KOO On-ying Joanna || BSc (Hons) Enterprise Information Systems || Hong Kong conomic and Trade Office(Canada), Vancouver
Valuable meetings in Vancouver 
Also interned in the HKETO in Canada, Joanna was based in the liaison office in Vanconver. On top of the tasks of the daily routine and clerical support, she was an assistant event co-ordinator. To gain and learn the most from the promotional activities, she conducted research into the background of the organisers, the event objectives and VIPs being invited. “I also paid visits to academies, Government offices, community organisations and media groups, which all formed valuable experience for me,” she says.
Joanna benefited from evaluation and feedback given in review sessions with her supervisor. “We discussed my strengths and weaknesses. I took the comments on board to improve my performance and event organising skills,” she says.
What’s more, Joanna was happy that she had the chance to meet two dignitaries which gave extra prestige to her internship. In early July, the Vancouver office arranged a luncheon when Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Lam Sui-lung Stephen, paid a visit to Canada. “My colleagues and I worked on the pre-set action plan for the event day. We set up the venue, designed the rundown and received guests and VIPs at the front door.
She continues, “I never  expected that I would meet a senior official faraway from Hong Kong. I learnt a lot from Mr Lam’s speech on the economic ties between Hong Kong and Canada. It was really inspiring and impressive.”
Another memorable experience came when she met PolyU President Professor Timothy Tong at a dinner organised by the PolyU overseas alumni association to welcome the new President. “I enjoyed listening to stories of my senior fellows and the interaction with Prof. Tong,” she says. “I was far from home, yet I still had ties with PolyU.” Joanna also met her secondary school teacher again in Canada when visiting the Chinese Culture Center in Vancouver. “He is now a manager there and I volunteered to help out with some activities there. This experience was also very rewarding,” says Joanna.
The internship experience has given Joanna a good chance to reflect on her competence and career interest. “I now pay more attention to the world’s current issues because I know employers look for all-rounded people,” she says. She also appreciates the care she received from the PolyU alumni. “They were the guiding angels in my whole journey. One of the board members helped me find a home stay and took care of my daily life; others treated me to meals and took me sightseeing. I want to take every opportunity I can to say thank you to them!”
VN:F [1.7.5_995] Rating: 4.5/5 (10 votes cast)
CHEUNG Plaisir || BSc (Hons) Enterprise Engineering with Management || Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office(Canada), Toronto
 When Plaisir Cheung, Koo On-ying Joanna and Yau Chi-wai Billy interned in the offices of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in Toronto, Vancouver and Chengdu respectively last July, they found their placements unexpectedly challenging and memorable and were proud to make contributions to the Government and Hong Kong.
Promoting Hong Kong
In the Toronto office of the HKETO, Plaisir worked on the promotion campaigns of the East-Asian Games and other events and provided general administrative support in the office. She also utilised skills learnt from the classroom in the revamp of the HKETO database management system, a Government department aiming to foster economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and Canada, as well as to promote Hong Kong’s interests across Canada.
In the Toronto Dragon Boat Festival, an event to promote Hong Kong culture, Plaisir assisted in setting up booths and distributing souvenirs. She also promoted the East-Asian Games to be hosted by Hong Kong in December 2009 to visitors of the festival. “I hope people were impressed by our marketing and will visit Hong Kong later this year. I gained a lot and got to know my home city better,” she says.
Plaisir was very grateful to her supervisors who organised a series of workshops and talks on topics such as presentation skills, press release writing skills and job interview techniques as well as on current issues such as Government administration services, the HK-Canada trade connection and Hong Kong people immigrating to Canada. “Such training and exposure allowed us to acquire knowledge and information not available through curriculum studies. All these opportunities expanded my knowledge about international affairs and enhanced my global outlook and cultural awareness,” she says.
The first year student is thankful for the internship opportunity. “I believe the experience puts me in an advantageous position when I pursue my future career. The on-the-job training helped me explore my genuine interest and think about how I should plan for my career goal,” says Plaisir, who wishes to be able to contribute back to the Government and to work for the benefit of the next generation.
VN:F [1.7.5_995] Rating: 4.0/5 (14 votes cast)
SO Wai-yan Wynnie || BSc (Hons) Tourism Management || Walt Disney World Resort, USA
 As its founder Walter E. Disney saying goes: Disneyland is a place where “youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future”. The motto not only applies to the visitors to Disney, but also to So Wai-yan Wynnie, a second-year Tourism Management student, who interned at the U.S entertainment giant this summer.
Working at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, the largest theme park in the world, Wynnie was first introduced to “Disney Service”. She says, “Disney has a very strong enterprise culture. Every cast member and all front-desk staff are dedicated to create a magical moment for people to escape from reality. All temporary staff including us also received proper training sessions in performing ‘Disney Service’, which is one step ahead of good service.”
In addition, there are regular business seminars about company background, basic food and beverage management, cash handling, culinary training and on-job training. “This training complements my studies such as service management and marketing,” she says.
During the three-month placement, Wynnie worked under the Full Service Food and Beverage Section and was rotated to different positions in a restaurant from cooking, to table making, to guest serving. “We were trained to help guests in every aspect, treating every guest as a VIP and providing personalised service,” she says.
Immersed in the Western Culture
Wynnie was grateful to experience the deep-rooted American culture and patriotism. She says, “Practical understanding of other countries’ culture is very important for tourism study and it really widened my horizons.”
