Journey From Elementary to University

I was born and I grew up in Palembang City, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia Country. I finished my elementary school, my junior and senior high school, and my college, all there in beloved-city Palembang. Now on, I live in a small developing city in West Java, that is Depok.

I studied in two different Elementary Schools. I studied in SD Kartika 2 Palembang untill 3rd class and continued the next classes in SD N 5 Palembang (now its number is changed, I forget what). My elementary school period was started in 1990 and ended in 1996.

My junior high school period (1996 – 1999) was in SLTP N 2 Palembang, located right in front of SD N 5 Palembang. There was nothing special happened in these years except that I found my first love here. A beautiful girl whose name means “Apple”. We are still in contact now as friends.

The best period of my formal education was my senior high school, from 1999 to 2002 in SMU N 1 Palembang. Here I found the meaning of friends. I did not only spend my time studying here but also enjoying the beauty of friendship. I was an active student. I was busy in school organizations. I was the vice-chief of ROHIS (School Islamic Organization) and the chief of Division I (Religion) of OSIS (School’s Internal Student-Organization). I arranged the Ramadhan Islamic Short Course (Pesantren Kilat) in 2000. It was a school-routine activity on every Ramadhan or fasting month which took 7 days in the week two of Ramadhan. I was busy also as a player (midfielder position) in football club, one of the school extra-curricular. In last October 2000, my friends and I (Trio) were delegated to join an English Quiz Contest held by English Forum For Economic Students of Sriwijaya University. We won the third place. The fun thing joining this contest was we were able to beat college student in the quarter-final. And in Mid-June 2001, I was delegated again with different friends (still in trio) to join another English Quiz Contest which, this time only for SMU Students, was held by Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of PGRI University Palembang. Again we were the third winner. What I was happy about joining this contest was we were able to ‘knock out’ the teams from favorite school in the first round. All activities in organization were ended when I had been already in the 3rd class (science class) preparing for National University Selection Test or in Indonesia Seleksi Penerimaan Mahasiswa Baru (SPMB) 2002.

I was accepted in Sriwijaya University (UNSRI), Department of Chemical Engineering which was my second choice in SPMB 2002. This university has two campuses. One is in Bukit Besar Palembang and another one is in Indralaya Ogan Ilir. The campus in Bukit Besar is for Non Reguler or Extension Students (S1 Non-SPMB students) while the campus in Indralaya is for Reguler Students (S1 SPMB Students). I lived in Palembang. Palembang and Indralaya is +/- 32-Km-distance separated. It takes about 45 minutes to go on Campus Bus from Palembang to Indralaya. So I, and other UNSRI reguler students who live in Palembang, will spent about 90 minutes go-and-back on Campus Bus every day except Saturday and Sunday. It was a tiring moment for me in the first time I become UNSRI students. But I got accustomed to this daily routine in one month.

I am a kind of active person. Therefore, in the first semester of my college, I was quite active in the Chemical Engineering Student Association (in Bahasa : Ikatan Mahasiswa Teknik Kimia). In this first semester, I followed the ChE Student Congress to revise the association’s rules and principles and to select the next association head for period 2002-2003. I was involved as the staff of section sport in this period with one of the programs was IMATEK Soccer League. In the next period 2003-2004, I was in charge of section education. One of my programs was to socialize my department to high schools (public and private) in Palembang and Indralaya. For the next two periods, I was not involved anymore in the association for some reasons.

From September 2003 to September 2005, I worked as the lecturer assistant in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory. My duties, some to mention, were to give students explanation about the experiments; To guide students in conducting experiments; To check the student's report of the experiment done a week before. While from February 2006 to February 2007, I was the lecturer assistant in the Applied Chemical Engineering Laboratory with duties not much more different from the above onces I had mentioned.

To be graduated from my department in Sriwijaya University, I had to pass three obligatory steps. First was internship in a chemical industry. Second was conducting a research on related field. And the third was the final report. For this report, a student had to make preliminary-design of a new chemical plant from making the process flow diagram logically, mass balances, heat balances, equipment specifications, organization structure, economic analyses, and other related things. All calculations had to be attached to the report. It was a hard job to do moreover if it was done alone as I did, but it was a very-good job for a ChE student because almost all chemical engineering knowledge are applied to this job.

I did my internship from September 5 to October 5, 2005 in PT. PERTAMINA Refinery Unit (in Bahasa : Unit Pengolahan) II, Dumai, Riau, with report title : “Evaluation of Pre-Heater Train B Performance in Crude Distillation Unit”. My research was conducted from February 10 to April 20, 2006, with report title : “Producing Bioethanol from Kulim Sawdust Using Hydrolization-Fermentation Method”. For my final report, I composed it for six months from November 2006 to April 2007. It was a hard months in my life. Everyday was dedicated for finishing this report. And the struggle was paid with the report title : “Preliminary Design of Hydrogen Plant Using Low Pressure Gasification of Rubber Wood”. Finally, I graduated from Chemical Engineering Department of Sriwijaya University on May 10, 2007 and the ceremony of graduation was on June 28, 2007. Thanks God!!