Hello!
I am applying for Chevening scholarship and this is my answer for the leadership and influence essay.
Feel free to give your suggestions or corrections.
During my college days, I contributed in many kinds of teaching volunteers, lead a couple of college organizations and actively taught in a lot of non-formal institutions. When I was so active outside and rarely had time to go home, a reality hit me hard a year before I graduated in 2014. I was back to my home in Tangerang. It is not a small rural village, it is still located in one of the busiest city in Indonesia. However, the education has still not fairly covered for all major citizens. There were still lots of dropped outs who were unable to continue their education due to a funding matter. Learning problems were still commonly found among children who just entered school, mainly primary school. They started school without pre-education from their parents due to lack of knowledge. Meanwhile, it was an impossible thing for the parents to register their children to a kindergarten since it costed a lot of money. It resulted in a lot of children facing problems in reading and writing, also behavior problem. I felt the urgent need to do something.
Being the Chief of Event Division in the Youth Association. I decided to establish a cost-free learning center called "Pojok Belajar". The place used was a small building my family owned around the neighborhood. I started the learning center together with the members of Youth Association who were mostly college students. It took a lot of time and hard work to ensure them that this program will work, that it was not a time-wasting activity and will result in something positive. After it is settled and arranged, our initial focus was to help the children learn how to write and read.
It was not a smooth road to establish a learning institution in an environment where the people were still unaware about the importance of learning. As a leader, I need to encourage the volunteer as well as the students' parents to not give up when the children facing problems during the learning process. The education background that I have helps to set myself as their examples, coming the earliest and finished the latest, practicing teaching techniques, and doing lots of sharing sessions regarding our program. My responsibility is not ended in the volunteers itself. To manage the classroom well so that my class will be effective, I create the lesson plan and learning media. I designed the media mostly by myself, it is one way to influence the students to be creative.
It has been 4 years since the program has first started, 2 students have become 98 students. 3 volunteers have become 10 teachers who came from different background, college students, employees, even housewives. The number of textbooks we owned have been multiplied thanks to the donors and coverage from local media. The program is now widely known and a lot of people participate in funding. Moreover, our initial plan has achieved, for the people, especially parents, to realize the importance of learning and educating their children.
I am applying for Chevening scholarship and this is my answer for the leadership and influence essay.
Feel free to give your suggestions or corrections.
"Pojok Belajar" project
During my college days, I contributed in many kinds of teaching volunteers, lead a couple of college organizations and actively taught in a lot of non-formal institutions. When I was so active outside and rarely had time to go home, a reality hit me hard a year before I graduated in 2014. I was back to my home in Tangerang. It is not a small rural village, it is still located in one of the busiest city in Indonesia. However, the education has still not fairly covered for all major citizens. There were still lots of dropped outs who were unable to continue their education due to a funding matter. Learning problems were still commonly found among children who just entered school, mainly primary school. They started school without pre-education from their parents due to lack of knowledge. Meanwhile, it was an impossible thing for the parents to register their children to a kindergarten since it costed a lot of money. It resulted in a lot of children facing problems in reading and writing, also behavior problem. I felt the urgent need to do something.
Being the Chief of Event Division in the Youth Association. I decided to establish a cost-free learning center called "Pojok Belajar". The place used was a small building my family owned around the neighborhood. I started the learning center together with the members of Youth Association who were mostly college students. It took a lot of time and hard work to ensure them that this program will work, that it was not a time-wasting activity and will result in something positive. After it is settled and arranged, our initial focus was to help the children learn how to write and read.
It was not a smooth road to establish a learning institution in an environment where the people were still unaware about the importance of learning. As a leader, I need to encourage the volunteer as well as the students' parents to not give up when the children facing problems during the learning process. The education background that I have helps to set myself as their examples, coming the earliest and finished the latest, practicing teaching techniques, and doing lots of sharing sessions regarding our program. My responsibility is not ended in the volunteers itself. To manage the classroom well so that my class will be effective, I create the lesson plan and learning media. I designed the media mostly by myself, it is one way to influence the students to be creative.
It has been 4 years since the program has first started, 2 students have become 98 students. 3 volunteers have become 10 teachers who came from different background, college students, employees, even housewives. The number of textbooks we owned have been multiplied thanks to the donors and coverage from local media. The program is now widely known and a lot of people participate in funding. Moreover, our initial plan has achieved, for the people, especially parents, to realize the importance of learning and educating their children.
