Alumni Takeover: From KTJ to Imperial College

Shared via LinkedIn.

It's been exactly a month since I moved to London to study at Imperial College London. Last week, I had the chance to represent Imperial at Academic Competition Federation Fall Quiz Bowl which was held at the University of Southampton. As a part of the Imperial C team, we won 6 out 10 matches against the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham, Warwick as well as LSE, and performed the best among the 3 Imperial teams. With this being my first professional quiz tournament, I have learnt tremendous amounts of both skill and knowledge - especially how confident one should be with the answer when buzzing! 9 hours of continuous quizzing was definitely tough with the questions ranging from French politics and electrophilic substitution of the aromatic ring to the Swedish town of Ytterby and Heinen Delfts Blauw pottery.

After the very first two weeks of lectures, I went on my second-ever fieldtrip to Charnwood, where I learnt crucial skills of identifying, observing, sketching and using surveying equipment. At the first locality, we examined diorite outcrops, a plutonic coarse-grained igneous rock made of plagioclase feldspar and hornblende, as well as a fault formation with slickenside showing its direction. Next, we visited the Old John Tower at Bradgate park, where its outcrops were folded. Upon closer examination of the bedding and its clasts, sharp grains were present. The sequence of the sediment grains could be explained by the presence of ocean that separated ash and volcanic tuff by its density which lead to the deduction that the locality was once a part of a volcanic island arc that formed the ancient microcontinent of Avalonia.

On the pastoral side, I was extremely fortunate to be elected as the Wellbeing Representative for Year 1 students at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College. I'll be working closely with other ESE reps to improve student provisions and academic/welfare support for students across Geology, Geophysics and EPS courses within ESE. During the campaign period, I asked my stratigraphy lecturer whether I could address the class during the break, I soon realised the Kevin 3 years ago studying GCSEs would not have dared to volunteer to give a speech. Knowing my shortcomings, I actively sought public speaking opportunities for 2 years throughout my A level studies at Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar (KTJ) - within the prefect team, I led multiple school assemblies and also took part in South East Asian Forensics. More lately, I performed my Forensics Original Oratory piece to my fellow graduates, their parents, teachers as well as YAM Tunku Imran at the graduation ceremony. Looking back at the six years I spent at KTJ, I now recognise how much I grew up as a person - KTJ equipped me with not only the academic knowledge but also the transferrable skills for the ever-changing turbulent real world. I am very much looking forward to fascinating Earth-stories I'll learn :)