Hi, I'm writing this essay for Chevening Scholarship application. The deadline is close by. I would greatly appreciate your reviews :)
Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
My most memorable leadership experience was when I became the vice-coordinator of human resources division of Social Act, a community work in the rural area for 700 freshmen of the faculty for a few days in 2014. My project officer wanted us to go to a fishing village for the first time after three consecutive years visiting farming villages. The idea was frowned upon, as we have surveyed some nearby fishing villages and saw that those villages were extremely dirty, with human feces on the sand, barely any sanitation facility, lack of clean waters, and the goats ate plastic wastes.
We almost gave up, but the urges to really show the condition of fishing villages remained strong. I persisted for a fishing village. I went to the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries asking for advices on choosing the village. They were, surprisingly, delighted and concluded that cooperation might be possible as it they have projects to do there but they lack the human resources. They gave us the database of potential fishing villages and told us to come back later after we decided.
We went on a survey to Pelabuhan Ratu district on a deep heavy traffic. After five hours passed, we were still halfway there. We almost gave up but I persisted that it would be such a waste if we went back. "at least let's just visit the beach and then we are free to go back," I remembered pleading.
Fortunately, the village there had sufficient clean water, even though the beach was still dirty and there were still many human feces on the beaches sand; and the goats still ate plastic wastes. Well, clean and sufficient water was just enough.
But it was not enough yet for our other teammates, and more surveys were required before they could approve. Being a girl who could drive a car among limited potential drivers I ended up having to drive there from Depok to Pelabuhan Ratu all by myself. With eight passengers, traffic jam and bulky roads right at the side of a cliff. We arrived at the cliffside during sunset. I panicked as it would be more dangerous in the dark: what if I could not see the sides of the roads? Deviate slightly and fall over the cliff it is. I was in hurry and then my wheel tires broke. The boys in the car did not understanding anything about car so they just remained silent watching my despair.
Still I kept on my belief to choose that village. After several surveys and after-class night meetings later, the others eventually agreed to go there after going through deep problem mitigations. It became the first Social Act of Faculty of Economics and Business University of Indonesia to go to a fishing village, got awarded for Indonesian World Records as a social work learning for freshmen with a highest number of participants, and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries were happy with our executed cooperation.
LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE QUESTION
Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
My most memorable leadership experience was when I became the vice-coordinator of human resources division of Social Act, a community work in the rural area for 700 freshmen of the faculty for a few days in 2014. My project officer wanted us to go to a fishing village for the first time after three consecutive years visiting farming villages. The idea was frowned upon, as we have surveyed some nearby fishing villages and saw that those villages were extremely dirty, with human feces on the sand, barely any sanitation facility, lack of clean waters, and the goats ate plastic wastes.
We almost gave up, but the urges to really show the condition of fishing villages remained strong. I persisted for a fishing village. I went to the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries asking for advices on choosing the village. They were, surprisingly, delighted and concluded that cooperation might be possible as it they have projects to do there but they lack the human resources. They gave us the database of potential fishing villages and told us to come back later after we decided.
We went on a survey to Pelabuhan Ratu district on a deep heavy traffic. After five hours passed, we were still halfway there. We almost gave up but I persisted that it would be such a waste if we went back. "at least let's just visit the beach and then we are free to go back," I remembered pleading.
Fortunately, the village there had sufficient clean water, even though the beach was still dirty and there were still many human feces on the beaches sand; and the goats still ate plastic wastes. Well, clean and sufficient water was just enough.
But it was not enough yet for our other teammates, and more surveys were required before they could approve. Being a girl who could drive a car among limited potential drivers I ended up having to drive there from Depok to Pelabuhan Ratu all by myself. With eight passengers, traffic jam and bulky roads right at the side of a cliff. We arrived at the cliffside during sunset. I panicked as it would be more dangerous in the dark: what if I could not see the sides of the roads? Deviate slightly and fall over the cliff it is. I was in hurry and then my wheel tires broke. The boys in the car did not understanding anything about car so they just remained silent watching my despair.
Still I kept on my belief to choose that village. After several surveys and after-class night meetings later, the others eventually agreed to go there after going through deep problem mitigations. It became the first Social Act of Faculty of Economics and Business University of Indonesia to go to a fishing village, got awarded for Indonesian World Records as a social work learning for freshmen with a highest number of participants, and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries were happy with our executed cooperation.