Your School should get credit first

[Published in The Jakarta Post Oktober 17, 2010] The National Final Exams will be conducted in the next seven months. As a student of Grade 9, I have to prepare myself as early as possible for it. As the exams get closer, Bimbingan Belajar or Private Tuition centers to prepare for the exams are mushrooming. The short form of Bimbingan Belajar is ‘Bimbel’.

For many of my 9^th Grade friends, the latest fad is to discuss which is the best ‘Bimbel’ to choose!

Having attended a free trial of one such center, I have to admit that ‘Bimbel’ is quite helpful. The trainer gave the students a few tips and tricks to solve examination questions, which are normally not given in school. It is no wonder therefore, that almost all the students in my school are joining ‘Bimbel’, even though the school has already allocated extra hours for intensive preparation.

What is my chief concern now is that many students do not have the confidence to face the national exams without joining ‘Bimbel’ – even if they have been doing well enough at school!

This could be because they place too much faith in the claims made by some centers. These centers say that most of the students who performed well in the national exams owed their success to ‘Bimbel’. These students too, when they passed the exam, gave their thanks and credit to ‘Bimbel’ first, and not to their school.

Somehow I feel there’s something wrong in this. Don’t you think it should be the other way around? No doubt ‘Bimbel’ is a great place to help you prepare, but shouldn’t we give credit first and foremost to our schools for training us? We should be proud of our schools and thank them for enriching our lives.

I myself am not joining ‘Bimbel’ because of its high tuition fee, which is unaffordable for me. However, if for some reason I can afford to join it later, I think I would give my first thanks to my school for my three years of learning there. Only after that would I acknowledge the help of ‘Bimbel’ for equipping me with lot of tricks to help me pass the National Final Exams!

Connector

The Climate Project Indonesia (TCP ID) telah memilih Anda sebagai satu diantara 250 peseta dari 1500 peminat untuk mengikuti Pelatihan tentang Perubahan Iklim - Grand Connector Training. Pada Sabtu, 24 April 2010 di Hotel Sari Pan Pacific. (Photos courtesy of Ibnu Nadjib and My mom)

Pertama membaca undangannya, dilema juga, karena pada hari itu, kelasku, kelas VIII-5 akan mengadakan field trip ke kOta tua. Dari dulu aku sudah pingin jalan bareng dengan teman-teman ku, Azca, Denin, Desi, Alysha, Indi, Cindy (walaupun ternyata akhirnya kita sama-sama ga ikut ya), Gerhana, Emil, Raka, Fajrin, Alvin juga yang lain. Tapi ikut acara ini...tentu akan menambah pengalaman dan pengetahuan baru buat ku.


Dan ternyata acaranya memang seru banget, mas Ariseno Ridhwan dari Metro TV yang jadi MC membawakan acara dengan seru... asik... Materi yang diberikan semua tentang Perubahan Iklim, mulai dari Penyebab, Solusi, Kesepakatan Internasional juga menghadapi para penentang dan tan kupa tentunya Overview tentang apa itu TCP ID (The Climate Project Indonesia) dan Connector. TCP didirikan tahun 2006 oleh The Hon. Al Gore, MAntan Wakil Presiden Amerika Serikat dan Pemenang Hadiah Nobel Perdamaian.

Yang seru, di dalam ballroom itu, jumlah 250 orang tidak terasa banyak, apalagi ketika kami dibagi perkelompok, masing-masing terdiri dari 10 orang. Di kelompok ku aku jadi bisa belajar banyak, ada ani Mardiastuti (pengajar IPB), Dwi Yani SM (travel Writter), Eriza Triono (staff Marketing), Fajar Yasmin (editir in chief iklimcarbon), Gracia Emerentiana (konsultan), Sabela Gayo (lawyer) Transtoto Handadhari (Ketua Umum Yayasan GreenNETWORK Ind) dan Wijiyatmi (LSM Gita Pertiwi Solo).... seru deh... aku juga dapet teman baru dari smp .... , ada mbak Nita Murjani pengajar BPK Penabur Bogor, .... dan Puteri Indonesia, wow... membuat acara jadi semakin meriah....

