Scholarship / Being A Student, A Daughter, A Human Being, and Everything in Between [2]

Describe a time that you had to overcome a challenge or difficulty in your life.

How did you resolve the situation? What did you learn from the experience and how did it change you?

When my beloved mother passed away in March 2021, I was occupied with many workloads since it was midterm week. At that time, there was a group project consisting of only two people. My mom passed the night before the deadline, and I still need to finish doing the parts we have split. I decided to do a quick research, write the points of ideas I was trying to convey, and briefly study the data that supported the theories. Then, I asked my colleague to back me up by filling in the details of the ideas I pointed to and arranging them in a structured order of paragraphs. Luckily, he was willing to back me up.

From that moment on, I learned to train my mind to think quickly of solutions, even in times of despair. Some friends said I was hard on myself for still putting work into my assignments during grief. However, I believe that we, as leaders of ourselves, should know that we have many roles in our lives. As a daughter, I lost my mom and should take time to grieve. But as a student, I still have the responsibility to inform and confirm my condition to the person I work with professionally, at the very least. Also, I realized that my mom-who had been an enormous help in her vital role in my growth and education-would want me to be adaptable in many situations.

As we all know, grief lasts a lifetime-especially when one is left by a parent, a primary role in a kid's life. Due to that, for a year-long, I was still occasionally getting grief triggers that would usually affect me psychologically. Not wanting it to affect my daily activities in pursuing my goals academically or non-academically, I braced myself to seek professional help. However, I knew it would cost me money. I was worried my savings wouldn't be ample, considering I'm still a student.

After doing my research in my university by looking for things by myself and asking my academic advisor, I gladly found out that my university has a free counseling service held by the Faculty of Psychology. After registering for the service, the liaison officer informed me about the one-on-one counseling schedule. Long story short, my first session exceeded my expectations. The psychologist made it comfortable for me to be vulnerable and clearly expressed why I needed help. He gave me a fruitful analysis of my condition and how I could commonly lessen the triggers to function best again in my activities, predominantly as a student.

After having several sessions in a month, in the last one, the psychologist mentioned how significant my progress was and how proud he was of me. In his words, I was emotionally intelligent for being aware of my condition. Since then, I have been grateful that I had the courage to listen to myself and what I've been feeling, treating and leading myself in the right direction, which can be seen by my bravery to seek the help of others in the first place.

All in all, my time of difficulties changed me for the better because hurdles guided my mind and heart to find solutions, be sensitive to things happening around me and within me, think to work through situations, and be adjustable in many circumstances.

With my ability to adapt to unexpected and sudden changes and be aware of myself and my surroundings, I would enjoy and be suitable for cross-cultural interactions with everyone I would meet in the U.S. and fellow Global UGRAD awardees from all across the globe.

Undergraduate / Serving and Nurturing People as A Journalism Student [3]

The Global UGRAD Program is for young leaders committed to serving their home communities.

Why would you be a great participant in the Global UGRAD Program?

"And, kid, that's how I learned that a better life is earned," my dad said after telling me why we moved to Jakarta. Born and raised in a small village in North Sulawesi, my parents' dream was for their kids to earn a better education in a big city. However, after succeeding in pursuing it, my parents never wanted us to be rats fleeing a sinking ship. Therefore, I was built with the mentality to be proud of the culture of communities. I was engaged in an Angklung extracurricular in kindergarten, a traditional instrument from West Java, making it the first instrument I have ever learned. Fast forward to my senior year in high school, I led my Sociology group project by choreographing Si Patokaan, a folk song from my hometown. I was elated to perform this song because of the depth of its meaning. It is about a son who departed from his hometown to a big city to pursue success with the prayers of his parents.

Fast forward to college life, I have been contributing to several activities, all with the same goal: to serve and nurture people. Being a freshman during the exacerbation of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I kicked off as a fundraising volunteer at Kita Bersama, a social-based community, to help people all over Indonesia who were financially impacted by the pandemic. I worked by raising awareness through my socials about the campaign and encouraging people to contribute to the charity. Submitted Rp 200.000.000 in total, the team's success was worth the sweat and tears.

In the next semester, I was also the vice leader of the competition field at Epicentrum, my faculty's biggest communication festival. Not easily satisfied with my experiences, last July, I led more than 50 individuals by taking the role of head of the event field at Unpad Awards, a safe place to appreciate the organizations and students of Padjadjaran University for their hard work the whole year. Both experiences taught me that working with people needs precise communication skills and emotion management. I learned to be a leader who leads, not a boss who dictates.

One of the most remarkable opportunities I have got this year is being on the selection committee for the task force against sexual violence in the campus environment. I arranged, assessed, and took part in recommending the best applicants along with two other students and lecturers from various faculties. Taking a significant role in preventing and handling sexual harassment around campus, an urgent issue by the Ministry of Education, I comprehended the importance of using my knowledge to voice the voiceless. After months of working together, we objectively selected and established the task force for sexual prevention and handling at Padjadjaran University.

After several contributions to my university, I still seek to impact by bringing great lessons from my soon-to-be host university in the U.S. To actualize it, I need to establish a bonding relationship with the people in the host university. As a journalism student who aims to be an international journalist, I plan to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the U.S. newspaper media and compare the Indonesian press with the U.S. lecturers. Thus, once I get back, I will share the insights with the lecturers in my home university since many of them are also practitioners as journalists in various Indonesian media. Moreover, I seek to attend extracurricular activities related to media and journalism to expand the skills that would benefit me in the future. With these plans, I would be a great participant in the Global UGRAD program.