On 25-26 September 2021, I applied to a set of competitions hosted by Universitas Padjajaran because the events proposed just so happened to fall under my field of interest. The competition was called the 21st Alsa English Challenge. Several academic competitions were held as part of the challenge to foster the development and usage of the English language. Storytelling, poetry, speech, newscasting, and MUN were among the competitions hosted by UNPAD. This year, I applied to both the speech competition and the Model United Nations conference. This competition drew participants from all around Indonesia, ranging from students at Universitas Indonesia to students at Universitas Gadjah Mada, making it a rigorous competition with tough opponents.
The speech competition consisted of 2 rounds, namely the preliminary and the final round. Candidates were told to construct a speech on the topic of combating issues surrounding health, social life and education during and post-pandemic. Fortunately, I was able to pass the preliminary round, and during the final round, I decided to focus on the topic of education and rebuilding an education system for children with special needs. Within my speech, I talked about privilege, change, as well as the root causes of this issue, and what we, as youths of this generation, can do to help those in need.
Furthermore, during the MUN conference, I represented the country Switzerland in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) where rigorous debates and fruitful discussions were fostered under the topic of “Combating unemployment post-pandemic.” Solutions that were proposed ranged from recommending all Member States to establish social protection programmes and cash transfers to improve the economic situation with the mechanism below:
- Enforcing a policy that ensures that social programs reach the people they intend to support
as well as the implementation of Financial Incentives and Recommendations for Entrepreneurship programs and structural unemployment to be eradicated and strictly minimized at times like such through ways such as but not limited to:
- Encouraging governments to re-open public facilities given the respected health protocols implemented to ensure that people can stay employed
Personally, I was extremely grateful to have received the 1st prize award for the speech competition, and ‘The most outstanding delegate’ for the MUN conference. Nonetheless, none of this would be possible without the help and support coming from the Sekolah Ciputra community therefore I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who aided me in this journey.
Wenny Wibisono – Grade 11DP
