ELS Subang Jaya, on Monday, March 2 2015, held the Access Microscholarship Programme’s opening ceremony. The event, scheduled at 3.30pm, was officiated by Mr. Frank Whitaker, Counselor for Public Affairs and Mr. Douglas Black English Language Program Advisor from the Embassy of the United States. The event was also attended by Centre Director, Academic Director, Senior Instructors, Access Instructors, Instructors and students. The event had in attendance of around 50 people which comprised 38 students, 5 dignitaries and 7 ELS staff members.
The Master(s) of Ceremony, Mohammad Danial Hariz and Affin kicked off at 3.40pm, with an opening traditional Malay dance by 4 Access students. This was followed by a welcoming speech by Ms Anita Kumari. In her speech, Ms Anita briefly highlighted how delighted ELS Subang Jaya was to be given the honor and opportunity to host the Access students and sincerely hoped that they were enjoying their time under the programme with ELS. Ms Anita ended her speech by saying that ELS was looking forward to hosting more students under the programme in future.
Ms Anita’s speech was followed closely by Mr Frank Whitaker who chose to give an ‘informal’ speech and stated that the reason the Access programme was initiated was to bridge cultural gaps and allow Malaysian school students the opportunity to learn and understand US culture and history as well as subsequently, an opportunity to further their education in the US. Mr Whitaker ended by saying how delighted he was at seeing the many enthusiastic faces of the students and echoed Ms Anita’s speech by also stating his hope for more programmes to come.
Following the two speeches, the event further saw three students (Hakim, Ariff and Raja) from the various levels of the Access Microscholarship Programme ( Elementary, Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate) come forward to give their short input and gratitude to the US Embassy for being given the opportunity to be part of the programme. The speeches were followed by a skit presented by the Intermediate students and two hip-hop dances by Elementary and Pre-Intermediate. The event closed with the presentation of certificates to students and guests proceeded for refreshments.
