a close around 10pm, our friendly Orientation Leaders lined up along the exit to wave and bid their goodbyes.
Here are some delightful comments by a handful of members from the hardworking team that pulled off this event:
“After more than a month of planning, I am thrilled to say the event went well, despite the ups and downs. Working with a team that always had my back has made me forever grateful. Seeing the freshmen enjoy their time made all the effort worthwhile, erasing any sense of tiredness.” - Nadzirah, Project Manager
“Seeing all our plans come to life was very rewarding. My favourite part was seeing the big smiles on everyone’s faces throughout the night!” - Lorraine, Assistant Project Manager
“Organising such a big event was challenging but rewarding! Seeing our time spent on planning go into action with many freshmen excited and having fun during the event made it all worthwhile. The most memorable part of the event was when everyone was playing our second game, Rock Paper Scissors: GO!; they were all excited and going around finding opponents in order to gain more points for their team.” -Min Thong, Assistant Project Manager
“My team handled our event with such passion and dedication that it allowed for the climax of April 2024 Orientation to be a memorable one!” - Ameer, PIC
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| Photo by Orientation Leaders |
Once again, another successful Social Night at Taylor’s had managed to bring joy and light to the freshmen as they journeyed into their soon-to-be beginning university experience.
1 comments
I had one of the most amazing time during my orientation. The OLs especially during this event was Super duper friendly. I felt confident and ready to start my Uni days. Tq to the Project managers Lorraine and Nadzirah <3
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