Students’ Story

Leung Sik Yu, Mike
Psychology

Throughout the entire activity, what impressed me the most was at the beginning when I asked, “Who wants to be the team leader?” and ended up being appointed as the leader. Many times, we tend to assume that the team leader is always the leader, but this is not necessarily the case. The team leader is just a position, while leadership is a responsibility to drive the progress of the entire team and take care of the needs of the entire team. This responsibility does not change based on your position in the team. As long as you have this sense of responsibility and are willing to take on this responsibility, you are a leader in the team. During the activity, I witnessed every team member sacrificing their own personal time, giving their all, and pouring their heart and soul into the team. Unknowingly, each of us has transformed into a leader in the team.

Lai Wing Yee, Shirley
Medicine

Every team has its unique culture, and every time we meet new friends, understand each other, and work together, it is a unique experience. In addition to preparing for volunteer service meetings, the LoVE programme also has rich training and certification courses in the early stages. Through games and communication with team members, we gradually become familiar with each other’s preferences and interests, laying a good foundation for future cooperation. It is a very unforgettable experience. Leadership skills are not learned in theory but through practice. The LoVE programme provides us with a great opportunity to learn teamwork and develop leadership skills. Even though we may have had leadership experience in the past, we can still benefit from the program by gaining deeper self-awareness, understanding and improving our shortcomings, and challenging ourselves to take on new roles and accumulate valuable experience. The uniqueness of the LoVE programme lies in everyone taking on different roles and showcasing their strengths while challenging themselves to grow together. It is definitely worth participating in.

Yan Chun Hin, Keith
Food and Nutrition Science

I am excited to have participated in the LoVE programme, where I had the opportunity to work on activities with friends from different subjects and grades, and gained valuable experiences and memories. Before the activities, we participated in various team-building trainnig and meetings. Although it took a lot of time, our efforts made our team more united and committed, and this interaction was one of my most precious takeaways. In addition to making new friends, this service activity also brought many fresh experiences and inspirations. We went hiking with a group of elderly and listened to their life experiences and exchanged ideas with them. Not only did we hear interesting stories, but we also gained a deeper understanding of their needs. They were also willing to listen to me patiently and share their own experiences. Such pure communication is rare. This hiking service was truly meaningful, and it made me deeply appreciate that volunteer service is a form of interaction and connection between people. It’s just like the saying goes: “By serving others, we serve ourselves.” I look forward to the future LoVE service and hope that we can continue to bring more love and positive energy to society.

To Yan, Perissa
Medicine

Attending LoVE has allowed me to become a volunteer service organizer for the first time instead of just a participant. We had great freedom to unleash our creativity and brainstormed many exciting activities together, such as outdoor cooking and orienteering with the elderly. We refined the activity flow together, decided on the use of funds, and the whole experience was very fresh. In addition, LoVE brought together students from different majors at CUHK, giving me the opportunity to collaborate with classmates of different personalities. Apart from preparing for volunteer services, another highlight of LoVE is that I can obtain a mountain craft certificate with my teammates! We spent two days together in the forest, had lunch in the rain, and laughed a lot. It was an unforgettable experience. LoVE allowed me to see the strengths of my teammates during the process, and also gave me the opportunity to reflect on myself and understand my role in the team.What made me happiest was that the elderly enjoyed the whole activity, and our distance from them was shortened after a day of interaction. I was also fortunate to have YouTuber Sam join us for the activity, and my teammates and I grew together.

Wong Kwun Hei, Amy
Hospitality and Real Estate

I am grateful to have participated in the LoVE activity, planning activities together with peers of different ages, and getting to know myself and the people around me more during the process.It was quite funny during the certification training day when we played the roles of primary to secondary school students to cooperate with our teammates’ assessments. Everyone acted very naturally, without feeling awkward, and each “university student” enjoyed playing the mischievous, uncontrollable role to the fullest.The most unforgettable part was the trust dive. Standing at a high place made me realize that jumping really required courage. Hearing a group of people saying that they support my dreams made me feel fulfilled and loved.

I sincerely admire the younger primary school students who were smaller than me and had different levels of fear, hesitation, confidence, and willingness to challenge themselves. I also appreciate the rising stars who are “fearless like newborn calves.”Playing with young people made me feel young too. In the whole activity, the biggest gain was actually myself. Youth is youth because of dreams, companions, and a bit of youthful ignorance and madness.

Chan Ka Ming, Brian
Economics

On the actual service day, I was constantly thinking: will the kids like the activities we designed? So when I first met the class of children, I was a little nervous. Maybe I worried too much. The kids’ level of participation in the activities completely exceeded my expectations, and we all had a good time laughing and talking. In theory, there is a 7, 8, or 9-year age gap between us university students and these primary school students, and I thought there might be some generation gap issues, but in the context of the service, I couldn’t tell who was the real kid. I still remember when I was leading a group of six kids in a treasure hunt game to collect passwords for the program booklet. They were all very excited and quickly wrote down the password, then immediately asked me to take them to the next booth. Their eyes and smiles were indescribable, and I felt like my mental age suddenly went back to ten years ago: not worrying about life, just laughing and enjoying every day from the heart. Perhaps, this is the life I am pursuing. I hope to see their smiles every day.