Drury student gains skills she hopes to use in home country
At Drury University this summer, in between taking classes and working a campus job, Jasmine Chuah came up with a plan.
She wanted to organize a conference on leadership and service learning that would expose fellow students to a diverse crop of pioneering speakers, all of whom she'd become acquainted with during her travels. They included a noted Adelphi University professor and author who was also the first Asian-American psychologist licensed in Massachusetts.
Jeff VanDenBerg, chair of the political science department at Drury, said the college sophomore's proposal was meticulous, covering every detail from who would be speaking and what topics they would cover to how she would cover their travel expenses.
"It was very easy to say 'Yes, let's go' because she so carefully, thoughtfully put a plan together," VanDenBerg said. "She planned the entire conference, put together the logistics, really down to the granular level."
The university's first Next Generation Leadership Conference titled "Inspire, Equip, Empower" was Oct. 19-22 on campus and, according to university officials, nearly every session was well attended.
For those four days, Chuah — who is just 19 and has been in the U.S. for less than two years — handled tasks such as recruiting student volunteers to accompany speakers to and from events and ensuring sessions started and ended on time.
"The four days were very overwhelming and I was running from one building to another," said Chuah, who is majoring in international politics and communication studies. "Everything was a first for me. It was like I was just plunged into the pool."
But, organizing the event gave Chuah two things she seeks — a new challenge and the ability to help others.
Chuah grew up in Kuala Lumpur and is a Christian of Chinese decent, which makes her a minority in Malaysia. She decided early on that she wanted to be a force for change.
With support from her parents, she was educated through an American virtual school commonly used by military families overseas. She said her mother is a "homemaker" and her father worked in advertising and public relations before becoming a freelancer.
"The education system back home wasn't good enough, and I wanted to study abroad," she said.
A mission trip to Cambodia during her teens opened her eyes. When she returned to Kuala Lumpur, a capital city of 1.2 million, she started volunteering to teach English to refugees.
Chuah was also researching American colleges and universities. Though she'd never visited the U.S. or heard of Springfield, she quickly settled on Drury because of the promise of small classes and the ability to connect, on a personal level, with professors.
"This has been a very interesting journey for me," she said.
She felt comfortable on campus but initially struggled to adjust to a smaller city, in a new culture, so far from family. But, she said the friendliness of the people won her over and she started feeling more comfortable.
"I'm getting the full school experience here," she said. "I try to get to know my professors as much as possible and I want to make sure they know me as well. I came from so far and I'm only here for four years so I need to network as much as possible."
VanDenBerg said if Chuah had any trouble adjusting to life in the U.S., he couldn't tell. The honors student, enrolled in 19 credit hours this semester, was named the Outstanding New Student in Political Science last year.
"What makes her stand out is a combination of ambition — she sets for herself very admirably lofty goals — and her willingness to put the work in," he said.
Chuah's goals include completing her education at Drury, going to graduate school and then returning to Malaysia, where she wants to serve the people in a governmental role.
She acknowledges there are challenges ahead, particularly because she is not a Muslim or ethnically Malays, which are dominant. "It puts me at a disadvantage," she said.
Still, she is undeterred.
"I definitely want to be an advocate, a representative of my country," said Chuah. But, what exactly will that job look like? She is not yet sure.
"I don't want people to write the job description for me," she said. "I want to be able to write my own job description and to do that I have to get educated."
Organizing the conference was one learning experience. It didn't matter to her that a sophomore had never pulled off an event like that. She believed she could.
Chuah had outlined the entire conference and secured commitments from the three featured speakers before approaching the university administration for permission to move forward.
She received the green light with just one caveat, that she create an advisory panel to serve as a sounding board as she finalized details.
The speakers waived their typical fee and she secured the $2,800 needed for their food, hotel and travel expenses by obtaining sponsorships and approaching the student government association for assistance.
"I thought it would be such a great opportunity to bring the speakers to the Drury campus," she said. "My main pitch was that Drury has never had a conference like this."
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