“TAKE SERVICE LEARNING SERIOUSLY!”, said Yek Ren Yew, when asked what he would advise MCKL students.
Like most MCKL freshies, he tut-tutted at the thought of having to fulfil 20 hours of community work to pass the Service Learning subject. Furthermore, as a Special Scholarship recipient at MCKL, he had to pass this subject! Although he started doing something for the sake of doing it, Ren Yew found that he enjoyed doing community work so much that he racked up 40 hours of work, without realizing it.
Little did he know, these 40 hours would help him stand out in his application (one and only) for a degree scholarship. Ren Yew applied for a scholarship from the YTL (Yeoh Tiong Lay) Foundation in hopes that it would help ease his family’s financial burdens. He made it through every stage of interviews, ousting over 100 candidates and finally became a proud recipient of a YTL scholarship.
This scholarship covers the tuition fees of about RM130,000 with monthly allowances to the recipient. Aside from the scholarship, Ren Yew is also guaranteed a job with YTL Corporation after he graduates.
The self-proclaimed quiet student is grateful that the Service Learning subject has changed him for the better and credited the subject for making him stand out in his application.
Ren Yew achieved ATAR 90.75 in his AUSMAT and is the first of his four siblings to do a degree. He is pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia.