TuPSS Sports Day 2014!

"All fun and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

To unwind from all the academic stress, the TuPSS planning committee had put together a sports day event for their fellow school of pharmacy friends and lecturers.

The event kicked off on the 1st of November 2014 with the badminton tournament held in the South Quay.
A shuttle bus was provided for the students that left at approximately 12 in the afternoon to the location.

Once there, the participants took a little while to warm up before getting ready to compete.

The results turned out as follows:

Men's Singles

Rank 1: Yeong Jenning
         2: Lee Kah Hung
         3: Vincent Ngu
         4: Kam Weng Hang

Women's Singles

Rank 1: Tan Hui Qi
         2: Bong Zhang Min
         3: Ho Ka Mun

Men's Doubles

Rank 1: Tan Kee Teng/ Aqil
         2: Ng Kah Weng/ Lee Kah Hung
         3: Chia Kai Xiang/ Yeong Jenning

Women's Doubles

Rank 1: Neoh Elaine/ Law Sok Ching
         2: Alene/ Bong Zhang Min
         3: Chen Seat Theng/ Ng Wen Yia

Mixed Doubles

Rank 1: Yeong Jenning/ Tan Hui Qi
         2: Loke Ren Zhang/ Law Sok Ching
         3: Koh Wei Qin/ Ho Ka Mun
         4: Ng Kah Weng/ Neoh Elaine

Women's Double 

Men's Double (one of them absent )

Women's Single

Men's Single 

Overall it was a very enjoyable tournament as all the participants were competitive but above all had plenty of fun bonding with the rest of the TuPSS members.



That wasn't all though, the following Saturday (8th November 2014), the fun and games continued. This time it was held at the Taylor's Sports Complex.

Registration stared at 8.30 a.m. with Prof.P.T Thomas, Dean and Professor, Taylor's School of Pharmacy, followed by an ice breaking session. The students where separated into their color groups; namely Red, Orange, Yellow and Green. Each group was designated a location and when the first buzzer rang at 9 o'clock, the students moved to their respective locations.

For their first ice breaking game, the students were seated in a circle and took turns to remember each others' names. Failure to remember their team mates' names resulted in a toothpaste face painting punishment.

Prof.P.T. Thomas giving speeches

Toothpaste face painting 

The second game was called Act + React. It was sort of a charades game where each member would write down an action and later they drew lots to pick the action that someone will have to act out for the rest of the team to guess.

Try her very best to act cockroach 

The next game as called 'Balloon Name Passing'. In this game each student will have to shout out a name another team mate and hit the balloon in 3 seconds without letting it touch the ground.

After the 3rd game finished, each team had 20 minutes to prepare for the aerobics session. Each team was given a song to put together creative steps for.

Red – Anaconda
Orange – I Gotta Feeling
Yellow – Tik Tok
Green – Right Round

After the 20 minutes was up, each group had to perform their dance moves one by one starting with the Green House followed by Yellow, Orange and Red houses respectively. The teams' grooves were judged on their presentation and creativity.

Dance move for Anaconda~ the lecturer rocks !!

Practicing for right round ~! Arrow shooting pose 

looks like they are having a hard time to decide the dance move for tik tok ~

I gotta feeling !

Once the aerobics was done, it was then time for some real fun. The committee had put together games with the theme 'Running Man'. Running Man Part I was separated into 2 parts: Station Games (played individually) and Telematches (played as a team).

There were 4 station games. The first game was called Fill Up The Meter!. The participants were grouped in fives. The first person wore a blind fold and had a water bottle containing water. Then, the other members who were carrying paper cups on their heads had to pass the water in sequence to fill up the jug at the end. The more jugs filled, the better!

The second game was known as Mix & Match and Leisure Cup of Tea. In the first part of the game, the students were required to pick a size of spoon and drink the tea. In the second part however, they were each given a number between 1 and 15. Then a math question is given and the student whose number is the answer stands up. The students are not allowed to discuss among themselves and no two persons are allowed to stand up at the same time.

interesting *evil laugh*

Moving on, we played charades. Where a student had to draw out a movie, music, animal or place and act it out to the others to guess. The 4th station game was called Volleyball Mayhem where the students took turns to carry 3 volleyballs each between their thighs and both arms.

Unlike the station games which took place simultaneously, the 3 telematches were in a sequence. The first telematch : Push Die You was played between two teams. Red house went head to head with Orange house while Yellow house and Green house competed. In this game, the participants had to hand each others hand securely and use on hand to push their opponent and push them off balance.

The next game, Jump Die You was rather challenging as each group and to stand in a bridge like formation were one student passes through to the end and jumps rope and the process had to be repeated until every team member gets a turn.

