Thai students unleash their creativity

An exhibition aimed at building knowledge through creativity was held at Thailand Knowledge Park recently, showcasing the creations of Thailand’s teenagers. 

“This is an ideal complement to traditional forms of classroom instruction. We offer space and opportunity for young people to gain insight and develop their skills,” said Dr Tatsanai Wongpisethkul in her capacity as vice-president of the Office of Knowledge Management and Development and director-general of Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park). 

On display at the exhibition were creative works selected from 120 young people who participated in the TK Park’s “Switch on Young Creativity 2013” project.

“This project taps into the dreams of our teenage target group and aims to unleash their creativity and hone their thinking skills – enabling them to produce their own work under the close guidance of professionals,” Tatsanai said. 

She added that TK Park organised the creativity project every year to assist Thai youngsters in preparing more effectively for the workforce.

The fourth edition of the project – with discussions and exhibitions covering marketing, graphic design, writing and music – was held from October 19-20 at TK Park on the 8th floor at Central World Plaza. 

TK Park’s project-based learning this year covered a number of areas, including fashion marketing under the theme “Dress and Dream a Brand”. Like all areas covered by TK Park, it gave young people the chance to develop important life skills in their field of interest. Among the six fashion-marketing teams selected for the project by TK Park this year was the team “Warp”. The team was made up of five young people from different universities and fields of study. 

One of the teams members, Nantachporn Phuthong, alias “Luk Pad” from the Architecture Faculty, Chulalongkorn University, said team members were studying a range of different skills including marketing, communication arts and architecture. 

“We were trained by experienced marketing, design and fashion instructors and given a chance to meet with real suppliers, create our designs and go into production with them. We were rewarded with a copyright for our Warp brand and won three awards, plus a training opportunity with the famous Thai fashion brand “Fly Now”, said Nantachporn.

TK Young Writer 2013, another initiative of TK Park, was open to young people aged between 16-23 years old with an interest in writing. Sahakhun Udomsawangchoke, a senior medical student at Chulalongkorn University, was among this project’s participants. 

“Like a nerd, I was always into textbooks and was a top-class student from a very young age. I never read anything for leisure – no cartoons, novels, or short stories. Things went like that until I was in Mathayom 2. That’s when a friend recommended a Thai-science fiction novel series “H.A.C.K. Deadly Secret”. It’s about the adventures of a genius hacker. I got addicted to the series, which inspired me to write a novel,” this bright student said. 

However, novel writing turned out to be more difficult than Sahakhun first expected. He began with a short story, but after two years he had still not completed it. Sahakhun later went to medical school, but never gave up his dream of becoming a writer. 

“During my medical studies, I watched a clip about HIV-infected people and it inspired me to write a short story about an HIV-infected village. I then submitted the story to ‘TK Young Writer 2013’, said Sahakhun. 

“The project taught me every process of magazine publishing, as well as learning from experienced editors and team members. I was chosen as an editor for a magazine called ‘Khon Suan [Gardener]’. During the production process, I also had hospital training, but thanks to the great support and guidance of our senior editors, our editorial team was able to complete the magazine,” Sahakhun said.

This year was also the fourth year of TK Park’s “TK Band” music creation workshop, which offers valuable experience to all its young participants.

Purich Chantalerdluk, nicknamed “Guitar”, from Suan Kularb Wittayalai School in Nonthaburi, was a drummer in TK Band. He started learning the drums at the age of three. Aware of his passion, using chopsticks to beat out a rhythm on objects around the house, his parents sent him for percussion lessons, which he has now been taking for the past 11 years. 

“I think learning new things is always fruitful and after seeing a list of experienced music instructors on the TK Band project, I submitted an application right away.” 

He said the training gave him the chance to meet new friends with like-minded interests. Training sessions were arranged once a week, which Purich said he enjoyed every part of. Training covered musical composition, musical languages and much more.

“The process of learning and sharing experiences outside the classroom is invaluable. The more we performed, the more we developed,” Purich said.