Kavena Sivapragasam, 23, an alumna of Methodist College Kuala Lumpur (MCKL) graduated with First Class Honours in Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) from University Kebangsaan Malaysia and conferred with the prestigious Royal Education Award during the university’s convocation in November this year.
The Royal Education Award or known as Pingat Jaya Cemerlang is one of the most prestigious awards annually awarded to two of the best undergraduates (one bumiputra and one non-bumiputra) in every public university.
The decision of the award is endorsed by the Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu and are based on several criteria such as academic excellence, leadership involvement, contribution to the community and sports, possess exemplary personal traits and values.
Kavena is also a recipient of the Psychology Graduate Icon Award and the University Book Prize Recipient.
Kavena’s degree-long effort and commitment for being actively involved in international and national level events, competitions and projects while maintaining a first class CGPA earned her the prestigious award.
She persevered through with the honest intention of wanting to bring the spotlight to the importance of social science for building a better humanity.
Speaking about her aspirations for the field of psychology in Malaysia, Kavena said, “It is undeniable that there’s still plenty of room for enhancement but every contribution to the country is extremely valuable and necessary.
“I genuinely hope to see psychology develops as an established body in Malaysia. Besides, as an advocate on positive psychology, I hope to be able to contribute into building this field of study in Malaysia. It is time to amplify the need for positive practices in nurturing and tapping the potentials of a thriving community.”
She said her research on understanding how happiness contributes to success showed that positive emotions are key to success.
“So, always pursue something that makes you happy. The best part of this process is not attaining the goal but it’s the person you transformed into, in order to reach success, that’s the real and more meaningful achievement.”
After completing her SPM, she pursued the Cambridge A Level (CAL) programme in MCKL which improved her critical thinking skills and that skill further improved the quality of her assignments in university.
“The CAL programme helped me to think creatively and to inquire deeply about a certain topic, and this is a skill that is highly appreciated by my lecturers during my undergraduate study.”
Kavena, is a recipient of the MCKL Full Scholarship 2016 while pursuing her A Level programme at the college. In 2018 she received the Great Eastern Supremacy Scholarship 2018 to pursue her degree, followed by receiving the Anugerah Biasiswa Kanan Universiti Award in 2019.
