MASA Excellence Awards 2014: What makes successful students tick? (Part 2)

EVER wondered what drives highly motivated students? Meld reporter Kai Yi Wong caught up with two MASA Excellence Award winners to find out what inspires their impressive work ethic. In the second part of our series, University of Adelaide law student Rehanna Ahmad Razif shares her story with us.

On April 22, the Malaysian Students’ Council of Australia (MASCA) held their second Malaysian Summit of Australia (MASA). Conceived and run by Malaysian students, it is the largest Malaysian event in Australia and is made up of six different components: the Careers, Conference, Excellence Awards, Games, Cyber-games and Student Leaders Agenda. Participants are free to join any combination of events.

Meld Magazine takes a look at two winners from the Industry-based Individual Excellence Awards. The award looks for students with exceptional performance in academia, extra-curricular achievements, professional experiences and leadership capabilities.

We interviewed two personalities who have overcome the odds and accelerated academically as a result. Koay Fang Xuan and Rehanna Ahmad Razif each won the Commerce, and Arts and Social Sciences Award respectively. They are ordinary students who have extraordinary drive to push themselves to foster better relationships in Australia’s Malaysian community, and have been recognised for it.

Meld Magazine caught up with them for a quick chat about the success they have achieved in their lives and what their plans for the future are.

Photo: Kai Yi Wong

Photo: Kai Yi Wong

Rehanna Ahmad Razif
Bachelor of Law, University of Adelaide

Achievements

  • Deputy Head of Public Relations of the 1st DUC 2014 and 2nd MASA 2014
  • Manager of Mainstream media for the 1st MASA 2013
  • Head of Media at the 2nd National Leadership Symposium (NALS) 2014
  • Co-editor-in-chief of MASCAzine 2013

MM: Congratulations on winning the award, Rehanna! Did you expect to win?

Rehanna Razie (RR):  I definitely did not expect to win! But I tried anyway and I was glad to have won it.

MM: Tell us more about yourself.

RR: I’m in my third year of law school at the University of Adelaide and I’ve always had an interest in public relations, writing and arts-related stuff.

MM: How do you manage to generate all the enthusiasm for all this work that you have done?

RR: It’s easy. When you love something, it’s not hard to do it. You get automatically driven, and your heart is drawn to it. My advice would be to find something you love, and you will go far from there.

MM: How do you feel about this award and has it helped shape your future direction?

RR: I feel like I’m on the right track now that I’ve won this award, so I’m really grateful for this platform to allow me to express myself and interact with other people whom I would never otherwise get to meet.

Q: By winning this award, do you think you’ll return to help Malaysia?

RR: I would definitely do so! The thing about arts, writing or public relations is that it’s not a big deal in Malaysia. It’s seen as something for people who have their heads in the clouds, but in fact it is not! There’s quality to be had in writing and expressing yourself, and the important thing about public relations is how to represent yourself, and I feel Malaysia needs a lot of help in that respect.

Post Your Thoughts