Prompt : Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way.
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My father is the most dedicating person I've ever known. When doing something, he doesn't expect any return; all he expects is merely good impact to the community. He wanted to give his best, not to get the best. For eleven years, I saw him going to work at 4 a.m. and commuting 100 kilometers away everyday to go to work, something you wouldn't find in any other teachers. Yet he still involved himself much further beyond teacher's duties in his community. He iss only a physical education teacher, but he has revolutionized school health system in Jombang, the city where he previously taught before he was finally transferred to Madiun, my family's city of residence, last year.
Growing up with such dedicating person, I found my values and principles were altered. I felt ashamed to be selfish. I judge people based on their dedication in things they care about. I want to give the best to my community and leave signatures in everything I am involved.
Besides altering my perspective, my father taught me how to win honor; that honor can only be won not by mere ambition, but also by dedication, for mere ambition will only lead to jealousy and hatred. Proven by the award my father received from the Minister of Environment, I learned that dedication will eventually brings you honor; ambition was only to make it faster. I practiced them, and as the result, I held leadership positions in clubs and organizations I was / am involved. I was the captain of my school debate team and 10th division of the student government, and now I am the secretary of Pakandayu, the organization of tourism ambassadors of my city.
The most precious lesson I learned from my father is not to let circumstances prevent me from contributing to my community and achieving my goals. Just like his position as regular high school teacher didn't prevent him from revolutionizing school health system in the entire city, I do not let my limited resources prevent me from achieving my goals.
To pursue my goals, I can rarely depend on anyone except myself; I have to act. I don't have much money to do charity, so I conducted fundraisers. My school couldn't fund events because it charged no tuition, so I looked for sponsors to fund my school's events. There's no debate coach in Madiun, so I trained my debate team with merely my experience as guide. I self-trained for the regional selection of the National Science Olympiad in Informatics because I was out of teacher's radar.
I achieved most of my goals. However, my ultimate goal, which is to be a world-class computer engineer and make works that impact globally, is still far from my reach. I can't self-train for this ; one needs world -class mentor and resources to be a world-class in something. Thus, my plan after high school graduation is to go to university with world-class faculty, resources, and adequate research opportunities for undergraduates, which currently doesn't exist in Indonesia. I have to go abroad.
Usually, such plan is only possible for rich kids living in big cities and going to expensive international schools. They have money, access, and guide to reach it, while regular students (including I) usually have none, despite that many of them actually possess exceptional skills and intelligence. But if I succeed in pursuing this plan, everyone in my community will at least have a guide to pursue the same.
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My father is the most dedicating person I've ever known. When doing something, he doesn't expect any return; all he expects is merely good impact to the community. He wanted to give his best, not to get the best. For eleven years, I saw him going to work at 4 a.m. and commuting 100 kilometers away everyday to go to work, something you wouldn't find in any other teachers. Yet he still involved himself much further beyond teacher's duties in his community. He iss only a physical education teacher, but he has revolutionized school health system in Jombang, the city where he previously taught before he was finally transferred to Madiun, my family's city of residence, last year.
Growing up with such dedicating person, I found my values and principles were altered. I felt ashamed to be selfish. I judge people based on their dedication in things they care about. I want to give the best to my community and leave signatures in everything I am involved.
Besides altering my perspective, my father taught me how to win honor; that honor can only be won not by mere ambition, but also by dedication, for mere ambition will only lead to jealousy and hatred. Proven by the award my father received from the Minister of Environment, I learned that dedication will eventually brings you honor; ambition was only to make it faster. I practiced them, and as the result, I held leadership positions in clubs and organizations I was / am involved. I was the captain of my school debate team and 10th division of the student government, and now I am the secretary of Pakandayu, the organization of tourism ambassadors of my city.
The most precious lesson I learned from my father is not to let circumstances prevent me from contributing to my community and achieving my goals. Just like his position as regular high school teacher didn't prevent him from revolutionizing school health system in the entire city, I do not let my limited resources prevent me from achieving my goals.
To pursue my goals, I can rarely depend on anyone except myself; I have to act. I don't have much money to do charity, so I conducted fundraisers. My school couldn't fund events because it charged no tuition, so I looked for sponsors to fund my school's events. There's no debate coach in Madiun, so I trained my debate team with merely my experience as guide. I self-trained for the regional selection of the National Science Olympiad in Informatics because I was out of teacher's radar.
I achieved most of my goals. However, my ultimate goal, which is to be a world-class computer engineer and make works that impact globally, is still far from my reach. I can't self-train for this ; one needs world -class mentor and resources to be a world-class in something. Thus, my plan after high school graduation is to go to university with world-class faculty, resources, and adequate research opportunities for undergraduates, which currently doesn't exist in Indonesia. I have to go abroad.
Usually, such plan is only possible for rich kids living in big cities and going to expensive international schools. They have money, access, and guide to reach it, while regular students (including I) usually have none, despite that many of them actually possess exceptional skills and intelligence. But if I succeed in pursuing this plan, everyone in my community will at least have a guide to pursue the same.