(From left to right): Lee Khoon Hong, Poh Choo Han, Teh Mei Sin and Tian Chia Yee holding up their trophies after winning the Champion prize.
(From left to right): Jovita Ooi Sue Anne, Christine Choo Wan Teng, and Carmen Yeoh Chia Min with their 1st Runner-Up trophies.
TAR UC students demonstrated their mettle yet again when they raked in several prizes in the recent Web Design Competition 2021 in Penang. The students from TAR UC Penang Branch Campus won the Champion, Best Performance Award and 1st Runner-Up prizes in the competition which was organised by the Penang Youth Development Corporation (‘PYDC’).
The Champion team, Team OverCook, consisted of four students, namely Lee Khoon Hong (Diploma in Computer Science), Poh Choo Han (Diploma in Computer Science), Teh Mei Sin (Diploma in Business Administration) and Tian Chia Yee (Bachelor of Business (Hons) Accounting and Finance), supervised by Ms Kee Sim Ee, Programme Leader of the Department of Computing & Information Technology at Penang Branch Campus. The leader of the team, Poh Choo Han also won the Best Performance Award. Besides that, the 1st Runner-Up prize went to Team Metaverse comprising Christine Choo Wan Teng, Jovita Ooi Sue Anne and Carmen Yeoh Chia Min (all from the Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) in Internet Technology programme).
The purpose of this competition is to encourage the youth’s creativity while enhancing their skill set in website designing which will increase their employability. It is open to all full-time college and university students in the Penang state. It is in line with the Penang Young Digital Talent programme goal which is to develop 1000 talents in 2 years starting from 2021.
It took some planning for team OverCook to win the Champion prize. Choo Han said: “We had discussions on the competition and sometimes it would go on until midnight. We started by creating a prototype, designing, and then developing it. We split ourselves into two teams where Chia Yee and Mei Sin focused on designing while Khoon Hong and I focused on developing the website.”
On what inspired him to come up with the web design, he said: “I worked in the F&B industry for my internship and I understand that there are a lot of opportunities that exist in the F&B industry. There are still a lot of restaurants, cafe, and food stalls running physically, hence there is great opportunity to digitalise their business!”
Christine, who is the leader of Team Metaverse, on the other hand, spoke about their web design site named Mpower. “The future of tomorrow depends on what we do today and what the youth are capable of bringing to this world. MPower is the empowerment of millennials through business and ideas. This platform aims to empower young people to take a step forward, be bold, be daring, and make a move without feeling judged or sidelined,” she said.
On why she took up the challenge to compete, she said: “I have always loved taking up a challenge. I knew this competition was very close to my Final Year Project deadline, but I still chose to participate in it because I might not have a second chance to participate. So why not? Though I needed to make some sacrifices for this, but trust me, it’s worth it in the end. It will always be worth it. Never once did I regret joining a competition or event. Even though sometimes I didn’t win any prize, the things that I have learned are priceless.”
