Hearing From Students: Outstanding Experiences

Become a student with a lot of achievements? Who doesn't want that? All students dream of many achievements they can be proud of when they graduate. However, many of them don't know the right way to prepare themselves to achieve many achievements.

Now, Unilife Untold has interviewed one of the students at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang, who has achieved achievements at the international level.

He was a student at the English Language Education Department, University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), Iftikhar Mumtaz Husnan, S.Pd., usually called "Harry". During his studies, Harry has participated in many activities, 3 of which he has recently participated in:

- Best Participant of SDGs Student Conference by SDGs Student Center UMM (2023)

- Awardee of International Credit Transfer by Kemendikbudristek RI (2022)

- Awardee of Virtual Cultural Exchange by Singapore Polytechnic International (2022)

With many valuable achievements and experiences, Harry found work very easily. Some of the jobs he has worked on are as a Part-Time Translator at the Public Relations of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (November 2022–September 2023) and a Translator at the Language Institute of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (September 2023–now).

Unilife Untold also asked about things related to activities he had participated in, along with an explanation from the outstanding student, Harry. 

1. What was your first determination to take part in a competition/event? 

"As an enthusiast person, I am eager to participate in those activities due to my motivation to build personal branding, so people can know who I am and what my passion is."

Personal branding, of course, is very important for the current generation, as seen in job applications, organizational applications, and internship applications, all of which look at the applicant's personal branding. 

2. What is the motivation that makes you interested in taking part in this activity?

"Basically, there are two types of motivation that encourage me. The first is intrinsic motivation, which comes from within me. For example, I need to join the activities because I must improve my self-quality. Meanwhile, the second is extrinsic motivation. Since this is the digital era, I sometime get inspired by several outstanding public figures like Jerome Polin and Maudy Ayunda. Overall, internal and external motivations are necessary to support me to get involved in useful programs."

Motivation from within is something that can move a person. To foster motivation from within, we need to have role models. In this case, Harry has the right and very appropriate role models, "Jerome Polin and Maudy Ayunda". Harry can make them an inspiration, and then Harry becomes an inspiration for many people. 

3. How do you convince yourself?

"To convince myself, I always believe that everything has its risks and rewards. What's wrong with trying something? Something we see challenging when we try will not as difficult as we think."

This is very important; to start convincing ourselves, we must take high risks. 

4. How do you feel if you fail?

"Facing failure may make me shocked. However, instead of focusing on it, I am better to reflect and contemplate. As my experience when applying for volunteer in the International Student Summit 2022, I was unsucessful in the interview process. After thorough contemplation, I realize that I was overqualified. It means that I also share others opportunity to develop. The lesson learned is life teaches me to share and care for others."

What is yours will never be exchanged for someone else's, and what is not yours, no matter how hard you try, you still won't get it. This was a principle held by Harry.

5. How do you get up?

"I believe to deal with failure is challenging; however, since I am an adaptive person, I believe that being rejected is normal. The most important thing to do is to focus on improving the quality of myself."

Instead of contemplating and continuing to mourn mistakes, trying to get up and correct mistakes can make our quality better.

6. What would you say to students who want to try but are afraid?

"Please maximise yourself while you are still young because youthful age does not come twice. During this age, we are still in good spirits, so utilize it!" 

The enthusiasm of young people is a burning spirit; for that reason, let the fire that lives in our spirit be the fire of love, love of learning, love of trying, love of defeat and victory, love of the environment and the people in it. 

7. One word for current students!

"Resilient!"

Resilient! is a closing word that has a lot of meaning. The journey of life, focusing on students, is certainly very winding. Occasionally, we encounter steep ravines, high hills that must be climbed, and endless tears. However, we must still be able to rise and not be afraid. One step at a time, it will become a meaningful story.

That's the result of Unilife Untold's interview with Harry, the Outstanding Student that you can take advantage of and make an example of.

You can write down the suggestions; who else would we like to interview?