GUST’s Debate Club Awarded Club of the Year

• The Public Relations Club wins Social Club of the Year award

• Total number of participating student clubs at GUST this year were 16.

Kuwait City, November 2, 2016: Gulf University for Science and Technology’s (GUST) Office of Student Life (OSL) awarded the student-run Debate Club the Club of the Year award in a ceremony in the campus’s Central Area. The award is presented annually to the club that demonstrates the most initiative, creativity, and actively inspires students by offering educational and engaging activities throughout the year. Dr. Raghad Al Kazemi, Dean of Student Affairs at GUST was present at the event to honor the winning club.

The Debate Club was the clear winner of this year’s award due to their exceptional presence on campus all year round and their diligent organization of 33 engaging and practical events, including winning second place at the Kuwait University Debate League, and first place at the 5th Arab Universities Debate Competition in Bahrain, and the Kuwait University National English Debate League. In addition to organizing a university-wide debate competition, holding various seminars among which was the “Effect of Declining Oil Prices on the Arab Region”, and setting up several workshops and charity events.

Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Raghad Al Kazemi, said, “It is my honest belief that to get an extra dose of knowledge, you need to leave the classroom. Our clubs demonstrate that our students have a real hunger to apply what they learn in their lectures to real life situations, and create an atmosphere that is fun, educational, social, and applicable to the real world.”

The ceremony also gave out an additional award to show the clubs that their efforts do not go unnoticed by the university community. The Social Club Award, which is based on professionalism and interaction with other clubs, the student body, and the GUST community as a whole, was awarded to the Public Relations Club. The club managed to set up 20 events throughout the academic year which included organizing a humanitarian campaign, offering several entrepreneurial workshops for university students, giving out eftar meals during Ramadan, organizing a campaign dedicated to giving out cold water and beverages to street workers during the summer. The Public Relations Club also went on a trip to New York during winter and handed out items of clothing to the homeless.

The purpose of the event is not only to recognize the efforts of a few clubs, but also motivate the other 14 student run clubs and acknowledge their hard work throughout the year academic year, and show them that GUST as a university appreciates all efforts invested by students in organizing club activities. Debate Club members were awarded KD 100 each, while the Public Relations was granted KD 400 for their budget.

Students also got to participate during the event by submitting their guesses of who the winning club of each category would be to enter a draw, each winning student received a KD 50 prize.

This year, the number of clubs at GUST participating totalled 16, and include: The Entrepreneurs Club, the Media Club, the Anime Club, the Talent Club, the Debate Club, the Islamic Finance Club, the Management Club, the Marketing Club, the Computer Science Club, the English Club, the Public Relations Club, the Technology Club, the Human Development Club, the Human Rights Club, the Investment Club, the Accounting Club, and the Foundation Club.