Students in the "Leap of Faith" exercise

Participants having a ball of a time in the Helium Stick" game

Kuala Lumpur, 07 July 2009 - Leadership and team-building stems from one main element; trust. It was with this in mind that the University's peer counseling group oragnised a campaign dubbed "Blast It", an event aimed to build friendships, leadership and team-building skills by instilling trust among its members and others who participated in the three-day event.

Leadership and team-building stems from one main element; trust. It was with this in mind that the University's peer counseling group oragnised a campaign dubbed "Blast It", an event aimed to build friendships, leadership and team-building skills by instilling trust among its members and others who participated in the three-day event.After a short opening ceremony by its guest of honour, Ms. Ooi Pei Boon, Director of the Student Affairs Office, a simple sketch was put on by the peer counseling group. The sketch illustrated how one can "Pay It Forward", a concept that has been in practice as far back as during the Benjamin Franklin era in the late 1700s. The expression "Pay It Forward" is used to describe the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead. The sketch showed how one good turn can be multiplied just by having it returned to someone else. Students later learned more about the "Pay It Forward" concept by watching the movie with the same title released in 2000 starring popular Hollywood actors, Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment.

The peer counselors encouraged the element of trust by walking around the campus with banners proclaiming, "Write on Me, Say Hi to Me and Walk with Me." Students were encouraged to either walk with the peer counselors, say hi to them or to sign their names on the banners as a symbol of solidarity and trust. The simple campaign also attracted students to participate in the many activities lined up during the "Blast It" event.The activities during the event emphasized on experiential learning with games such as the Leap of Faith, where students had to team up to ensure that another student who fell into their arms was unharmed. Students not only learned a lot about trusting one another, but also learned valuable team-building skills. Other team building activities were also played during the event. Another favourite was the Helium Stick where everyone had to work together to lower a long stick to the ground using only their index fingers.

Students certainly learned a lot from the experience. Ms. May Toh Yen Mei, a counselor attached to UCSI University's Student Development and Counselling Unit says the team building skills that the students learned is an important graduate attribute that the University strives to impart. "By interacting and collaborating with others, students have a greater appreciation for their peers and become more committed to a group task.

One of the peer counseling members in the "Pay it Forward" sketch