As in previous years, the Department of English (EN) presented the Professional and Creative Communication Projects (PCCP) exhibition at the end of this academic year. It showcased the achievements of their final-year students as they went through a year-long attachment in public or private sector organisations. However, this time the exhibition had to go online, as holding it on campus was not feasible due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The theme of the exhibition was “Engaging with English for Creative and Professional Communication”. It detailed how the 20 student groups, each symbolised by a unique gemstone, worked with the host organisations to plan and execute various communication initiatives, such as generating and managing social media campaigns, planning public events, fundraising, and conducting market research.
Professor Diane PECORARI, Professor and Head of EN, shared her interpretation of the exhibition theme - “engagement”, in her welcome speech. “Engagement involves obligations and undertakings, involvement and commitment. It presupposes persistence and determination.” Given the tough challenges that this year’s students encountered, she thinks the engagement the students shown proves that they are well equipped for whatever lies in their futures.
Irene FUNG, a member of the Departmental Advisory Committee of EN and Vice President of Weber Shandwick (a global public relations firm), sent words of encouragement to the final-year students through a video message. Drawing on what she had learnt from her final year project more than ten years ago - to embrace teamwork, stay positive and maintain a can-do attitude, she advised students to be humble and thankful for the team with which they work. It is also essential to treasure every opportunity they get and be grateful for what they have learnt and granted at work, and treat tedious tasks assigned to them as a chance for them to grow and learn.
According to the curating team, using gemstones to represent the groups symbolise that each group had different tasks and goals to achieve, and each group member had a specific role in their project based on their competencies and knowledge. The stages the students had experienced during the four years of study at the Department and in completing the final-year project resemble the processes of polishing and engraving the mineral crystals. The success of the exhibition proved their efforts, and the final outputs are as precious as finely crafted gemstones.
Photo1: Final-year students of Bachelor of Arts in English Studies have worked on their projects throughout the academic year. They had to complete the project from planning through delivery.
Photo2: This year, students faced many challenges arising from external factors. They must be flexible enough to come up with other viable solutions quickly.
Photo3: Communication initiatives such as social media campaigns and public events are the major outputs of the final-year projects.
