Alumni Update: Indonesia
Rizki Permatasari, Global UGRAD 2013-2014 , University of Utah
When I reflect back on the three years since I have returned home, it is really amazing to see where life has taken me after Global UGRAD. I have taken several jobs, graduated, and participated in various volunteering activities.
Since late 2014, I have been working as a part-time TOEFL instructor at the Language Center of my home university, Universitas Syiah Kuala. The following year, I also worked for ICAIOS (International Center for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies) as a translator, and I interned at a public high school for a semester in early 2016. In February 2017, I finally graduated and earned a bachelor degree in English education.
My time in the U.S. has taught me the importance of giving back to the community. Therefore, in between jobs and school, I managed to share a little of my time to volunteer. I have mentored students, tutored children, and helped organize several local events. In addition, I was selected to represent Indonesia and participate in ASEAN Youth Volunteering Program last month. During the 27-day-program, I met 49 amazing youth leaders from all over Southeast Asia, tons of inspiring facilitators and speakers, as well as countless kind and helpful village people. Together we learned about Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and successfully conducted two earthquake drills in Bandung, Indonesia.
At the moment, I spend most of my days teaching and tutoring, working on getting funding to implement a DRR project in my hometown, Aceh, and applying for scholarships to pursue a master degree. Thank you Global UGRAD for being an important part of my adventure. I cannot wait to see where life will take me next!
Dery Rovino Global UGRAD 2013-14, Humboldt State University
Upon returning from California I completed a Bachelor of Education and graduated cum laude in the same year. I knew that pursuing further education was of the utmost paramount, should I wish to render greater positive impacts in my country. This vision provided the drive for me to fly to London in order to pursue a master’s degree for fall 2016, after my teaching role would be completed. I was accepted into a Master of Arts (MA) in Applied Linguistics program at the University College in London. My MA study was fully funded by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia (Kementerian Keuangan RI), under a merit-based scholarship scheme organized by the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan RI). I was intrigued by a certain form of affinity towards English language in Indonesia’s socioeconomic, political, and education sectors, which I later wrote an exploratory study in. This study then led me to an invitation for a paper presentation at the 1st International Conference on New Trends in English Language Teaching in Dubai in August 2017. My rather eccentric research topic created quite a stir among the academic delegates that attended the conference, and yet Professor Jack C. Richards provided positive feedback. I have completed all of the required MA modules, including the thesis project, and am now awaiting my graduation.