Gerald Prawira

“During my Foundation year, I mainly played football, joining our internal leagues, the Curtin Cup and also represented Curtin Malaysia in matches. I was already involved in our Indonesian students’ society on campus called Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia or PPI, but didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to mix with students from different backgrounds.

“So, through sports, I befriended a lot of international and local students. I’m Indonesian but I grew up in Qatar because my parents work there. That’s why I’m very used to the international environment. I learned a lot about different cultures and even observing how Malaysians from Sarawak, Sabah and West Malaysia speak differently was really intriguing to me.

“Besides football, I was the president of the Curtin Bowling Club for 2018-2019. We hosted a lot of events. One of our biggest events was the Curtin Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Cup, an open bowling competition gathering 47 teams from Miri and Brunei. We also hosted the 2-day Bowling for Education event for over 400 high school students from all over Miri and donated half of the registration fees to their schools.

“I learned a lot about being a good leader through all these activities. It was really interesting because I had to work with all sorts of people, and took the opportunity to improve myself as much as I could. I didn’t believe I was capable of being a good leader at first, but I soon saw the results of my efforts. I was able to communicate better, raised a large amount of funds for the schools, and the club was voted the best sport club of the year.

“I believe university life should be good balance between academic and extracurricular activities. Both can help you later in your career.” –Gerald Prawira, Chemical Engineering student