Despite it taking her some time to get used to the kissing and hugging greeting culture of Americans, she was impressed by how the American celebrated the Fourth of July. “I watched the Independence Day Fireworks show and it was fantastic! Americans are very patriotic. They all dressed and made-up in the colors of the national flag. I was really impressed,” she says.
Wynnie thinks the internship took place at the right time when she needed to review her career pursuit and study before graduation. “The frequent interaction with tourists in the park made me realise the advantage of learning one more foreign language. Since a large number of people in the U.S., such as Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, can only speak Spanish, I think it will be beneficial to my future career to know one more language,” she says.
Wynnie has now gained confidence to meet challenges. “The experience has strengthened my confidence about working in the dynamic tourism industry. I will equip myself to meet the up-coming challenges and look for opportune moments,” she concluded.
VN:F [1.7.5_995] Rating: 4.2/5 (6 votes cast)
HUNG Yip-shing || BA (Hons) Language Studies for the Professions || Sing Tao Daily New York, USA
 Hung Yip-shing always has an interest in the media industry. Rewarded a chance to be an intern at the newspaper, Sing Tao Daily New York, Yip-shing got a taste of the challenging yet bittersweet life of a reporter and a better picture of the working environment of a newsroom.
As a reporter, Yip-shing conducted interviews and wrote stories based on the facts and information he collected. It was not easy for the newcomer of New York. “I usually got one or two assignments every day. I was assigned to most of the events right before they started. Since I was not a New Yorker, I usually reserved an hour as buffer to find the right route to my destination. It was kind of an adventure to me every time,” says Yip-shing, majoring in Language and Communication.
It also took Yip-shing some time to catch the American’s accent and pace of talking. “It was a hurdle, especially when I was in press briefings and conferences. Americans speak so fast that I could barely follow. I was not used to their accent either,” he says. “The challenge was that I could not miss any details and I didn’t want to waste other people’s time by raising the same questions.”
Conscious of professional journalism 
Working in the newspaper also taught him the media ethics and professionalism. Yip-shing was triggered to think seriously about the morale and responsibility of a reporter and the media after reporting a Chinese woman severely injured in a car accident. When he tried to shoot some photos of the scene and the injured woman, he was immediately stopped by a cop who considered his action as inhuman and cruel. “My mind went blank at that moment and I didn’t know how to respond and what to do. I then waited for my senior partner for assistance and advice,” says Yip-shing.
Under the seven-week training and on-the-job practice provided by Sing Tao, Yip-shing gradually picked up the skills to be a good reporter. He reckons writing an interesting lead to introduce a story is one of the most useful skills he learnt. “An attractive lead is important because it gives readers the first impression of the story. Knowing what to be included and how to write a good lead benefited me a lot,” Yip-shing says.
He also learnt to find a good angle for the story and report a balanced news. His critical and analytical thinking has also strengthened through the training in the media. “This internship experience has definitely sharpened my edge and enhanced my competitiveness when looking for a job upon my graduation,” he says.
Yip-shing was so grateful to have this fulfilling training in New York and thinks students should be proactive in looking for internship opportunities. “I am now taking a more proactive attitude to learn and improve myself. This will be the key to success. Just aim for making a little improvement every single day and you will see the difference it makes in the long run,” he says.
VN:F [1.7.5_995] Rating: 4.6/5 (11 votes cast)
LIU Xiao Lewis || BSc (Hons) Internet & Multimedia Technologies || Health Monitor Network, USA
 The seven-week internship in New York sounded daunting to Liu Xiao Lewis first of all. However, once the internship kicked off, all his worries were gone and he took a great leap through taking on a range of challenges.
The Electronic & Information Engineering undergraduate who interned at Health Monitor Network, a magazine publisher in U.S specialising in patient education, worked on a project exploring the market for online health information. Despite it being totally strange topic to Lewis, he made progress day by day and successfully developed two software programmes for the company.
One of the softwares, Chemo Calendar, serves to remind patients to take medicines and provides a white blood cell count to track health status. “Since it is designed for patients, it is especially important to maintain a stable and applicable database. On top of my knowledge of C++ programming language, I also browsed many websites to familiarise myself with database maintenance,” says Lewis.
His initiative and self-study paid off. The outcome was satisfying and the service was put in the Apple Online Store for sale.
Valuable asset for the future
After the completion of the software, Lewis then put his efforts into transferring the Chemo Calendar software to fit the iPhone platform. “Programming for iPhone was something totally new to me and my boss bought me three books to start with. It was not an easy task to accomplish. But the more I read, the more I gained. Eventually, I completed the task in three weeks. The process was a demonstration of learning from mistakes,” he says. Now, Lewis has mastered the skills to write programmes for iPhones, which will definitely be a great asset to him in the future.
Lewis would like to express gratitude to his supervisor, Alex Dong , who guided him through the U.S culture and helped him explore his strengths as well as weaknesses. “Alex always shared with me his interesting stories such as the businesses he had dabbled in, the setbacks he had faced,” he says. “His words motivated me to follow my dream. His positive feedback on my performance was a recognition of my ability and boosted my confidence.”
The placement in New York has pushed Lewis to make a big step forward in his life. “It was a highly rewarding experience for me. Both my practical knowledge and personal development have significantly improved,” he says. “Undertaking an overseas internship is a decision one would never regret.”
VN:F [1.7.5_995] Rating: 4.2/5 (5 votes cast)
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