City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

SHOUT OUTS ALL THE WAY FROM CITY UNIVERSITY

By: Chau Wing Sz, Florence (51904443) October 14, 2011 (CityPrint) Every year around this time of the month, loud screams and highspirited cries can be heard from inside the concrete walls of City University (CityU). If you happened to pass by City Universitys bustling podium, or even go to the main campus canteen to grab a quick lunch, then you will definitely notice a party of passionate students wearing various unusual costumes and excitedly waving colorful handcrafted signs in the air. At first glance at this particular crowd, it is hard not to be a little confused and possibly startled by their presence and behavior why are they wearing those costumes? And why are they yelling? However, have you ever been slightly curious as to why these students are devotedly doing such things? No, it is not because they are festively celebrating Halloween a little early the reason is because they are trying to attract your attention, and getting you to remember them.

So by now, another set of stumbling questions might pop up and are probably boggling your mind, why do they need me to remember them? And why do they need to go though so much trouble to do these things? However, to answer all these questions, we must for starters, introduce and understand who these groups of people are. Thus, in a nutshell, these groups of students are called the proposed committees, and each group is representing their own individual student society whether it is the departmental societies or the affiliated association societies, during these few months,

they all have a chance to publicize and promote their team to the student body in certain public school areas. The reason why they are called proposed committee is because they have not been officially chosen to represent their society yet. They later must to go through the process of a formal nomination, and then have a polling session where their full-members (individuals who have joined their society) will be able to vote for them and show their support for the formation of the new committee. Consequently, once they are chosen, they have to take on the responsibility of serving of their full-members for at least a year; meaning, the committee must try to care for their full-members and become a communicating bridge for them between various publics, such as department officials. All in all, although the event appears to be like a small political election for a handful of academic school societies; however, if you look behind the thick curtain, there is more to it than meets the eye it is not just about a group of like-minded students coming together and forming a team to win an election, but it is them coming together and putting all their efforts into building and sustaining what is important to them Their family. Their home. Their society. Months before, each of theses groups had individually started to meticulously plan for the event thinking of ways in making themselves stand out from the crowd, composing and reciting catchy cheers, and diligently making their promotional items together. A fellow member of the proposed Building and Construction Society committee said, We started planning what we were going to do a month ago when we formed our team we worked really hard in making our costumes and signs sometimes we had to work really late.

Even though some have worked though the night in order to finish their promotion pieces, they do not let tiredness get in the way of their goal; some groups are said to

have arrived to school at 7:30 in the morning in order to secure the best spots at the school podium. With dark circles under her eyes, a member of the proposed Information System Society committee stated, We wake up early so we can get the best spot to display our signs so that people can easily see them when they walk by here. Itd be a waste for us if they couldnt see it. To some, this might seem like a pointless campaign where people dress up and make a fool out of himself or herself something that is not worth the time or the energy in doing but for them, it is different. They see significance in doing such things because they truly believe they are able to achieve something great and valuable from the experience; and they also see the worth in supporting and helping their society and community. A member of the proposed Applied Physics Society committee reasons, although everyone is tired from working, it is also fun. When asked why she wanted to be apart of the committee, she responded, Id like to do something else for a change. Studying you can always do but you dont get many opportunities this so for me I think it is worth putting that much time into doing what were doing. While most proposed committees are caught up in the thrill and excitement of the event, however, there have been incidents where some member might have trouble getting use to this sort of activity causing them to fall out of the pack before, during or even after the event. Often, the various reasons for their leaving include: unable to balance and or handle the workload given, complications in communicating other committee members in the group, or even because he or she unable to work together with the group due to incompatibility. I have seen many of these incidents happen before, so its not surprising that some individuals would want to depart from committee, said Michelle Yu, former proposed committee member and now president of the English, Media and Communication Society. She reminds the upcoming committees that in order to continue as a group, cooperation and consideration for each other is essential. A committee is not just a group of people coming together to work, you have school projects for that. In the coming year, they will spend a lot of time and may even experience some ups and downs together. Thats what I think a good committee should be, kind of like a family. Lastly, Michelle also suggests that since this is once in a lifetime event, they should all take in the experience and fully enjoy it. Although some proposed committees have already started and are in the middle of their promotion campaign, however, they still have a long road ahead of them. And during this process, they will experience, and endure many unexpected outcomes. Yet even so, their efforts and dedication will pay off because in the end, they will have gain unforgettable memories, and possibly a group of friends that are closer than family.