Youth and Vibrancy

Written by Catalina Rembuyan

Bubbly, cheerful and optimistic, it’s hard not to find Natasha Muchura around campus without a smile on her face. This Kenyan graduate of Mass Communications and writer at the university’s Malaysia Design Innovation Centre shares with us her decision to study at Limkokwing and reflects on how those years trained and developed herself as a human being. Catalina Rembuyan reports.

“Would you believe it if I told you that when I first came to Malaysia, I had no idea that I needed a student visa to enter?” expressed Natasha Muchura, when asked about how life as a Limkokwing University of Creative Technology student in Malaysia and how it developed her as a person. “I was that naïve!”

Natasha is a Kenyan citizen who studied under the British education system, which meant that she graduated by the age of 16 and was already planning to further her studies then. But at sixteen, it’s hard to decide on something that can shape the course of one’s entire life, and she admitted that after graduation, she had taken some time until she could decide on what she really wanted to do.

It was not for a lack of brilliance or sense of achievement: at school, Natasha was an active student who participated in many extracurricular activities. Nevertheless, Natasha confessed that she never had very set ambitions when young – a state that many young people often find themselves in. “The only thing I could firmly recollect was when my father saw that I had some potential of becoming a lawyer because I was good in history, but that’s about it,” she said.

“As a teenager, I was just going with the flow because the idea that I had to grow up was so far away. I simply was not sure with what I wanted to achieve in life. Thank goodness, I’ve changed a lot since then.”

The student ambassadors were actively involved in the welfare of the students, and they built connections for me between two other Malaysians and a girl from Macedonia, who eventually became my housemates. We’re still friends now, five years after our first meeting.

Natasha, who was born in the town of Mombasa, Kenya, was matched with Limkokwing University when she decided to take the advice of a university placement consultant who matched her interests with the university and another institution of learning in South Africa. Natasha decided to go off the beaten track and chose Malaysia.

Having never lived very far away from her family for an extended period of time, Natasha had some apprehensions about living in a country half a world away, but her fears subsided when she arrived in Limkokwing University. “I had no difficulty with adjusting to life in Malaysia because the people here made me feel very, very comfortable,” she said.

“I was assisted by all the university’s student ambassadors who themselves came from many countries all over the world, and they really made me feel at home,” she explained. “The student ambassadors were actively involved in the welfare of the students, and they built connections for me between two other Malaysians and a girl from Macedonia, who eventually became my housemates. We’re still friends now, five years after our first meeting.”

Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing will never tell you that you can’t achieve or cannot overstep your seniors because of your youth. Instead, he encourages young people to give their input.

Now that she has completed her degree in Mass Communications, Natasha is working with Limkokwing University under the Malaysia Design Innovation Centre, where she works as a junior writer. Her job sees her liaising with the media to spread the word about any events happening within the grounds of Limkokwing University.

“We have so many things going on here and so much to offer, and we want to seize any chance we can get to let the media know about all the things going on in Limkokwing University,” she said.

On top of that, depending on the nature of the event, Natasha is also involved in organizing events, which allows her to learn and gain experience from many fields in one broad stroke. “Even though I’ve just been employed, I can see the difference of a working environment in Limkokwing. This place does not feel as though it is a corporation running you, and everyone here is in vibe with youthful trends and has youthful thinking. ”

According to Natasha, the Founder-President’s own personal approach to youth input is what makes the difference at Limkokwing University. “Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing will never tell you that you can’t achieve or cannot overstep your seniors because of your youth. Instead, he encourages young people to give their input,” she said.

I’m happy that I am able to do what I enjoy doing and I’m glad I have that opportunity to do so through the Malaysia Design Innovation Centre. I think that success is simply that: being happy with what you are doing.

Natasha, who confesses that her newfound responsibilities at the Malaysia Design Innovation Centre has opened her to extensive knowledge of the field of public relations, hopes to spend the next few years expanding her knowledge in various fields such as event management and fashion writing.

“I like attending events and I know how much fun it is to attend something that is run well. I want to have the satisfaction of running an event and seeing the happy faces of those who attend them,” said Natasha. “Apart from that, I’m also very trend-aware and keep in touch with what’s hip and what’s out, so I know that I will really love working in the fashion industry.”

“I’m happy that I am able to do what I enjoy doing and I’m glad I have that opportunity to do so through the Malaysia Design Innovation Centre. I think that success is simply that: being happy with what you are doing.”

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