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💭 One of my most cherished moments with Melo is the night of our graduation. It was a real challenge when I completed my final exam in late May, leaving us with a mere four days to prepare our presentation. What made it even worse was that during the rehearsal, we discovered that our presentation was far from impressive. Louisa even came to give us some special hints and assistance, which made us even more panicked. So, we spent the entire day in the library fixing our mess. Right up until the actual day of graduation, we were still refining our deck and familiarizing ourselves with the scripts.During the graduation day, Kenny noticed our panic and frustration. With a kind smile, he urged us to enjoy the process, even if we failed. Moreover, Don and Randy provided warm support before we stepped on the stage and even suggested that we have some wine. 🍷🤣The reason why this is my best memory in Melo is not only because we fought together as a team 👥, but also because I could see the precious Melo values: genuineness and support. Through this experience, I learned how to embrace failure and take on challenges even when success seemed unlikely.
My Melo journey taught me things about myself I never knew about. I used to be so hesitant to break past my boundaries and couldn't do any more than just bend them a little bit. With the help of Louisa, Randy (McDonald's HK), and Fred (Bowtie), I learned to shift the narrative and actively seek out difficulties rather than avoid them. I saw the power that came with authentic engagement and realized how necessary it was to put every ounce of passion into every little thing I did. Every conversation we shared had the perfect mix of intimacy and guidance and I will always look back at my growth with pride. A year before Melo, I hated public speaking and didn't bother to try anything different from those around me. At the end of Melo, I was doing a TED talk to over 500 CEOs and grew to love talking to new people. Now, I go out of my way to discover the special stories each person has and throw all of my love into every meaningful opportunity.
"Wherever you go, whatever you do, make a positive difference. " - Alan Dick (My primary school principal)
Honestly, every part of this Melo journey has been very exciting. What surprised me most was that I never expected our CEOs Stephanie and Adriel to be so open and give us so much of their time to listen to us come up with wacky ideas, or even just talk about life. Although it's not so much "unpredictable" as it is unexpected, they really are my favourite part of this Melo journey and I'm truly grateful.
Along this journey, I think I've definitely learned how to be more decisive and hungry! Through our long and arduous journey to finally decide on a topic, I've realised the importance of putting your foot down to make a decision. At the same time, this process has taken so long that I've also learned to enjoy the scenery a bit more even if it's not directly related to our goal. It's really opened my eyes to learn about more ideas and thoughts!
“I really enjoyed the anticipation before each meeting with the students -- you never knew what they would present or what topics would be discussed! Every meeting was refreshing because I felt like I was getting a glimpse of the same world, but through different eyes. Besides the project on hand, we had the chance to discuss a wide range of issues that I normally wouldn't get to discuss with young people, and that was very rewarding for me.”
“It is a meaningful program that offers young people here in Hong Kong the chance to take part in an experimental growth journey through a number of leading businesses and people across the city.”
“This is truly a community effort....And I’m honored to be part of this new initiative.Yes, there are challenges ahead, for both our students and corporates... but I remain confident that our Melo Fellows and Peers together with the CEOs can learn from each other how best to weather the uncharted journey ahead.”
Who can apply?
Any full-time university undergraduates from these six universities can apply - Baptist U, City U, Chinese U, HKU, HKUST, and PolyU. We will select 20 Melo Fellows from this pool of applicants. Our selection criteria is simple - we are looking for high calibre students with a passion and track record of leadership and impact on the society. We look for authentic stories and real passion.
The program will kick off at the end of January 2025 and end with a graduation in June 2025. The Fellowship has two main components - Co-Creation and Joint Discovery.
In Co-Creation, 20 Melo Fellows will be divided into 5 teams of 4. Each team will be paired with two leading CEOs / social leaders. Each will work towards a proposal on delivering the most impact on their topic for Hong Kong society. One of the leading region VC firms and its managing partner will seed one or more of their proposed programs for implementation.
In Joint Discovery, these are events for the entire fellowship where Melo Fellows will experience and learn from leaders of our society on a few key themes, in the most intimate and engaging way.
In terms of time commitment, each Fellow will be asked to:
Melo Fellows will go through a one-of-a-kind journey of learning and mindset growth. They will learn hard and soft skills and have direct exposure to leading CEOs, social leaders and thought leaders. The Fellowship includes project based learning as well as group-based interactive learning.
For the first time ever, two Fellows will be selected and be awarded the SHK x Melo Scholarship, which will cover the full tuition fee of the remaining years of undergraduate studies of the awardee.
1. Background details
Your name, mobile number, email contact and your year and degree in HKUST.
2. Choose a topic
Choose from one of the five themes we listed as your preferred topic of interest or you can write to us what one other topic you are interested in
3. Tell us your story
Share why you want to join this program and why you are passionate about the topic you choose in one of three formats (A 500-word essay, a 90-second video, or a PowerPoint of fewer than 10 slides). We care a lot about authenticity. We would love to hear stories that come from your personal experience.
