HUNDREDS of students chatted excitedly outside the lecture hall with award certificates in hand. Some were clad in superhero-themed shirts, catching up with friends over cocktail tables and nibbling on finger food, while others posed with capes at photo booths.

Themed Super Heroes, the tea party earlier this year was a befitting celebration for the secondary school leavers who had slogged for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exams in hopes of some reward. That reward finally came in the form of a Taylor’s Distinction Award.