USM SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION FINAL-YEAR STUDENTS WRAP UP WITH 'ECHO'
USM PENANG, 14 January 2026 – The 25/26 final-year communication students from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Communication end their final-year projects with their closing ceremony, also known as ‘ECHO’, at the USM Hamzah Sendut Library.
The objective of ECHO as a closing ceremony was to showcase the impact and the achievements of the social-issue-focused agency campaigns held during the semester. These agencies include U.N.M.U.T.E., Hikarya, Bloom and SYNQ and are made up of the four Communication studies majors: strategic communication, digital communication, journalism and creative screen.
The campaigns of the agencies which focus on social issues cover different aspects of life.
U.N.M.U.T.E.’s #BeraniSayNo campaign focuses on anti-bullying from the bystander’s point of view. The campaign focuses on secondary students voicing out against the passiveness and the normalisation of bullying.
Coco Lim Kher Ying, the project director, shared that they wanted to try a different approach when tackling a commonly-discussed issue like bullying.
“We want to give the students a mindset to always intervene when they see any occurrence of bullying. We want to highlight how and to whom they can report the issue to; contrary to popular beliefs, bullying actually stops very easily when a third party gets involved,” added Coco.
Hikarya’s ‘Mai Cerita’ campaign focuses on reviving the dying traditional arts of ‘Wayang Kulit’ and ‘Potehi’, specifically through online platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
Jasmine Shameena, a member of the Hikarya agency, shared that the campaign was challenging, especially logistically.
“It was difficult to find collaborators that are passionate about this topic, especially to advocate and speak out about it. Furthermore, we found that it was challenging to pinpoint our specific target audience that can truly be interested in this, since traditional arts can be seen almost rarely nowadays,” Shameena explained.
Bloom’s ‘Younique’ campaign brought an interesting twist to body positivity, directly addressing the role of social media in the current youth’s (aged 15-30) body dissatisfaction and the contributing psychological roles in the issue.
Encouraging User-Generated Content (UGC), Younique encourages users to participate in the movement instead of just viewing. The leader of Bloom’s Digital Communication agency, Nur Tajahan Ayasamy, shares that the hands-on interaction helps the audience connect deeper with the topic.
“We have questionnaires which users can fill out; topics such as confidence and insecurities can encourage addressing such sensitive issues and get rid of the taboo surrounding talking about such things,” added Tajahan.
Finally, it was SYNQ’s ‘Sprout Up’ campaign, which aimed to raise awareness in society about underprivileged children with cerebral palsy. The campaign introduced ‘Beanie’, a sprouted bean, as their mascot to spread the information surrounding cerebral palsy in a wholesome yet unique way. Tan Mai Chyi, one of the students behind ‘Sprout Up’, elaborated on the story behind Beanie.
“Every child is like a seed. No matter the challenges, if you shower them with love, care and kindness, it will always be able to sprout up and grow stronger,” shared Mai Chyi.
Ultimately, ECHO served not only as a closure to the final-year projects, but also shine a light on the meaningful and thoughtful campaigns that highlight awareness, empathy, action and confidence.
Text: Sara Hannah Sahan Shah, House of Media (HOMe@MPRC)/Editing: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin/Photos: Chin Pui Kong & Etasha Elana Kumar, House of Media (HOMe@MPRC)
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