The Greatest Rewards come from the most Unlikely Place

By Biokrobo Samson Wokoma

I was relieved and grateful when I was informed that UCSI University would take me in as one of its interns in September 2009. My choices at the time were very limited because as a foreign student in Malaysia, production houses and TV networks are reluctant to hire because they will have to pay higher insurance if they employed non-citizens.

Hearing from the Associate Dean for the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts and Head of Department of Mass Communication at the time, that I was accepted in the departments film production wing as an intern was received with relief because I was racing against time to round up my requirements in time enough to graduate and also skepticism as to whether I would actually gain adequate work experience compared to working at a commercial production house.

I went into the job with a complete open mind and as it turned out, I was rewarded in more ways than one for suppressing my doubts and giving all my effort. Almost immediately I begun working, my classmates who I initially thought lucky to have found placements within production houses expressed displeasure within their working environments for various reasons but mostly their work hours and some even sought to join those of us that were working for UCSI at the time. I quickly realized how fortunate I was to find myself working a fixed 8 hours a day.

My fears over experience were also soon alleviated with multiple assignments that gave me an experience that I was not banking on. I and my colleagues were privileged enough to cover live events and conferences for the university, an experience that cannot be gotten from a production house but rather a TV station and we were still able to gain production house experiences like making of corporate videos, documentaries and short opening films etc. Before my internship I could not edit a film to save my life, but that has obvious changed now.

The greatest gift in my internship came away from the professional aspects. It came from the people I met, and the ones I got to know better. UCSI teaching staff went from my revered lecturers to my dear friends; classmates became the same and covering events for the school showed me esteemed individuals and academic scholars who became mentors that I strive be like.

They say, “To whom much is given, much is expected”, I have received so much and now I am obliged to give so much more back. I will start giving back with a simple “Thank you”. Thank you to Ms. Roslina Abdul Latif for accepting us students as interns , Thank you to Prof. Dr. Lee Chai Buan for giving me the opportunity to serve, thank you to Dato Peter Ng for paying us to serve and thank you UCSI for the experience of a lifetime.