DIT Student Wins International Microsoft Student Partner of the Year

In the beautiful summer of Redmond, Washington, a stunning number of Microsoft events happened all at once. Among these events were the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals – the world’s premier student technology competition, and the Microsoft Student Partner (MSP) summit – top MSPs across the world were awarded with a trip to Microsoft’s headquarters, where they could connect with their peers as well as meet employees. 

On 30th July, 2015, 58 MSPs nominated from a pool of 9,000 worldwide, gingerly awaited the announcement of this year’s MSP of the Year. But there could only be one winner among them – Jason Chee from Diploma of Information Technology (DIT), Singapore Polytechnic

The MSP of the Year award is bestowed on a Microsoft Student Partner with high technical aptitude, who is shown to have amplified his or her passion of technology to others. Jason Chee was the only MSP nominated by Microsoft Singapore, being the only Programme Lead out of the 60 MSPs based in Singapore. Microsoft Student Partners are typically expected to conduct workshops and hackathons, providing product demos and organising tech events on latest technology introduced by Microsoft on a regular basis.

Jason’s merits achieved as an MSP so far:

1. Current programme lead for MSP in Singapore, mentoring 60 MSPs spanning 10 institutions
2. Over 2 million app downloads spanning multiple platforms
3. Part of the team conducting Code for Change, an initiative that plans to reach out to 1.2 million Singaporeans, including 500,000 youths, to help them develop coding and computational thinking skills
4. Writer on multiple blogs including Spiffy.sg, curated by Microsoft Singapore, which reaches over 3,000 unique worldwide student technologists a month
5. Currently a Technical Evangelist Intern at Microsoft Singapore

Scott Burmester, overseeing the management of the Microsoft Student Partners programme worldwide, noted in a message to all MSPs, "Jason epitomizes the spirit of being an MSP. He is a leader and mentor to others." Terence Lim, Technical Evangelist at Microsoft Singapore, stated, "Being a student himself, (Jason) takes feedback from the MSP programme seriously and provides directions, goals and missions for 60 MSPs in the country. Jason has always provided initiatives when coming up with new ideas, and is the most passionate about technology among his MSP peers. He always goes the extra mile to make sure that people in his circles and communities knows and use MS tech/services effectively."

When asked what this award meant to him, Jason had this to say: "As my manager at Microsoft, Chun Siong, always emphasised to me – the connections one makes in MSP are the most important aspects of the program. While the $2,000 prize is indubitably a more-than-welcome surprise, the friends and people I've met in this MSP community is THE reward on its own." "It has been my dream to work at Microsoft since I was young, being a MSP and pursuing DIT from SP has without a doubt played a major role in my progression. The activities and curriculum in DIT expanded my horizons on the infocomm landscape and now I look forward to acquiring a computer science degree and securing a full-time role at Microsoft in the future."