Quick updates (using Deepest Sender):

1) The Star’s BRATs are recruiting again for 2008! I get a lot of comments from would-be BRATs asking about the next recruitment, so here’s your chance. Workshops will be held on:

• Taiping, March 9 - 12
• Penang, May 24 - 27
• Kuala Selangor, August 16 - 19

If you are aged between 16 to 19 and you’re interested in journalism, the BRATs would be a great foot in the door for your media aspirations. To participate, just write a 1000-word essay about yourself, your family, your inspirations, and your preferences, and send it to:

BRATs Star Youth
Menara Star
15, Jalan 16/11,
46350 Petaling Jaya, Selangor OR
email to brats@thestar.com.my .

Include a bio with contact details, family details, and academic background. Doesn’t have to be crazy complex though. Don’t forget to indicate which workshop you’re interested in. (And don’t worry if you don’t get your first choice - I didn’t get my first choice of workshop but got drafted into the next workshop in Lumut). The participation fee is RM120, but you only have to pay that if you are accepted.

Be quick - applications close February 2 2008!

2) If you’re more interested in speaking than writing, the English Speaking Union of Malaysia (ESUM)’s Public Speaking Competition is right up your alley. Two finalists of this competition will be sent to London in May to represent Malaysia in the International Public Speaking Competition.

Preliminaries and semi-finals will be held on the 8th of March. The preliminaries consist of a 5-minute delivered speech on “New Frontiers, New Horizons” as well as a 3-minute impromptu speech. Those in the semi-finals would then have to talk about how they could change the world.

Applications are open to those aged 16-20 and forms can be found in the Sunday Star Education pullouts (which are another good resource for this sort of thing).

3) If you wish to change the world through essays, check out The World Bank’s International Essay Competition 2008. This year, they would like to know your practical ideas for shaping the
 City of your Dreams. This competition is open to anyone 18-25, and the prizes include up to USD1000 cash, as well as an all-expenses paid trip to the ABCDE conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

Send your essays online in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, or Portuguese. The closing date is March 23, 2008.

You can never be too overexposed!

- Kid Chan

The National Youth Entrepreneurship Convention was surprisingly well done. There was a large crowd and a good group of interesting and fun speakers. Mostly everyone was relaxed and jovial and were open to questions and light banter. Kid Chan had TONS of energy, Kenny Sia was very “boy next door” and gentle, and Mia Palencia and Khai Lee were very obviously passionate. It’s funny how a couple of them credit their mother’s negative reaction as the catalyst to their success! It was also nice to hear from YouthMalaysia’s founder Joel Neoh (who became “Noel” tons of times thanks to Chris the MC) - he was a bit more humble than I imagined him to be, which is quite good. Overall it was a pretty interesting session, and far better organized than many other YouthMalaysia activities. Let this be an inspiration!

The only main complaint would be the “Millionaire Sisters”, who were utterly misplaced in the Social Entrepreneurship/Leadership category - they didn’t belong to either! They came off as very fake and materialistic and cared more about their wealth then with actually helping people. They seemed to have come from the same presentation school as people like Sarina Russo, Kathy Ireland, and basically anyone working in the “make more money now!” industry - overacting, silly interaction, lots of “LOOK HOW WEALTHY I AM”. I don’t think anyone was pretty impressed with their presence (nor was I impressed with one of their staff members who cornered me after the convention and tried to get me to come and “listen to more of what they had to say”! Urgh, creepy). Also wasn’t totally impressed with Dato’ Ong Ka Tiek’s luncheon speech - his cries of “we encourage young students to be DIFFERENT and to VOICE THEIR OPINIONS” ring really hollow when you consider that it’s his department (Higher Education) that enacts laws and rules severely restricting students’ freedom of speech and assembly.

Ern Sheong has a great writeup on all the speakers and their presentations, so check his blog out for some quick notes. I was also happy to meet some EducateDeviate readers and friends - Chong Chuan, Daniel CerVentus, Karin Cheng, Delwyn Lee, John & Michael (sorry didn’t catch your last names), Nabila, Su Ann. Turns out that the discount could apply to more than 3 people, so apologies to those whom I turned down for the group!

If you were at the convention, please feel free to share your stories here.

The applications for Team 15 of the KaosPilots social entrepreneurship/creativity/design/business school in Aarhus are officially open!

Get it off the KaosPilots website here, or use the Wanna Be A KP mirror.

Applications are due March 14 2008 and shortlisted applicants will be informed on April 5 2008. The admissions workshop for those shortlisted is on April 24-25 2008 in Aarhus, Denmark.

Get your applications in now!

There’s one more spot available in the EducateDeviate group for the 1st National Youth Entrepreneur Convention. This allows for a cheaper rate of RM50 instead of RM100. Technically there can be more than 3, but I need at least one more person.

If you are interested, contact me now and I will advise you on further details.

EDIT: Serious enquiries only PLEASE. I’ve been getting a couple of dud emails from people either flip-flopping or suggesting unreasonable ways such as registering but not paying/not showing up. We still need one more person and I’ll be ultimately responsible for the group, so I can’t afford such nonsense. I can understand backing out due to unforseen circumstances, but if you’re not going to be serious, then please don’t waste our time and get our hopes up.

Also, EducateDeviate has been shortlisted for the YouthMalaysia DotCom Search, with awards being given out on the 18th of January. I’m supposed to have a tracking code up, but their code is in Javascript and Wordpress.com doesn’t allow Javascript coding on their blogs, so there’s not much I can do about it. Accept this as my formal (belated) acknowledgement of the award

EDIT: The spot has been filled - thank you Delwyn! There are other people looking for groups, and I’m not entirely sure if groups of more than 3 are actually OK, so I’ll connect you with any other stragglers. Thank you!

There’s one more spot available in the EducateDeviate group for the 1st National Youth Entrepreneur Convention. This allows for a cheaper rate of RM50 instead of RM100. Technically there can be more than 3, but I need at least one more person.

If you are interested, contact me now and I will advise you on further details.

EDIT: Serious enquiries only PLEASE. I’ve been getting a couple of dud emails from people either flip-flopping or suggesting unreasonable ways such as registering but not paying/not showing up. We still need one more person and I’ll be ultimately responsible for the group, so I can’t afford such nonsense. I can understand backing out due to unforseen circumstances, but if you’re not going to be serious, then please don’t waste our time and get our hopes up.

Also, EducateDeviate has been shortlisted for the YouthMalaysia DotCom Search, with awards being given out on the 18th of January. I’m supposed to have a tracking code up, but their code is in Javascript and Wordpress.com doesn’t allow Javascript coding on their blogs, so there’s not much I can do about it. Accept this as my formal (belated) acknowledgement of the award