In the third telematch Eat Die You, the teams had to form a line and then the 1st group of 5 had to finish eating the chocolates while the 2nd group of 5 had to finish the lime juice given and the 3rd group of 3 the 2 hot cups, the 2nd last person ice cream and finally the last person one can of coke.

Then there was Running Man Part II. The participants were divided into 2 groups the hunters and the searchers. The role o the searchers were to look for the 7 hidden clues whilst the hunters were to distract and scare off the hunters as well as eliminate them.

Where ?

Where is the hidden clue ?

RUN ! RUN ! RUN !

Overall, there were many games played and therefore it was a very tiring event. However, it was so much of fun as even the dean joined in some of the games. We took this opportunity to really bond with each other and get to know each other well. Events like this should take place more often so we can unwind our stress with some healthy competition and most of all, FUN!

Orange House ( 4th place )

Red House ( 3rd place )

Green House ( 2nd place )

Yellow House ( 1st place )

GROUP PHOTO !

TUPSS 2014/2015 Organizational Chart.

In case you don't know who is the new committee members of TUPSS ~

Here is the brand new organizational chart :

TuPSS election day

On the 18th of September 2014, TUPSS held its annual election in which the old committee would step down and be replaced by the newly elected committee.

This year, instead of being held in a small classroom, it was held in a lecture theater as a classroom would've been too small due to the large turn up for the elections this year. Many turned up to play their part in determining the voices that would represent them in the council for the next term.

The event started with speeches being delivered by nominees who have gone through an interview process by the previous board members. There, nominees were given a chance to woo the crowd with their respective speeches and to hopefully earn votes.

After the votes were collected, the previous president, JenningYeong, gave his final and tearful speech while a few members of the previous committee were counting the votes.

The results are as follows:

President: Alene Yong
Vice President: Ong Qi Jun
Secretary 1: Yee Wey
Secretary 2: Kelly Chan
Treasurer: Ng Kar Weng
Head of Project Management: Loke Ren Zhang
Head of Editorial Board: Chan Jing Er
Head of TEMP: Bong Zhang Min

TUPSS as a whole would like to give thanks to the previous committee under the leadership of Jenning for all their services to the student body, and would like to wish the new committee all the best in their new reign.

When Leaders are Shaped - 13th IPSF APRO LIT

13th IPSF APRO Leaders in Training (LIT) was held on 19/8/14 to 22/8/14 at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus. A training program which prepare the participants in leadership skills in addition to various soft skills which would be relevant in their practice as a pharmacy students leader. A total of 14 participants from Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Republic of Korea and Malaysia participated this event.

The distinguished trainers are David Cechlovsky, Chairman of Professional Development from International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation (IPSF) and James White, Secretary from Asia Pacific Regional Office Regional Working Group (APRO-RWG).

David Cechlovsky, facilitating ice breaker during the welcoming party.

James White, photo taken during APPS Gala Night.

Various topics including communication, project management, email writing, and pitching were discussed and tips to improve these aspects were also shared on order to allow the participants to become a better leader who can perform more effectively.

A highlighted session of this program was the "Impromptu Theatre" where the participants were required to act and speak spontaneously on the stage. It acts as a perfect platform for participants to overcome the fear of speaking in front of crowd and learn to convert ideas generated spontaneously into verbal expression. Aside of that, some of the participants were able to enhance their act with humor, making it a night full of laughter.

Another unforgettable and fruitful experience was when the participants had to "endure" a simulated pitching session. They were required to pitch their project for sponsorship to the "sponsors" acted by the trainers and APRO-RWG. Not only that, they were also be questioned by the "sponsors" with provocative and critical questions.

Reception Committee (Jenning, Hui En) serving the food diligently.

All in all, it is definitely a rewarding experience not only for the participants but also the Reception Committee.

Group Photo during the last day!
(Credits to Edberg Andreas)

LIT Participants, Trainers, APRO-RWG and RC reunited in APPS Gala Night.

~TOGETHER WE GROW~

Editor's Notes:
A big thanks to the trainers and ARPO-RWG for being helpful and cooperative throughout the program. Thumbs up for the participants as well, your performance throughout the training was really impressive and inspiring! We glad to be a host for you all.
Lastly, I appreciate the generosity of Edberg Andreas in providing the group photo. 

Click to read on "I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand” - Sharing from LIT Participants"
Click to read on "A Whole New Experience - 13th IPSF APPS"

A Whole New Experience - 13th IPSF APPS

The 13th IPSF Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) was held in Malaysia on 22/8/14 to 28/8/14. The 7 days 6 nights event comprised of informative symposiums, inspiring workshops, entertaining social nights would have made it an unforgettable memories for participants across Asia Pacific including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Sudan and Algeria.

Day 0

The event marked its start with the inaugural welcoming party in the ballroom of Seri Pacific 5 Stars Hotel, providing the warmest hospitality to the participants and the most amazing experience to the participants taste buds with an international cuisine buffet. It was followed by a gimmicks and a few ice breakers.

