Recipients of PSMZA Director's Award sacrifice sleep in pursuit of excellence

11 Sep 2023 05:43pm

Two students who received the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Polytechnic’s (PSMZA) Director’s Award at the 20th convocation ceremony today attributed their success to persistence and the willingness to sacrifice their sleep. - BERNAMA

DUNGUN - Two students who received the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Polytechnic’s (PSMZA) Director’s Award at the 20th convocation ceremony today attributed their success to persistence and the willingness to sacrifice their sleep.

Both students received a trophy, an i-Pad, RM500 cash and a certificate as part of their achievement.

Diploma in Information Technology (Digital Technology) graduate, Nursyuhadah Ahmad, 22, shared that she started studying at at PSMZA in December 2019 after her application to Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) was unsuccessful.

Like many students during the Covid-19 pandemic, she had to resort to online learning, even before she could sit for the first semester exams, a situation that placed more pressure on her as she had a preference for physical classroom learning and working in groups.

"I had to continue my studies during the second and fourth semesters completely online. This was difficult for an information technology student like me but I stayed determined throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, sleeping only two to three hours a day.

I spent the rest of my time doing exercises and additional lessons on various virtual platforms," she said when met at the convocation ceremony today, which was officiated by Polytechnic and Community College Education Department senior director (Competence) Zainab Othman.

Fellow award recipient, Nadiah Hanisah Mohd Sha'ari, 22, an Information Technology (Digital Technology) graduate, went through a similar regime, skipping sleep at night to study, especially during the examinations.

She felt that her hard work really paid off as she managed to get the polytechnic's highest education award.