GKS application essay
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My name is Raihan Affifathul zahra, which is mean fragrance of holy flowers. Just like my name, I really hope to become a blooming flower which essence can be used to fragrant everything around me. Growing up in a family of 5, my parents have been supportive throughout my life. I am a middle child with 2 sisters and we get along really well. When I was young, my parents always stressed the importance of family. I learned to be polite toward everyone. I am good at making people feel comfortable around me because I can lighten tense situations or comfort them when they are sad. My parents never doubted me when serving guests because they knew they would leave with a good impression of me.
I became a sanitation envoy for my district in middle school. This experience helped me understand that I really enjoyed researching and explaining complex issues to people who had little knowledge about it. Approaching public to do better based on their knowledge about sanitation was an experience I really enjoyed. That also made me realize how much I love public speaking.
Having lived in a dormitory for three years during high school, I've had the chance to learn so many things. I've learnt new languages and cultures, as well as distinct characteristics of people. All these experiences have changed my perspective on several aspects of life, which ultimately shaped who I am now.
Debate immediately drew me in the first year of high school. When I first joined debate team, how little I knew about communication really shocked me. As a student who had always been proud of his communication skills, it made me reevaluate my abilities. I was once told that to become a great communicator, I need to first understand what my audience wants to hear. After I know that, then it is my job to deliver the information in a way that my audience will understand it. This creates more of a connection with them. The results from following this advice were beyond my expectations. And I apply this advice to my everyday life ever since.
In sophomore year, my school held an entrepreneurship event(October-December 2018) where we had to start a small business with $70. They paired us into groups of four and the challenge was that we had to turn back half of the money to our school. As a team leader,I applied what I learned about communication in debate on this issue. First, I tried to see the aspect of the buyers-my schoolmates-what they required most and what was trendy and practical for them. And from the sellers' aspect; the most available things around us, and things that easily made by us, are beverages. And therefore we chose them. Another brilliant point is because no other competitor sells any drinks at all because they all chose to sell junk food. And true to my expectation, we gained the highest first-day sales due to people's curiosity and need of our products. By the end of the day, we had made much more profit than what we expected. This Entrepreurship program made me realize I want to pursue strategic communication and I know I have potential in it.
In my role as the leader of a debate division committee in our school's annual science, art and literature competition- Smart on Brilliant(February 2019), I use critical thinking to create new strategies, I consider where participants are from, how long it is comfortable for them to stay in our school and whether they have experience debating before,making our division has had the most participants in six years. I understand how much I've taken the quote "The key to good relationships is communication." and how much more there is to it than just that, because there are so many other things you can take from it.
I have a lot of activities in my life aside from all the regular school work. I'm thrilled to say that I still have a delicate balance in academics and extracurriculars. I won the English Debate Competition at the Regional level by Industry Engineering of Syiah Kuala University in 1st grade(2018). In second grade, I got a 4th place in District-level National Schools Debating Competition(2018) and 3rd place for district-level of Indonesian National Science Olympiad in math(2019) both by the Ministry of Education. All 3 years of my high school , I tutored English for my classmates in night class. In addition, I assisted the math and debate teams for two years each. As a senior, I became an RA(Resident Assistant) in the dorms. Even though being a year younger than most of my peers, it didn't keep me from making friends with them all.
My experience really satisfied me. The work I did wasn't particularly difficult, but it was still challenging and rewarding to complete. It made me feel like I had learned something new about communication. So, that's how I want to study it more in college. But in my country, communication major isn't popular and internships aren't wide. I think it was an actual sign from God that I planned to apply for GKS years before I realized that communication is the major I want.
Back in Middle School, I found GKS scholarship through an English online test that I take, it drew me in because I knew South Korea sit at Top 5 in term of best Higher Education System in the world. It is always been my dream to study abroad with a scholarship to lessen financial pressure since my dad is the only one working in our family,I also want to see what's the world have for me. I am really glad that years later when I found a desire in communication and PR, South Korea is a well-recommended country for said study. (top 16).
South Korea is known for its media scape, or media landscape, and how well the approach of mass communication is. The country's highest literacy rate (97% literate population) allows for easy access to information through newspapers, radio, internet, etc. And even though the population is small compared to other countries in Asia-Pacific region, the citizens are well-educated to be active consumers of media products. It helps in easing ways to communication through literary media with so much literature around them.
Younger people in South Korea want to be good at English so they can land a good job. As a result, the rising number of people studying English is increasing globalization and making South Korea more internationally integrated. I believe that language is something we need to overcome to have better education because the more languages you know, the better your education is.
Second, The South Korean press draws almost 80 percent of its revenue from advertising. This high rate of dependence on advertising means potential power over the media by sponsors, which can influence what is reported and how it is presented. It also creates a job market for advertisers and journalists alike, which helps stabilize the economic value in commerce. In fact, South Korea is a country with the most success history economic growth by media in Asia. I also want to study in South Korea because of nationalism and cultural similarities with Indonesia, so it is easier for me to understand the public familiarly.
Global Korea Scholarship program will give me an opportunity to learn from the best university in my subject of interest-communication. I'll be able to focus and give my best on my studies and gain more knowledge on communication. As a future professional, I hope to strengthen Indonesia and South Korea's relationship through communications. My goal is to bring what I know, and what I learned from GKS, back home so that I can make a brighter future for my hometown.