One of the ice breakers when they have to stand on a very smal piece of card board.

Day 1

It was officially started with an opening ceremony attended by honorable guests including Datuk Nancy Ho, President of Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society, Deans from School of Pharmacy from different Universities in Malaysia and other guests. A flag ceremony was held to welcome participants from different countries.

Professor Dr P. T. Thomas and Reception Committee from Taylor's University

After the symposium given by various speakers expertise in fields such as personalized medicine and pharmacy practice, the day marked its end with an enriching "International Night". It was a social event where participants from different countries brought food and tit bits representing their culture and also had performances which were really an eye-opener for the audience.

Participants from Malaysia!
(Credits to Nash Rahman)

Traditional Dance from Korean.
(Credits to Tan Zhi Shan)

Performance from Japan eventually became the champion of the night.
(Credits to Tan Zhi Shan)

Day 2

The highlighted sessions of the Day 2 were the variety of workshop prepared such as Scientific Poster Exhibition, Patient Counselling Event, Suppository Workshop, Medical Apps Workshop, Halal Pharmaceutics Workshop, workshop about Pfizer and Innovation. In addition, all participants were able to enjoy and witness the cultural diversity of Malaysia through a specially prepared Malaysia Cultural Workshop where the participants had chances to play traditional games, try traditional cloth from different ethnics in Malaysia and most importantly make traditional food such as curry puff on their own!

Cultural Workshop featuring traditional Malay musical instrument.
(Credits to Nash Rahman)

Day 3

The first of its kind "Pharmazing Race" was no doubt one of the best feature in APPS where participants had the chance to wander through the streets and lanes of Kuala Lumpur as well as experience of using Malaysia integrated railway system to travel around. They have left their footsteps across Batu Caves, Central Market, National Mosque, Botanic Garden and Independence Square. After the race, they prepared the materials and visual aids needed for Public Health Campaign awaiting them in the next day.

Batu Caves station, 272 steps conquered!

Central Market, a collection of arts.

Volunteer from national mosque giving the participants a guided tour.
(Credits to Shaeh Cai Ying)

Orchid Garden, where future pharmacists meet nature!
(Credits to Shaeh Cai Ying)

Race ended! Independence!
(Credits to Brian Wong)

Day 4

Another challenging and meaningful moment for the participants as well as the reception committees was the Public Health Campaign, spreading anti-tobacco messages in form of street parade across Kuala Lumpur Golden Triangle Area. They collected car honks from the motorists as a sign of support, played Truth or Myth game with smokers, showing placard and giant cigarette. A booth was also set up at Plaza Sungai Wang as a follow up point for those who need further consultation. The most interesting part was a flash mob in front of Lot 10 was performed by the participants, to further attract the audience and promote awareness on the risks of smoking.

Ready to go!

Participants promoting anti-tobacco awareness.
(Credits to Nash Rahman)

A group photo after the flash mob.

Although there were some disgruntled and provocative responses from certain smokers due to perceived threat on their rights on smoking, but generally the campaign was really a success. One of the reception committee (Jenning Yeong) witnessed a heart warming moment where a young-ling insisted his father to stop smoking. When being asked whether he knew about the danger of smoking, the young-ling said he didn't know about it, but insisted his father to stop smoking simply because "I know it is not good."

After the campaign, participants were dispersed to enjoy their free night.

Day 5

After the enlightening symposium and Regional Assembly, it finally came to an end of the event. The Gala Night together with closing ceremony was held at Saloma Bistro. During the closing ceremony, awards were given to the winners of various competition held during APPS such as Best Scientific Poster Competition, Clinical Skill Event, Patient Counselling Event and Pharmazing Race. It was also announced that the 14th IPSF APPS will be held at Pattaya, Thailand. 

Saloma Bistro

Jenning and his group became the 1st runner up of "Pharmazing Race"

All good thing must come to an end.
(Credits to Mae and William Photography)

Finally, Viva La Pharmacie! 

May all the memory of the friendship formed in this encounter will be everlasting.

Editor's Notes:
A great congratulation and thanks to Malaysian Pharmacy Students' Society (MyPsa) and the Reception Committee for organizing this event. It is definitely a successful event, making it possible for pharmacy students from different countries to cross each other path. I am really grateful to have all these incredibly amazing encounter in these period. These people are really wonderful and I shall keep the memories everlasting deep in my heart.

I would like also like to express my gratitude to Nash Rahman, Tan Zhi Shan, Shaeh Cai Ying, Brian Wong as well as Mae and William Photography. for generously contributing the mentioned photos in this post.

Click to read on "When Leaders are Shaped - 13th IPSF APRO LIT"
Click to read on ""I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand” - Sharing from LIT Participants"