After sitting for the SPM Physics Paper 3 on 24th November 2011, we, the Science students, have a few days off to study for our last two subjects - Chemistry and Biology. Our Biology teacher took the opportunity to hold extra classes over the long weekend, to give us some last minute tips and advices before we sit for the exam. That weekend was, I admit, supposed to be used for last-minute revision, since the last two subjects were my worst subjects ever.
That day, after my Physics paper, I literally ran to my room, changed into my sports attire, grab my hockey stick and ran down to the field. Yep, it was the final day for our interhouse hockey competition. It has been delayed for over a week due to the rain and the MUN Conference, and thankfully, it was not raining, yet.
The match started off well, but about 10 minutes from the final whistle, it started to rain. The players took no notice of the rain and continued the game, as we do not wish to put this off any longer. End of term was coming in a week's time, and postponing the match would not help at all. Alhamdulillah, even though we had to play in the rain and get soaked, Irinah senior won our match, and with that, completed our hatrick of winning all three interhouse competitions - House Singing, Softball & Hockey.
During prep time, I decided not to study and to relax and rest my brain after a week of battling the exam papers. So there I was, sitting at my desk, flipping through 'The Star' newspaper, catching up on the news that I've missed until something caught my attention.
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| Credit : Stuff@School Fb Page |
"Fight for a coveted place in Starstruck! 2012, a year-long journalism programme for teen writers. If you're aged between 14 (Form 2) and 19 (Upper 6) in 2012, name and fame can be yours. Talented teen writers will take the nation by storm and be moulded to conquer print and social media. These youngsters who have a passion for writing and are glued to Facebook, blogs and Twitter will be stuff@school's eyes and ears during this year-long experience of major thrills with The Star."I was left speechless for a few minutes as I stared at those words. A year-long journalism programme for teen writers... Name and fame can be yours... ...youngsters who have a passion for writing and are glued to Facebook, blogs and Twitter... I recalled my dream of being a writer for the newspaper, my dream of seeing my written works in print with my name on it, my dream of publishing my pictures for everyone to see. Man, I could NOT let this chance slip away!
Despite having two major subjects coming up in a few days' time, I spent my Friday drafting out my 500-words self-description. It wasn't my best written work as I did it in a rush, but somehow it got me through the first round. After sending my email entitled Me! I'm Starstruck! on 25th November, I forgot about it as my focus turned to my supposed-to-be-main-priority, finishing my SPM.
After my SPM has officially ended, I went on a trip to Korea with my fellow schoolmates, enjoying the winter time and exploring South Korea. When I came back to Malaysia on the 9th, there was still no news from stuff@school or The Star, so I didn't get my hopes up high.
On the 13th December 2011, just a day before I flew off to Sydney for a trip with my family, I received an email from Starstruck, telling me that I have been longlisted for Starstruck! 2012. I jumped with joy and happiness as I could not believe the news. I'm in the longlisted! Out of hundreds of applicants, I was one of the almost-200 people who were longlisted. Although I could not understand how they liked my 500-words self description, I thanked God for this wonderful opportunity to be a Starstruck!
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| The email that made my year |
Only two more stages to be completed before I'm officially in Starstruck!, and I promised myself, I would never stop until I reach my goal. The first stage was to create a graphic and use our names as acronyms to describe ourselves, and get our friends & family to show their support by liking the picture on stuff@school's Facebook page. Since I'm flying off to the Land down Under in less than 24 hours, I got started on it as fast as I could, and came up with this simple picture.
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| Yes, I'm amazingly awesome, got a problem with that? :) |
But with help from my teachers and friends who gave my their 110% support, I managed to get 35 subscribers before the deadline. After the state representative, Mr Arumainathan, came to KTJ to collect the money & subscription form, I was relieved. Finally, every thing was done. And all I needed to do then was to wait.
13th February 2012. Y U TAKE SO LONG TO COME? That was how I felt while waiting for the result day. I think my roommate, Celine, was tired of me talking about the 13th. I kept on thinking about it every single second of my life *okay, hyperbole much* but, yeah, the thought of not being accepted kept knocking at the back of my mind that I felt demotivated. Not to mention, the negativity that came from some people that sometimes made me feel like giving up.
And I was almost going to give up on this thing, until my friends came up to me and told me otherwise. Their kind words of support and encouragement helped me to build up my confidence and strength to face everything that comes in my way. With these people next to me, and with Allah watching over me in every single thing that I do, I know, nothing will ever stop me from achieving my dreams.
The disturbing thoughts stopped bugging me after I got busy preparing for KTJ's Nasheed Festival for Maulud Nabi's Celebration. Imagine being stuck in the library for 8 hours, editing and preparing the video. It was supposed to take less than an hour, but the movie maker crashed and created problems until our original plan didn't work out. Plan B failed, too, so we resorted to Plan C, which saw us working up to 10pm at night on the day before the event.
Nasheed Festival was on the 12th, and it was a hectic yet eventful and memorable day, as it was KTJ's first time ever hosting a festival of that sort. After the festival ended at around 1pm, I stayed back to help clean up the mess and accompanied the students from SDAR who were waiting for their bus. When I finally reached my room at around 2:30pm, I logged into Facebook and saw a post in the Facebook group for longlisted people.
OMG. They released the shortlist one day earlier, since most of us couldn't wait until the next day to know the results. My eyes scanned the list of the Starstruck! writers, and I sighed. My name wasn't on the list. I scanned the list once again, just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Yep, I was right, I didn't make it in. I wanted to cry, but I was so tired and wiped out that I couldn't think of anything else.
I was about to close the browser when I saw something at the bottom of the list. Ambassadors. Since when do stuff@school have ambassadors? Hmm. I scrolled down to check the names, and whaaaam, there it was. Syaza Nazura Noor Azmi, 18, Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar, Negri Sembilan.
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| Yes, that's my name :) |
Oh. My. God. I'm in! I'm in! Even though I didn't get the chance to be the writer for stuff@school, but at least I'm in the team. Ambassador of stuff@school. Man, that would look so great on my CV ( even though this thing has absolutely nothing to do with Actuarial Science ). But yeah. I'm in! :)
*scrolls back up* *gulp* I think I wrote way too much. *sigh Oh well. I guess I missed my blog, I know I haven't been updating it as frequently as I used to last year. Don't fret, I'll try to update as much as I could after this, :) So yeah. That's just the story of how I got into Starstruck!, just for those people who asked me about it. I'll write more about my experience in Starstruck! as I gained them, so stay tuned people! And don't worry to buy The Star on Monday, 27th February, to get a dose of stuff@school's awesomeness! :)
Links : Stuff@School's Facebook Page | Stuff@School's Awesome Website
Good night, and Assamualaikum :)
p/s. Do ignore the spelling mistakes / grammars if there are any, I'm too lazy to reread everything and correct them. :)
