Izah Azahari
Two Special Merit Award recipients shared their experience with Sunday Bulletin at the Micronet International College 2022 graduation ceremony at The Empire Brunei yesterday.
The first was Nurshafikah Nazihah binti Hasli, the 25-year-old who graduated from the Pearson BTEC International Level 3 Diploma in Information Technology with four distinctions, three merits and two passes with an overall double grade distinction merit award.
Nurshafikah said, “I did not expect to receive this award, but I feel that all my hard work has paid off. I often had to motivate myself, especially during the pandemic, where we had to study from home, as it was difficult to catch up.”
“My mother is my biggest inspiration,” she said, adding that she moved past the pandemic-dealt struggles by frequently taking notes, recording lectures and referring to recordings when completing assignments.
“Every time you face difficulties and lose motivation, you still need to keep going. Noting down things really helps with learning,” Nurshafikah added.
Next up was Fitriana Nur Amal Khairiyah binti Dadang Supriatna, a 25-year-old who graduated from Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing (Network Engineering) with 15 distinctions and an overall distinction award.
The graduate representative said, “I had actually expected my course mate to receive the award. Even though we aren’t close, we have professionally worked together on assignments. I do hope my parents are proud of me too.”
Fitriana Nur Amal Khairiyah described her time at Micronet as being “very enjoyable as everyone was always very supportive, and lecturers were always there whenever we needed them”.
She shared the adaption struggles she faced when the Sultanate was struck by COVID-19, with movement restrictions enforced and some segments of the populace required to work or study from home.
“I found it difficult to manoeuvre at first, especially when faced with connectivity issues. But the lecturers communicated with us non-stop regarding assignments and lectures, and whenever I had Internet issues, I went to the library to re-check everything. The lecturers were definitely supportive,” she said.
Fitriana hopes to continue her studies in a course closely related to network engineering.
“The choices here are minimal, but I’ll never give up and I’ll continue searching for better,” she said, before wishing peers who are still undergoing their courses to “not give up”.
