Inherently, change is a phenomenon all humans embrace but with much inhibition. The fear of the unknown on the other side is always motivational enough not to pursue any ambition in life. For one to venture to pursue further studies in a foreign land away from one’s family and comfort zone may be highly commendable but still comes with its own plethora of emotional issues especially in the first few months. The stress involved in settling down alone can sometimes make the freshman wish he/she never embarked on this journey. However it is important to note, with the right support system, all the above seeming emotional combat can eventually be surmounted.

The OEC Counselling Center and the HeART (Psychology Association of Overseas Students) not ignorant of the struggles of new students organized its much anticipated Emotional Intelligence Workshop dubbed “Nice to Meet You” with the sole aim of creating the platform for freshmen to bond with each other, ease tension and get to know senior students. The much patronized program was held on the 29th October 2017 at the Overseas Students Restaurant. The program commenced at exactly 7:10pm.

The HeART Patroness and OEC Psychologist Ms. Yin, in her opening remarks encouraged all gathered freshmen to feel free and have a good time. She implored the freshmen gathered to take advantage of the opportunity to meet and make new friends. With the assistance of the HeART Core Members, freshmen were put into 6 groups with an average of 8 members in each group. Subsequently 2 additional groups were created to accommodate the increasing numbers that joined.

The well-structured program went through 4 major activities which were actually well planned to make it quite involving. The first 3 were group based with the last activity been the Awards presentation for winners of the Mandala Painting Winners. Members of the individual groups were made to introduce themselves to each other. Using an unusual way of introduction laced with fun and humor, each member of the respective groups, starting with the group leader introduced himself by telling his/her group members, his name, country of origin and the program being pursued in JSU. The next person after the leader will first have to repeat the information provided by the preceding person(s) (the leader in this case) before introducing himself until the last person who will repeat all the information provided by all the other preceding members and concluded by providing his data. It was indeed a beautiful sight to behold watching people from different countries with different accents struggling to mention names strange to them among other things. At the end of the first activity, members of Groups 2 and 6 were able to repeat all the names, country and program of their respective group members. The group members were awarded with notepads by the HeART team.

The second and third activities were held concurrently due to time constraints. Individual members of the groups were given blank sheets of paper and color pencils. Freshmen were then told to create according to their own imagination a three page painting depicting; life before China, life during China and life after China. This activity actually tested the creative ability of the members amidst the fun created by the difficulty in coming up with an idea of painting. While this was ongoing each group was also given a yellow blank cardboard. Each member was to write a short, nice and encouraging message for his/his adjacent member sitting on his right. The group member then receives reads the message and writes same for the other adjacent member sitting on his/her right. The sheet went round until every member of the group could write something pleasant about his colleague.

The concluding activity was the presentation of awards to winners of the Mandela Painting competition. A total of nine freshmen made up of 8 ladies and a gentleman were recognized for the work and awarded accordingly.

Below are the list of the winners:

Berfu Ucan -Overall/Most Complicated Pattern

Shamim Akhtar - Most Creative/Most Determined Participant

Irina Vlasenko - Most Creative

Seema Sureshbhai Bhuva - Most Complicated Pattern

Shuja Iqbal - Most Complicated Pattern/Most Determined Participant

Maria Clara Bernadette Dela Cruz - Most Determined Participant

Hafida Wahia - Most Determined Participant

Hemanth Yaddanapudi - Most Determined Participant

Selina Vimbai Musiyazwiriyo - Most Determined Participant

The Emotional Intelligence Workshop indeed lived up to its billing. The euphoria and excitement created was virtually tangible. The program started with participants of about 44 freshmen but ended with 74 freshmen, 6 HeART Core member and Ms. Yin, the patroness of the HeART.

Kudos to the HeART team for a great work done.

Credits:

Writer: Mansuur, Olive Media

Editor: Sj & Tso, Olive Daily (Olive Media)

Photography: Mansuur, Olive Media