Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, our May’2020 intake students could not undergo any face-to-face interaction with their friends, lecturers, and staff. For this intake, Almacrest has conducted our orientation week online! Even though we face this situation now, it will not stop us from creating strong bonds with our students. Usually, we will always conduct programmes by the Student Affairs (SA) Department with the Student Representative Council (SRC) to welcome our new students for every orientation week.

Programmes that run during this online orientation week consist of a briefing from each of the department namely the Student Affairs (SA), Student Life Centre, Finance, Academic, Academic Affairs (AA), Security and Safety, Resource Centre, Computer Lab, Disciplinary unit, PTPTN, and also from the Program Coordinator by each of the Diploma courses and Certificate course as well.

Other than that, we have ice-breaking games, Almacrest Facebook Live Tour, and online games. We use Whatsapp group (video call, voice recording, chat), Google Meet/Zoom application. Facebook Live is used for our tour around Almacrest. We understand that orientation week should be fun and exciting, but no interactions were allowed during that time due to the current situation.

During this online orientation week, it turns out that everyone could interact very well, and surprisingly, they are very responsive with all the activities. The purpose of the online orientation is to welcome new students and make them feel at home with Almacrest, making their new college student experience fun and enjoyable. Being a college student is way too different compared to secondary school. It will be a whole new environment that will lead them to grow in maturity and focus on their future career path.

But, around June, students can come back to college for face-to-face interaction, but by following all the mandated Standard of Procedure (SOP) set by the government. We often remind our students to follow all the rules and regulations and make sure that wherever they go, they need to be aware of the virus that is actively spreading by keeping their hygiene.

They were able to go to Sabah Museum to learn about the history of the Kadazan Dusun Murut various cultures and traditions, visiting the unique traditional houses made by each of the ethnic groups in Sabah, and many more. During this visit, they learned how to work in a team because soon they will be doing group assignments, so we encourage them to understand the meaning of teamwork. We want to express our gratitude to the Sabah Museum for giving our students this opportunity and remind our students to follow all the SOPs during this visit. We are glad that our students got to know each other, and most importantly, their new journey of success has just begun.