{"id":3480,"date":"2020-02-01T12:45:16","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T12:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2020-02-01T12:45:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T12:45:16","slug":"homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/2020\/02\/01\/homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

~\nIt was homecoming, but my friends came home to my heart. ~<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago, I hosted our Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Built Environment\u2019s third Alumni Homecoming Ceremony and I couldn\u2019t be prouder of my friends who showed up dressed to the nines to receive their Dean’s List certificates. As I called on their names loud and clear and watched them strut to the stage to receive their awards, I thought to myself, \u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way together haven\u2019t we?\u201d<\/em> \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had my best friends with me ever since I started my academic journey here in UCSI University. Being studious and reserved all throughout high school, I had no idea what true friendship felt like until I met the dynamic duo Mohsen and Karam. It was through their trust, kindness and love that I was able to meet, open up and love each and every one of the best friends I have today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karam was the first person to receive his certificate of outstanding academic performance. I had purposely given my partner emcee the task of handing over the certificates to the Head of Civil Engineering Department just so I could call out, \u201cKaram Yahya Abu Osba!\u201d loud enough for the two-hundred-plus students to hear. And I did just the same for Mohsen and Noman when their turns came. I found sheer enjoyment in celebrating my friends\u2019 success and I considered it an honour to be the sole person announcing their names. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But somehow when I saw that my name was next on the list, I skipped over it. If you had asked me why, I probably wouldn\u2019t have given you an answer because I\u2019m not sure why I did that either. Even though hosting events had become second nature to me, I couldn\u2019t shake the feeling of wanting to leave as soon as time allowed me to. It felt as if I was only there to support my friends; I was unable to feel any excitement or a sense of accomplishment with myself for making it on the Dean’s List. Though the certificates were proof that all the time, energy and hard work I\u2019ve invested into my studies had paid off, I remember feeling like it was something that any student could do. I\u2019m not being ungrateful; I\u2019m blessed by Allah to receive this award. However, looking back, I think I was locked in a dark state of mind which made it seem like I didn\u2019t deserve to celebrate my success or the spotlight and attention I was receiving at that time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friends were just as puzzled as I was. My best friend Noman came up to me and asked, \u201cWhere\u2019s your name, Ko Ko?\u201d To ease his mind, I had told him I\u2019d call mine last which indeed was not true because I had no intention of doing that. But my friends were too clever to accept any of my foolishness. When I refused to call out my name towards the end of the ceremony, my friends had a fit and demanded that I did. If my friend Muhammad Tri Perdana Zamzami hadn\u2019t seized my microphone and said, \u201cLet\u2019s hear it for Ko Ko!\u201d, I wouldn\u2019t have witnessed the uproarious cheer and praise for my success. As we smiled and posed for the group picture for all the Dean’s List recipients from the Chemical Engineering Department, I recall feeling exceptionally stupid and sad: I have all these friends who loved me and yet I couldn\u2019t love myself enough for all the things I do. It\u2019s true that my mind is often cruel to me, but my friends weren\u2019t going to let any darkness of that sort ruin my moment. The amount of love and support I felt that day was so overwhelming that for the first time my best friend Amro was able to capture a picture of me grinning with teeth as I stood next to the greatest people in my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had informed my friends earlier to look their best because I planned on taking a group picture that day. Content creation is my main task under UCSI University\u2019s Trust Scholarship Program. I\u2019m a writer and I want to use my articles as a platform to raise awareness on a striking issue or give a voice to the people. I also had this terrific idea that I was going to use my articles to express and broadcast the love I harboured for my best friends to the immediate community I was living in. I felt like the students in UCSI University deserved to know what amazing people my friends are and I\u2019m hoping that I could one day make the world recognize it too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my best friend Abdullah Mahjoob arrived looking sharp in his jeans and black shades, we were all set to capture the moment. We gathered under a ray of sunlight on the terraced steps at the entrance of UCSI University\u2019s newest block (Block G) and requested my partner emcee, Mohammed Khair, to work magic on Amro\u2019s camera. I had hoped that all my best friends could be here to celebrate the day with me, but Mohammed Usama had chosen to stay home to recover from a tiring week and Asad Saeed had relocated to Brooklyn, New York. But nevertheless, we were joined by other brilliant souls whom I\u2019ve started to connect with over the past couple of semesters: Asseel Esam, Shuayb Omar, Khaled Al-Naqeb and Abdullah Alalimi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before posting this article on UCSI University\u2019s Student Ambassador\u2019s page, I spent an entire evening picking out the best pictures while munching on a sugar doughnut in Starbucks. I was surprised to see the picture of me grinning and I texted Amro to thank him for his candid in-between shots. As I scrolled through the photo reel, I couldn\u2019t help but laugh at some of our awkward pictures and poses. I recognized that perhaps there\u2019s no perfect picture to utterly capture a moment and I settled on a couple of pictures that felt true to me: one where I was smiling with my teeth and two where I looked so happy and comfortable with my best friends right by my side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing this article has helped me appreciate all the things we\u2019ve been through as friends since day one and all the challenges we\u2019ve faced and how we overcame them together. If you questioned me on what my fears are, I\u2019d say losing the people I love is on the top of my list. I am very involved in my friends\u2019 lives and I\u2019d go to lengths to make them feel appreciated and loved. Because if you\u2019re someone like me who constantly feels like he\u2019s running out of time, you\u2019d want to show how much the people you care about mean the world to you. You\u2019ve got time. Please use it. Show your family and friends how much you love them. Whatever you do in favour of that will always be worth it \u2013 no matter how simple or difficult the act may be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, Alumni Homecoming was indeed a successful event, one where every deserving student was recognized for their efforts. And I\u2019d like to wholeheartedly thank my best friends \u2013 Mohsen, Noman, Karam, Mahjoob, Amro, Mohammed Usama and Asad \u2013 for not only making my days, but my university life, extraordinary in every way. It was homecoming, but I\u2019m grateful that all of you came home to my heart. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…I recall feeling exceptionally stupid and sad: I have all these friends who loved me and yet I couldn\u2019t love myself enough for all the things I do. It\u2019s true that my mind is often cruel to me, but my friends weren\u2019t going to let any darkness of that sort ruin my moment. The amount of love and support I felt that day was so overwhelming that for the first time my best friend Amro was able to capture a picture of me grinning with teeth as I stood next to the greatest people in my life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":3481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[137,140,128,154],"tags":[83,171,223,332,116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3489,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions\/3489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambassadors.ucsiuniversity.edu.my\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}