"Success
is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed" Emily Dickinson. Since the
beginning of my life, I have been studying. In the early years of my childhood,
I didn't quite understand what my role was all about. I always wondered why it
is that I have to go to school every day because my family said so. When I was
growing up I found the answer by myself.
When
I stepped foot into MAHSA University as a scared kid, unsure of herself. Truth
be told, I was not an A-star student in high school or during my foundation
course. At the age of 18, I had no idea what I wanted to do, the thought of
doing medicine seemed like the right choice, given that most of my family were
doctors. But when the day of reckoning came, when my grades were out and I had
to decide, my gut feeling said “Engineering! Just go for it!! I think we can
make this work, I told myself”.
To
be honest, I doubted myself and my choice, but what happened next is that I
fell in love with the discipline. This goes to show that if you have passion
for something, there is nothing you cannot achieve with hard work and
dedication.
MAHSA
University has been the platform to build not only on myself but my character
as well. It has given the numerous opportunity such as being a part of the
Mentor in the Buddy System Program (Basic Math) September 2016 Session. This
taught me as a mentor helping in developing the abilities like critical
thinking, decision making, and problem-solving skills. Apart from that, I was
elected as a Treasurer of the Student Representative Council from 2017-2018.
From this, I have learned the importance of financial planning, budgeting, asset
management, and fundraising which are beneficial for the future. It also taught
me to work as a team and delegate roles accordingly.
Besides
that, I was also a Dean’s List Student from Semester 1 (2016) till Semester 8
(2020). By being on the dean’s list has always motivated me every time and
helped me thrive in my studies. I have also received Silver Award for ESSE’18
and received two Gold Awards for ESTIC’20 for two projects.
All
of these could not be achieved without all the supportive and experienced
lecturers from the Engineering Faculty. I indeed fortune to be taught by all
these wonderful lecturers.
The true measure of success may not be manifest at first sight. The
gifts we have received from MAHSA and this community, however, have provided me
with my first step toward its eventual discovery. With this in mind, I will
challenge myself to define success and live up to my measures with passion and
commitment. Thank you.
Mari Sarenia Veerappan Karunakaran
Bachelor (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (2020)