by Amni Azizan
Edited by Hannaan Fuad
Have you ever felt it was only yesterday when you first heard about The BENL Chronicle?
Yes?
No?
Maybe?
Well, guess what?
The BENL Chronicle’s 1st anniversary is here, and it is something worth celebrating to acknowledge and appreciate the team of writers, editors, and website managers. Let's not forget the social media team as well, who are working hard behind this website to make sure it reaches the audience.
For everyone's clarification, The BENL Chronicle, affectionately nicknamed TBC, is a student-driven website that publishes content in three different sections: news articles, feature articles, and creative writings. TBC is run by students from the BENL course (Bachelor of English Language & Literature) of IIUM.
In order to get a better insight into the establishment of this website, I grabbed the opportunity to interview the founding sisters and the first pair of Co-Editor-in-Chiefs of The BENL Chronicle, Sr Nik Liyana and Sr Dhiya Damia, both 4th year BENL students who will be graduating from IIUM in a few months.
“The idea actually came from Dr. Homam,” Sr. Liyana laughed, “He was inspired by IIUMToday, and ELITS (Secretariat of English Language & Literature) organised a programme featuring Sr. Marsya, a former student of his, regarding editorial job scope. From there, he took the opportunity to form TBC.”
Plus, Sr. Dhiya said, “Dr. Homam said we should have a platform for BENL students to write and publish articles.” She added, “We started small by gathering some of our reliable friends and trustworthy committees at first.”
The BENL Chronicle’s founding sisters (from the left, Sr Dhiya Damia and Sr Nik Liyana)
Truthfully speaking, it is inevitable to run into difficulties, especially when you are shouldering the responsibilities, particularly as the founding sisters of TBC.
“Starting TBC is comparatively easy. However, the process of maintaining TBC is quite challenging for all of us. We start with nothing but fresh ideas to establish a website to publish articles for BENL students.” Sr. Dhiya said, “Another thing is to get everyone on the same page. There are some instances when we don't meet eye to eye, but that's okay because these things will always happen, so we find the solutions together instead of butting heads.”
Sr. Liyana admitted, “In the beginning, none of us knows what TBC will be and what it's becoming. Exclusive to just BENL students, we had trouble developing the website (the utility, the layout, the posting, etc.), and our assigned website manager also didn't have any experience. The same goes for article posting; we're unsure about the guidelines, the timing, and the social media.”
Sr. Dhiya also touched on the leadership everyone could equip themselves with if appointed as a leader in the future:
You should be okay with the fact that not everyone will like you and agree with your decision (even though it's a democratic decision). Get over it and get on with it! Feeling insecure about it will only drag you down further.
Prioritising speed over accuracy (if time pressures you). If you make a mistake, it's a gift. You will improve your decision-making skills over time.
Perfectionism will freeze your team. You have to explore new things and make mistakes so they can be inspired by your attitude. (Make sure to learn from your mistakes too!). You'll never know the beauty of the sea if you are scared to swim!
Apart from that, I asked them a hypothetical question in the interview:
If you look back in time, what do you think would happen if you declined the position?
Sr. Liyana stated, “I would not have created friendships with many of my BENL juniors, Aleeya, Yuyu, Asma, Zaiti, Amni, Raja, and Nora, and instead I would have become a hermit.”
“If I declined the position, I'd be one clueless student, not knowing that I should be regretful because I just missed a golden opportunity to improve myself 1000x better,” Sr. Dhiya confessed.
Even though TBC is still young and has only started to organise and join programmes at IIUM, the founding sisters each have their own moment of TBC they are most proud of.
For Sr. Dhiya, the start-up of the website was the moment that she is proud of.
“I am very thankful for the pioneers of TBC, my advisors, Dr. Homam and Sr. Marsya, my Co-Editor-in-Chief, social media manager, website manager, Managing Editors of Feature, News and Creative Sections, Secretaries, and everyone else involved during TBC's start-up.”
On the other hand, the moment Sr. Liyana is proud of is when TBC set up their first booth ever to promote and educate non-BENL students about TBC during FIESTALITS (a programme organised by ELITS).
“During this time, I finally got to meet most of the TBC members and had photos taken of us. Not only did we get to meet each other, but we were also working together, and a lot of us sacrificed time, energy, and money during the period. It's different from online posting because we can see each other and do our work in the same space with each other.”
Now, the founding sisters have stepped down from their positions as Co-Editor-in-Chiefs of The BENL Chronicle to make way for a new line-up of TBC's mainboards, so the new line-up will guide other TBC members to produce high-quality writings as well as propelling TBC to a wider audience, the IIUM community.
Sr. Liyana hoped “that the new tenure can find their own groove and vibe for TBC and not to be tied back to our tenure's method and style. I wish them all the best and hope that they have a lot of fun in TBC!”
Indeed, the origin story of TBC and the challenges our founding sisters overcame during their tenure are definitely eye-opening. Yet, TBC has reached significant milestones in its infancy, such as reaching 300 published articles on the website as well as organising the first Annual Grand Dinner ever in TBC history.
A year filled with challenges, growth, and achievements. Happy anniversary to The BENL Chronicle!
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