Samantha Wing-man Kong, a year-three student of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, was a dual winner of Top 10 Outstanding Youth Awards who also scooped the Social Service Award in the commendation scheme. The prize is a prestigious one presented by HKSAR Home Affairs Bureau and Commission on Youth to commend their outstanding achievements in personal development, leadership and social services. The other winner was Phoebe Cheuk-lam Lam, Year-One Science student.

Prof Wei Shyy, Executive Vice-President and Provost at HKUST, congratulated the two winners. "As a university we sought to nurture all-rounded graduates with great capabilities and creativity, and also with great hearts - which are key in building a caring community. I hope these two students' enthusiasm, leadership and caring attitude will inspire others to contribute to building a better future for Hong Kong and Mainland China."

Apart from being an accomplished pianist, an active voluntary worker and a young ambassador for the Hong Kong Tourism Commission, Samantha is also the founder of a social enterprise. Using the money she and her fellow classmates won from the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge, they founded Eldpathy last May to promote care and empathy for the elderly. They designed an Elderly Simulation Program that enables participants to experience the life of an elderly by putting on a specially designed suit, which mimics the physical limitations of an elderly person.

In addition to serving the community, Samantha was also keen in participation of a diversity of university programs. She was Head Student Ambassador of the university, Core Peer Mentor of the School of Engineering, and the Founding President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (HK Chapter). She also attended G20 Youth Forum 2013 in Saint Petersburg, Global Citizenship Program in Xi’an Jiaotong University, and Asian Youth Leaders Travel and Learning Camp 2013 in National University of Singapore. Being selected as one of the ten interns among the world after keen selection interviews, she is now spending her summer at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, working for an NGO on promoting health, environment and sustainability.