Live with Dyslexia and Fly High
Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling. A boy with dyslexia failed DSE examinations two times. Nevertheless, he never gives up. It is difficult, but not impossible. And, with his perseverance and hard work, he finally could fulfil the minimum university requirements for Chinese, English, and liberal studies in his third attempt in DSE and was admitted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He then did exceedingly well in his four years at PolyU.
He is Chan Kai Sum. He joined the Faculty of Engineering and opted for Electrical Engineering. Through the programme, he has learned about power system, power electronics, machines and drives, energy conversion, electric services in buildings, fibre optics, control and automation, practical industrial skills, etc., all of which are important for preparing him as a professional electrical engineer. “As technology is rapidly growing, the role of electrical engineers becomes more important. They are at the forefront of developing new technologies for different industries such as robotics, transportation, construction, and healthcare,” Kai Sum said.
During the years at PolyU, “Freshmen Seminar” is the subject which Kai Sum finds most memorable. He recalled that there was a competition during the first half of the course. He needed to team-up with other students from different engineering disciplines to develop a robotic arm. His team has successfully simulated the game “Tic-Tac-Toe” and won the competition.
In addition to formal courses, Kai Sum has actively participated in a wide variety of co-curricular activities. He joined several student societies. He was the chairman of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers Student Chapter and the committee member of Campus YMCA of PolyU. He also served as the project manager of the Underwater Robotic Team. Through these activities, he has learned a lot about teamwork, other than expanding his exposure.
Besides, Kai Sum had joined an overseas research internship at Tohoku University in Japan and was assigned to help build a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). In this project, four year-3 students at Tohoku University worked together with him and formed into two teams, the coding team and the sensor team. He was mainly charged to oversee the coding for the data receiving and drone control. During this attachment, he successfully created a prototype that could represent brain activities. When high brain activities are detected, the drone will fly up, and vice versa. The product was later showcased in a technology exhibition in Japan, CEATEC JAPAN 2018. He also had worked as a research intern at McGill University and was responsible for designing different systems inside the automatic stem cell generator, which included the power system, temperature system, humidity system, CO2 system, imaging system and wireless control system. Kai Sum is very grateful for these research opportunities and find his overseas attachment very rewarding.
Kai Sum would like to express his heartfelt gratitude for PolyU for nurturing him and for providing him with so many development opportunities. Understanding the difficulties of SEN students, PolyU has provided him with extra examination time, with which, he could manage to get through all the demanding examinations. He got an academic exchange at the University of Waterloo where he has made a lot of friends from the other part of the world, an internship opportunity at MTR to learn from a real working environment, and a trip to Taiwan to enhance the cultural appreciations. With all these exposures, he has the opportunity to apply the technical knowledge he acquired from the programme and to enhance his all-round development.
A hard-working student with a serving heart, Kai Sum was named the Outstanding Student of Faculty of Engineering in 2019. Now, he is a MPhil student working on quantum communication for protecting the security of the communication channel. In the future, he hopes to start up his own business and contribute to the development of information security.
與讀寫障礙共存 振翅高飛
讀寫障礙是一種常見的學習困難，患者對閱讀、書寫和拼字都會感到難以應付。有一個患有讀寫障礙的男生經歷兩次文憑考試的失敗，但始終沒有放棄。雖然很難，但不是不可能。他憑著無比的毅力和勤奮，終於在第三次文憑考試達到了大學對中文、英文及通職教育科的最低要求，被香港理工大學錄取，隨後在理大的四年，他表現得非常出色。
他是陳繼森。他入讀工程學院，選修電子工程系。他從課程學到了關於電力系統、電力電子、機器和驅動、能源轉換、建築物的電力服務、光纖、控制和自動化、實際工業技能等等的知識，為他日後成為專業的電子工程師奠下穩固的的基礎。繼森説：「科技發展迅速，電子工程師的角色也變得愈來愈重要。他們都走在前沿，為各行各業例如機械人、交通、建築和醫療保健等開發新技術。」
在理大的幾年，繼森覺得「Freshmen Seminar 」是最難忘的科目。他說該課程的前半段有一場比賽，他需要和來自不同工程學系的同學組隊，一起開發一隻機械手臂。他的團隊成功地模擬了「Tic-Tac-Toe 」的遊戲，並且在比賽中勝出。
除了專業課程之外，繼森亦踴躍地參與多項聯課活動。他參加了幾個學生組織。他曾是香港工程師學會學生分部的主席，也是理大校園YMCA的委員會會員。也曾擔任水底機械人團隊的項目負責人。繼森透過這項活動開闊了視野，也學習了團隊精神的重要性。
此外，繼森曾經參加日本東北大學的海外研究實習計畫，協助建立腦機介面平台（BCI）。在這個項目中，他和四位東北大學的大三的學生合作，並組成兩隊：編碼隊和傳感器隊。他主要負責監督數據接收和操控無人機的編碼工作。在實習的過程，他成功打造一個可以展現大腦活動的原型。當大腦被探測出有劇烈的活動，無人機便會飛高；相反地，如果大腦沒有任何活動，無人機便會靜止下來。該產品後來在2018年的日本電子高新科技博覽會（CEATEC JAPAN）上展出。繼森也曾經在麥基爾市大學當研究實習生，負責設計全自動幹細胞發動機內部的不同系統，其中包括電力系統、溫度系統、濕度系統、二氧化碳系統、成像系統和無線控制系統。繼森非常珍惜這些研究工作的機會，並且認為他的海外實習是十分有意義的。
繼森衷心感激理大對他的裁培，以及為他提供很多發展的機會。理大理解SEN學生面對的困難，所以為他提供額外的考試時間，使他可以通過所有嚴苛的考試。他有機會到滑鐵盧大學當交換生，在那裏認識了很多來自世界其他地方的朋友；而在香港地鐵公司實習則可以讓他從真實的工作環境中學習；而至於一趟台灣的旅程，則提高了他的文化鑑賞能力。透過這種種交流和體驗，繼森有機會應用課程上學到的知識，以及提升個人的全面發展。
繼森是一名勤奮又樂於服務的學生，被評為2019年工程學院的優秀學生。他現正攻讀碩士課程，致力於量子通訊的研究，維護通訊媒介的安全。他希望將來能夠創立自己的事業，為信息安全的發展作出貢獻。
