Undergraduate / My Purpose and Qualities- Global UGRAD Program : Why would you be a great participant ? [2]

Why would you be a great participant of UGRAD?

I used to live most of my life in a small town called Tanjungpinang. It is located in the northern part of Sumatra, near Malaysia and Singapore. Because of my environment and people around me, I used to believe that I would not be as succeeding as others who studying in big cities like Jakarta or Bandung. I didn't believe that I will be able to study abroad in a great and farway country like United States. When I entered my college in Jakarta, my horizon is broadened and now I do believe that I will be able to develop and be as successful as others, no matter where I came from. By joining the Global UGRAD Program, I believe that I will be able to develop myself more and inspire my fellow youths in my hometown that we can be as successful as others from big cities. Eventhough we are not starting with the same starting point like those from big cities, we can still win national competitions, participating in prestigious events, and going abroad to participate in exchanges like I will hopefully do.

As a non-native student, I have the ability to adapt to new condition and environment. I managed to overcome the new condition, boundaries, and pressure in studying in big city like Jakarta which is completely different from my hometown. I managed to adapting with the study I do believe that this ability in adapting to new environment will help me being a great participant in the Global UGRAD Program. I will be able to adapt well the new environment there and overcome the challenges that come within. I also have strong mentality and opened-mind that will help me in facing changes and boundaries that will come during my exchange in the United States.

Living in a developing country and an environment that is the combination of both slum and wealthy areas, I've seen both poor people who can only afford to eat scraps and unhealthy food and also rich people who is able to afford plenty healthy food but prefer to eat junk food like burgers and fast-food. By joining Global UGRAD Program, I hope that I can learn strategies from USA nutritional programs and services to help my environment. I want to reduce the gap in terms of nutritional status between the slum society and wealthy society. I want to make sure that eventhough you are poor, you can still have healty and nutritinous food that is cheap and affordable. I also want to educate the wealthy society to eat healthily and not wasting their food. Expensive food doesn't always mean that it's healthy and nutritinous but cheap food doesn't always mean that it's dirty and unhealthy.

In Indonesia, the current topics are inclusivity and gap between disabled and normal community. I wish to see and learn one or two thing from developed country like USA in terms of inclusivity and health care for disabled community. I want to apply those strategies and make a nutrition education program for disabled and poor people because most of disabled people here still not making nutrition consumption as their number one priority. And it is a pity because being disabled doesn't mean that you should not pay attention to your nutritional status and consumption.

Undergraduate / Do you think that it's relevant ? -Globa UGRAD Program : What is your definition of a great leader? [2]

Approaches to leadership can vary from person to person. What is your definition of a great leader? What are the strengths of your leadership style, and how can it be improved?

My leadership style

A leader is a person who is able to lead and guide themselves, other individuals, teams, or organizations. I do believe that everybody is a leader, eventhough they are not leading others. At least they are able to lead themselves in their own lives. But if we are talking about a great leader, of course it will be different, everybody has their own definitions. I do believe that being a great leader is an ability that is quite hard to attain and maintain. A great leader is someone who is able to combine both knowledge and practical skill. Someone will not be a great leader without the right amount of knowledge and only know how to work only. Likewise, a smart and knowledgeable person can not be a great leader without the ability to apply their knowledge.

In my opinion, a great leader is someone who is able to lead their team members but also work with them. He or she must be able to work amongst his or her members and socialize with them. Being a great leader, you should not just talk and command your members blindly. You should understand about the personality and ability of your team members in order to assign the suitable tasks for them. Being assigned with the suitable tasks makes the members work better and efficiently rather than being assigned with random tasks. Building a good relationship by showing care and willing to share experiences or expertises with team members is one of the thing that is needed to be done by a great leader in leading their team.

A great leader should know his or her working purpose in working together with others. By knowing their purpose, a great leader can share and connect his or her purpose to his or her members. It will make the members know that their works will contribute to the whole picture thus makes them working better and responsibly. Not only a purpose, a great leader should set goals in order to track their work progresses. A series of small to bigger goals should be set in order to make sure their works are still on line. In order to achieve those goals, a great leader should come up with list of top priorities that will help the leader and his or her team accomplish their goals.

My leadership style is that I am trying to encourage my team members to develop and grow together. I am working alongside them and trying to embrace them. By embracing them, our relationships will be stronger and our working atmosphere will be better and supportive. Stronger relationships ensure the loyalty and prosperity of my team members. I also use some care and discipline that our performance will be always on point and elevate my team members spirit. A thing that I want to improve from my style is that I want to also bring benefits for my environment, not only for my team members. Before, I tended to focus only on my team members and their perfomances. While to be a great leader, I should also bring benefits to people around me and improving my environment. In order to achieve that, I should increase my empathy and paying more attention to my surroundings. By doing that, I will be able to know what is happening in my environment and helping to solve problems in my environment.