Brilliant staff and student clinch Dr and Mrs James Tak Wu Awards for Outstanding Service
Nicholas Ooi (pictured, left), Programme Manager of the Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative, and Pun Hok-lam (pictured, right), a Year 3 History student, have been given Dr and Mrs James Tak Wu Awards for Outstanding Service 2021-22 in the Administrative and General Grade Staff and Student categories respectively.
Nicholas, originally from Malaysia, has worked for Lingnan for 12 years, loyally and faithfully serving the community and encouraging social entrepreneurship at and beyond his work. Among his many achievements are being selected as a member of the Tuen Mun District North-East Committee, and as Tuen Mun District representative of the Community Liaison Groups at the Airport Authority Hong Kong, as well as being the first Stanford d.School’s Faculty Innovation Fellow in Asia. At Lingnan, Nicholas joins the Host Family Scheme and positively impacts non-local students to be more involved in community services. He was also a hall tutor for 10 years who actively organised and participated in many student hostel activities.
“I believe that service to the community and university is not an activity or event, it is an attitude,” Nicholas said. “I could not make this much of an impact alone, but with a larger team, we could achieve even more. This award will encourage me to train more future leaders, and exert a positive impact on the community and society.”
An outstanding Chinese debater, finalist in the 22nd Qi Yue Recitation Arts Festival and National College Students Recitation Conference, and winner of the Outstanding Awards (Third Prize) at the 6th National College Student Art Exhibition and Performance Awards, Hok-lam was the president of both the Chinese Debate Team and the Music Society and won a number of prizes at the Inter-Collegiate Debating Competition.
“I would like to thank Prof Ip Kim-ho and Prof Grace Chou Ai-ling, who helped me to complete my internship in Cantonese Opera, and my teammates and friends in the Chinese debating team and music society, I could not organise myself and participate in all these events without their support,” he says. “This award has made me even more determined to continue to serve Lingnan and devote more of my time to that. When I go to Leeds for an exchange next year, I hope to carry this spirit with me.”
The Dr and Mrs James Tak Wu Awards for Outstanding Service were set up In 1998 with a generous donation from Dr and Mrs Wu, and the awardees are selected annually from the academic staff, administrative and academic support staff, and students.