Newsletter No. 489/490

10 # 4 8 9 / 4 9 0 | 1 9 . 1 2 . 2 0 1 6 口 談 實 錄 / V iva V oce What does the Xin Min Award, one of the highest honours given to students by United College, mean to you? It is an enormous privilege to be the recipient of this award and I am very grateful to the members of the judging panel for recognizing my previous contribution to United College and the Students’ Union. For me, the concept of Xin Min —‘renewing the people or the society’ with one’s skills and knowledge—is a lifelong mission. I think I have only achieved a small part of this massive goal during my undergraduate years at CUHK. Why joined the Students’ Union of United College (UCSU)? I had been living on the United College campus ever since I was admitted to the University. It was like my family, and serving the family by joining the Students’ Union was natural. Any memorable experience as UCSU president? When I was president of UCSU, we had once come across some biased comments about UC students from members of another organization. In order to safeguard the reputation of our College, I issued a declaration stating our position and led a group of UCSU members to meet with representatives from the organization. In the end, they agreed to publish a short introduction of United College based on factual information, and we agreed to respect their right to express their opinions on their own platform. I believe that positive communication and mutual respect are crucial for conflict resolution and building consensus. The UCSU presidency was a demanding job. How did you find time to study? I did spend more time on UCSU affairs than studying in my first two years at CUHK. However, during my third year, when I finally decided to change my major to Risk Management Science, I suddenly realized that I only had two years left before graduation. To make the best use of my time and resources at the University, I started to focus on my academic work. I was thrilled to discover the joy of reading at the Library or studying for long hours on a subject that I was truly interested in. How has your training in risk management affected the way you think and act? I found out I had a passion for risk management science when I took a statistics course in my sophomore year. Risk Management is a very interesting subject as its theories can be applied to many real-life situations. If you want to minimize your losses caused by natural disasters, by calculating the frequency of a natural hazard and the level of its impact, you will be able to decide whether or not you should purchase an insurance package or take some preventive measures. Such training has enabled me to evaluate my risks and come up with the best decisions. Working now, do you still miss the time when you were a student of CUHK and president of UCSU? Facing the ‘real world’ made me realize that things can be quite different from what I had expected. Nevertheless, having some work experience has enabled me to become more mature and have a better understanding of the society. Things I have learnt after graduation and the experience gained at the Students’ Union are equally important to my commitment in making a positive change. As for my role in UCSU, after finishing my term as president I started taking the back-seat and preferred listening rather than actively taking part at the meetings. There are former leaders who remain actively involved in union affairs, but I think it may be a good idea to give the new members free hand. Tell us about your future goals. I am currently working as a management trainee in a bank. My duties in financial analysis match perfectly my academic training and I am very satisfied with my job at the moment. In the future, I wish I could utilize my knowledge in statistics to solve some of the existing social issues. To achieve this and prepare myself for greater challenges and responsibilities, I would need to acquire more professional knowledge and therefore, pursuing a master’s degree in statistics has always been one of my plans after graduation. 伍松園 Ng Chung-yuen Bruce • 統計系風險管理科學課程2016年畢業生 2016 graduate of Risk Management Science Programme • 2015 – 16年度聯合書院新民獎得主 Recipient of United College Xin Min Scholarship 2015–2016 新民獎是聯合書院最高榮譽獎學金之一，可否分享你的獲獎感受？ 我很感謝書院把這個獎項頒發給我，這是對我之前在聯合書院學生會工 作的肯定。我認為「新民」的理念─運用自己所學貢獻社會─是一項 終身使命，而我絕對不能自詡已經成功完成這項使命，只是覺得我在中 大的幾年間曾努力去實踐這宏大目標中的一小部分而已。 當初為何選擇加入書院學生會? 入讀中大以後，我就一直住在聯合書院，很自然會把書院當作自己的家， 那麽服務家庭、加入學生會自然便是份內事。學生會主席是全體書院學 生的代表，那就背負着更大的責任，必須為他們的需要和立場發聲。 擔任學生會主席時，可有一些難忘的事件？ 記得曾有團體在介紹中大的各間書院時，對聯合學生的評語稍有偏頗， 身為聯合學生會會長，我有責任反映同學的感受，就首先發聲明陳述我 們的立場，然後帶着學生會的成員與對方會面。經過一番討論後，對方 最終願意補上書院的簡介，而我們亦同意尊重對方在自己平台發表意見 的權利。對我而言，善意溝通和互相尊重是達成共識與解決問題的重要 關鍵。 會務繁多，如何抽時間專注學業? 老實說在大學首兩年，我投放於處理學生會事務的時間比學習更多。但 到了第三年，我決定轉唸統計學系的風險管理科學課程，要從頭開始學 習許多統計學的基本知識，那時才突然醒悟應該把握時間讀書，因為畢 業後就不能享受大學豐富的學習資源。於是我經常在圖書館流連，投入 學習時，又仿佛發現了另一個世界，因為所修科目是自己的興趣，即使埋 頭苦讀也不覺得疲累。 風險管理學的訓練怎樣影響你的處事態度?　 我在大學第二年修讀一門統計必修科時，發現自己很喜歡、也非常適合 讀統計學，就決定在第三年轉系。風險管理非常有趣，它的理論可應用到 許多現實的例子上，例如計算災難發生的機會率和影響，可指引我們該採 取何種預防措施或應否購買保險等，以確保能將損失減至最低。風險管 理的訓練讓我處事更謹慎，在做任何重大決定之前會先衡量利害得失， 分析可能遇見的後果，從而作出最佳選擇。 踏入職場後會否仍懷念在大學或者書院學生會的日子？ 我已經工作了好幾個月，踏入職場後得知現實中很多事比我想像中來得 複雜，也未必事事如願，但我認為一個人若想貢獻社會，就必須先走進 社會，體驗現實世界，這樣才可真正明白民生的各種需要，為人民謀福 祉。至於書院學生會，我在大學三年級後就開始退下來，讓新人接手。我 也曾聽過一些學生團體的前領袖，退出後仍繼續參與會內事務，而我卻 剛好相反，即使新成員邀請我參與討論，我也會盡量以旁觀者的身分聆 聽和觀察，讓師弟妹有自由發揮的空間。 未來有甚麼目標？ 我現在是銀行的管理培訓生，需要分析大量的數據，工作性質和我的專 業訓練相符，帶給我不少的滿足感。將來我希望能繼續運用統計學的訓 練為社會帶來正面的影響，我亦計劃攻讀統計學碩士學位，學習更深入 的知識，為事業發展做好準備。