By Subhani A/P Shanmuga Rajah

On 5 October 2018, an orientation hangout for the September intake was held to welcome the newest batch of students into HMC. The event was held on a Friday at 3pm in one of the lecture halls on Level 3 of KPD A. The purpose of this event was to allow the students to mingle around and get to know each other better, and it also created an opportunity for students from different classes to make new friends. The orientation hangout also served as a platform for the students to have fun, relax, and enjoy themselves, especially after completing a long and arduous week of classes and lectures.  At exactly 3pm, the students began filling into the designated lecture hall, where the registration took place. While waiting for the rest of the students to enter, a DJ began playing some popular and catchy tunes to entertain the students. The committee members took this opportunity to get better acquainted with the students and started having conversations with them. At first the students were reproachful and slow to respond; however, soon they became quite cheerful and chatty, not only towards the committee members but also towards each other. Eventually, some students even began making song requests to the DJ as they wanted to sing and dance along to their favourite songs that were being blasted over the speakers.

Once all the students were registered, the games began. The first game to be played was an icebreaker called “Speed Dating”. In this game, each person had to make sure they had an appointment with another person for every hour from 12pm to 11pm, resulting in each person with a total of 12 appointments. Then, when the MC shouted out a specific time, each student would meet their “appointment” for that particular time. This was a great way for students to better acquaint themselves with others and to get to know more about each other. The next game that was played was “Act It Out”. The committee members separated students into groups of five and told them to stand in a straight line facing the back of the hall. The last person in each line was given a word and was told to act it out to the person in front of them. This continued until the word reached the person at the beginning of the line. This game was amusing to watch because by the time the word had reached the first person, it had completely changed from what was originally given. The students had great fun and were laughing heartily as they enjoyed the game tremendously. The last game of the day was called “Match Making”. This game was by far the most exciting as it required the students to think and act fast. The objective of this game was to fulfil the requirements that were shouted out by the MC. When the MC shouted out “I want groups of 2 Science students and 4 Arts students”, everybody rushed around to find the right people to form the desired group. Most of the time, there would always be one or two groups which would be incomplete as there weren’t enough people to fulfil the requirements to form the group. This game was played for several rounds with different requirements each time, so the students were always kept on their feet as they ran around trying to form their groups as quickly as possible. After the game ended, the students were ushered into the auditorium where the Dean of the Faculty of University Foundation Studies, Mr Dhanesh gave a short speech to motivate and encourage the students in their future endeavours as well as to welcome them to HMC and wish them well for their foundation studies.

After the speech, the students trouped back to level 3 to have some pizza. The students sat around talking and laughing with each other while enjoying their food, enveloped by the warm and friendly atmosphere. Around 6.30pm, the students, having finished their food, reluctantly said their goodbyes and left. Some students were seen exchanging phone numbers while others took pictures together to commemorate this joyous and unforgettable moment. Overall, the orientation hangout was a massive success. Although there were only a small number of students for the September intake, it was a great bonding session and a warm welcome for the students.