UNAIR NEWS – Ridhoatin Khoiriyah, a student at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Universitas Airlangga, attended an international conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 6-9, 2023. The conference was held by the Youth Break of Boundaries (YBB), a non-governmental organization that focuses on youth and SDGs. To UNAIR NEWS, Ridhoatin shared her valuable experience to inspire her fellows.
UNAIR sent seven delegations for the Istanbul Youth Summit, including five teams from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP), one team from the Faculty of Medicine (FK), and one team from the Faculty of Public Health (FKM). The participants were required to write innovative ideas in essays.
“The selection stage required us to put our ideas into an essay. I came up with the idea of a website platform, Instagram, and an application that provides free learning for children,” Ridhoatin said.
Her essay was entitled ‘Chapter.Inc’. The platform targets children, youth, and elders. Therefore, the platform system was designed sustainably, as a human is a lifelong learner.
The idea isn’t just an idea. “The platforms have been realized. It has been disseminated to several schools, from the kindergarten, elementary school, and foundations in Surabaya,” Ridhoatin said.
In exploring creative and innovative idea, she faced many obstacles. Her first challenge was the end-of-term exam and community service program (KKN). She had to manage her time well and get everything done.
The cost was the other challenge. Traveling abroad requires a high cost for the ticket and such. Therefore, Ridhoatin sought sponsorship from several companies to fund her team for the international conference.
“The obstacles and struggles are parts of invaluable experience that we can’t exchange with anything but passion and sincerity,” she added.
More than just an award
The conference has multiple award categories, but Ridhoatin looked beyond them.
“Competition and conference are more than just awards and winners. I believe every participant has already won with their programs. Functionality and implementation are worth more than just the awards or titles,” she stated.
The experiences left her fascinated. The students got to learn more about Turkey.
“It’s unique. Istanbul has so many mosques. As far as the eye can see, you can see mosques. As a Muslim, it comforts me as I can pray comfortably,” Ridhoatin said.
She hoped the idea could benefit the community and inspire other students to generate more ideas.
“Failure is a part of the experience that will take us to the top,” she ended.
Author: Muhammad Fachrizal Hamdani
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