Nah, inilah catatan kecilku dari acara Sabtu kemarin....Setelah ini, sebagai Connector, aku harus bisa memahami akan pentingnya krisis iklim dan merubah sikap, perilaku agar menjadi bagian dari solusi, lalu aku harus mempromosikannya pada teman-teman, keluarga dan siapa saja yang peduli dengan lingkungan.

My inspiring teacher

Akhirnya Jum'at, 23 Oktober 2009 tiba, saat penyerahan The Muse Award dari The Jakarta Post. Banyak banget pengalaman yang bisa kupetik, apalagi karena aku penerima award satu-satunya dari SMP Negeri. Para pemenang lain adalah dari International School, baik dari Jakarta juga dari Salatiga.

Selain itu, aku juga jadi mengenal lebih dekat dengan wali kelasku, Ibu Wastio, yang ternyata baik, baik dan baik banget...

Selama acara berlangsung, bertemu dengan The Jakarta Post Community, juga sepanjang perjalanan ulangalik Rambutan-Palmerah dengan Bu Wastio, Bu Uly dan Bapak, menyadarkan ku bahwa bagaimanapun juga english adalah mutlak.

Semoga aku bisa terus diingatkan.

The youngest winner

Tanggal 1 September 2009, tepatnya di Wisma Bumi PuteraLt.22 Pengumuman Resmi Pemenang Lomba Penulisan Cerpen dan Esai Asuransi Jiwa Bersama Bumiputera di umumkan, ( yang ini pengumuman versi Om Jo yang ini dari fb Tante Ana), yang ini dari Kompas.

Senang, jadi tambah pengalaman baru lagi. Bertemu dengan Dewan Direksi AJB Bumi Putera, tim panitia penyelenggara, mbak-mba dan mas-mas sesama pemenang dan juga para sastrawan penggiat Paguyuban Sastra Rabu Malam (PaSar MaLam) Bulungan, Jakarta. Om Johanes, Om Kurnia Efendi dan beberapa lain yang nyentrik-nyentrik, suka deh liatnya...

Yang lebih seru lagi ketika ternyata, dari tulisanku itu aku adalah The Youngest Winner!! Wah.... bangganya....

(buat Tante Ana dan Om Bamby, fotonya better than my mom's, boleh ku pake ya Tan, Om..., tq..)

Thanks God, I Won

Dedicated to my English teacher, Mam. Alder and Mrs.Wastio

I am proud of my school

Smart Inside, Happy Outside
(The Jakarta Post, Minggu 22 Maret 2009)


People spend a lot of time indoors every day. We spend about six hours in the classroom, after which we spend all our time at home - eating, playing, sleeping, and of course, staring at our computer monitors!

When do we take the time to enjoy the outdoors?

Getting out of doors can improve one’s health. The fresh air cleanses our lungs. We can begin to breathe more deeply, which in turn brings more oxygen to our cells. The increased oxygen produces more energy to do the things we need to do. More oxygen also brings greater clarity to the brain!

Thus we need fresh air. But wouldn’t you agree with me that the air around us is polluted? Among other things, it contains chemicals produced by cars, factories, malls, and also from many schools with their air conditioning.

Despite everything, believe it or not, I found fresh air in my school.

I study in a beautiful school - SMPN 103. Other schools may boast of tall buildings. Mine is surrounded by trees, various kinds of flowers, and a fish pond. We even have a coop of white chickens and small birds! The school has been built on the original land, and not on a cemented surface. So that is an aid in anti-flooding too.

We have taken our own steps to reduce global warming. When we are in the classroom, we study with the windows open. During recess, we play outside. Without air conditioning in our school, we let fresh air work its magic on us. We can chit-chat with the animals and plants around us. Now that’s what I call “smart inside, happy outside”. I am proud of my school.

We can freely take a deep breath of fresh air because the air around us is an essential ingredient to all life and our health.