The Story of Ilmi: Failed in a competition, Get a Scholarship in Japan for Two Years

Intro

It is 2021 when my co-worker says to me: I believe that 90% of the female students do like Korean-related content. 

Ever wonder what the favorite show from the other 10%?

Let me tell you one of them. She is my student, named Adzkiya Ilmi Zahida, from XI IPS 2.

“I am not into Korean-related content“

Disclaimer: I am not in the position of saying that students who watch a lot of Korean-related content are bad. Here, what I am trying to say is, you will achieve a formidable result if you can combine two things: know what to do, and know how to do it.

Liking Korean-related content is like an epidemic among female students. They will sacrifice almost everything just to watch/see them perform. Many students even dream of watching Exo live performances, even though it will cost them dearly.

That’s why I still remember how shocked I was one day when I asked one of my Bina Prestasi students: Ilmi. I know that as a Bina Prestasi student, she must have something different compared to other students, nevertheless, not liking Korean-related content is something out of my list.

“I don’t like Korean movies” she said.

 “So what’s your favorite series?” I asked her curiously

From this point, I know she is a student with a different mindset. Alas, I continue with the question of “why?”

“TED talk”, a short but meaningful answer, indeed.

She added “I watch TED talk because I can see how they expertly deliver the speeches”

From this point, I know that she is a different breed of a student. I know that she has passion in speech competition. So what she is doing is correct. She the embodiment of knowing “what I shoud do”

But, she continued with a sentence that struck my heart.

She said “I want to win at least one national speech contest ustadz”

Hearing her wish, I honestly didn’t have an answer at that moment. Speech competition is always jam-packed with a good competitor. You may say it is one of the most saturated competition as anyone wants to join it. Furthermore, as the theme is announced long before the D-day, everyone is trained themselves as hard as possible to the point where they can speak perfectly.

As a teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure that, I can give her the chance to join a competition. I say, all right, let’s join this and join that competition. Winning or losing is just a matter of certificate, and rightly so.

The High, and Low

Well, the story continues with the fact that we have joined 3 competitions for 8 months. It was exhausting really, complete with highs and lows.

The first one was the 24thNational ALSA English Competition, Universitas Indonesia. To my knowledge, this is one of the most prestigious and well-known competitions. The topic was quite difficult: we have to write a paper about improving education in Indonesia. It seemed obvious but quite complicated as we have to write a paper, not a speech. Fundamentally, we must make it like a research paper.

I still remember days with lack of sleep, bouncing ideas, and having discussions with Ilmi. The deadline was quite tight for us. We were not even able to make a fancy PowerPoint slide, a thing that I regretted later. 

Finally, the competition day was running, and for 10 minutes straight, I could barely hold my nerve as she delivered her paper almost perfectly. The judges themselves said they were impressed with her performance. She was the only participant that able to make the judges express that kind of feeling.

But, remember that we weren’t able to create an eye-catching slide because we run out of time? Yeah, I still believe that is one big disadvantage for us, as she (thank God)  ONLY able to grab second place. Fortunately, it was still quite sweet for me because at least, what we have done was rewarded.

Of course, the journey doesn’t end there. As the wise man says, you will be a good sailor only after you have faced the storms. Finally, the storm was there, in the form of Unisaduguna’s Noble Scholar National English Competition. That was one of the most stressful competitions I have ever experienced as there was so much paperwork to be done just to join the competition. After that, I also had a tight schedule because as the facilitator, I had so many works in the office. When it came to the recording session, more than 20 takes were needed just to get the right one (the best possible shot).

Finally, after getting the right one, we submitted it with high hope. The preliminary round of competition went well: Ilmi able to go through the 10 best finalists. The final was conducted live, online, to deliver the same speech that Ilmi submitted in the preliminary round. After nervously waited for hours, the decision was announced, and we have to hold our emotions as Ilmi was not the first, second, or even third champion.

The fact that Ilmi did not even qualify for third place was quite hard. Gone are the days when I had a lack of slept just to helped her make the speech. In that low, I still remember when she said, “I just want to be a national champion at least for once”. A question that I could not answer until 4 months after.

The Twist

But, before Ilmi joined the next competition, one day, he came to me. He said:

Ustadz, there is this one organization, called UWC. This organization will help a student that wants to go to study abroad.

I replied:

Nice, so you want to join it?

Yes, she said.

Do you want to do it? I mean you have to go to another country, and of course, you will leave your parent, friend and mother’s land behind…

She said, yes ustadz, I have explained it to my parents, and yes, they agree with me.

I thought that, if Ilmi wants to join this program, there will be a chance that she will successfully go through the process, leave the school, and I will lose one of my best Bina prestasi student. Of course, it will be a sad one, but what can I do? It is her wish…

Before she left, I ask her: do you like Korean-related content?

No, she replied

So, what do you like to watch?

Hm…TED ustadz, I can use it to make train my speech ability

_____

You Will Change Your State If you Strive for It – God

And yes folks, 4 months later, we joined a competition again. Not thinking about the past failure, we just wanted to join this as the thing that may cure our heartbreak. It was a National English Competition 9.1 held by Universitas Negeri Medan. Thank God, for this one, the process was so smooth. Ilmi even used her past failure as the foundation for making her speech (her speech was based on the fact that we can not just stop when we failed). The recording process was also easier, we only needed to record 5 times to find the most perfect shot. The process was continued with the editing, and then submitting the video.

Alhamdulillah, we win it!

I could not express how happy I am. Finally, I can answer her wish to be a National Champion. But, the happy feeling was only last for a moment as one day, one of the representatives of UWC, called me. She told me that, Ilmi is the strongest candidate to successfully go through the program and get a full scholarship in Japan.

I asked myself, should I feel happy or sad? 

The answer came on the final day of the decision, April 23rd, 2021. I still remember when Ilmi sent me the screenshot of the e-mail, showing the confirmation of her participation in the UWC program as a fully-funded student in Japan for 2 years. I felt….happy for her, and sad for myself. I felt happy because she not only get the national championship that she desperately wanted, but also got the scholarship to live abroad as she dreamed! What an achievement! But yeah, I feel sad because I lost one of my finest students.

See you soon Ilmi!

But honestly, the happy feeling is greater than the sadness. At least I know that this is what she wants. She chooses to not watch Korean-related content because she knows it will not give her benefit to what she wants to achieve. And of course, it is not something that happens overnight. She must do something different from what others do for years; joining a competition, failed, sometimes success, but of course, either fail or success, both needed an extra effort. And finally, it pays her off. On the day when she said “I watch TED talks”, I realized that she is not an ordinary student. She is a rare student that knows what she wants to do and knows how to do it. She is a real-life example of “a student with a mission”.

We, teacher of SMA IT Al Irsyad, hope you will get what you want, have a safe flight, study dilligently in Japan, and return home one day with hand full of happy surprises for your family, and of course, for us.

See you soon Ilmi!