Ach. Zarnuji (21 years old), or commonly known as Uji, is one of the recipients of the education scholarship program provided by the Inspirasi Indonesia Membangun Foundation (YIIM) together with PT. Insight Investments Management (INSIGHT).<\/p>\n
Currently, Uji is in his 6th semester at Universitas Bahaudin Mudhary (UNIBA) Madura, majoring in Management at the Faculty of Economics. In his last semester, he achieved a Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.67.<\/p>\n
Uji was born in Sumenep, Madura. He is the first of four siblings. He was born into a modest family. His father is a farmer and a village ambulance driver, and his mother is a farmer.<\/p>\n
Determination to Pursue Higher Education<\/p>\n
During his time at the Islamic boarding school (pesantren), Uji wanted to continue his studies in management at university. However, his thinking changed when he was serving at the pesantren. He preferred to find work to help his parents. He was afraid that going to university would burden them. His parents’ income was not stable. For farmers, income comes only during harvest season. As a village ambulance driver, his father earns Rp500,000 per month. However, this salary is not paid monthly, but rather every 5 months. This made Uji reconsider going to university, and he planned to work to help his parents instead.<\/p>\n
While he was serving at the pesantren, his friends told him about a new university in Sumenep that was opening registration for full scholarships until graduation. Uji immediately discussed this with his parents. His parents supported him to try registering. Despite their current financial constraints, they remained supportive.<\/p>\n
“Try first. Later on, what you will become depends on the future. What’s important is to try first, to study first. Someday after you graduate, you won’t be like me.”<\/em><\/p>\n After the discussion, he finally dared to register by completing various documents and taking the scholarship entrance exam.<\/p>\n Various Challenges in Pursuing Education<\/p>\n Throughout his studies, Uji faced many challenges. One of them was during the Distance Learning (PJJ) period. He had to find free WiFi to study. The cost of data quota for online lectures was quite substantial. He had to go to the village hall (Balai Desa) near his house; if the WiFi usage limit there was exhausted, he would move to another village hall, up to the district level. To do assignments, Uji also had to borrow a laptop or visit the campus lab. The limitations Uji faced did not make him give up on learning.<\/p>\n To travel to the city for lectures, Uji needed money for transportation. His parents sometimes tried to provide transport money, from borrowing from neighbors to selling their harvest for travel. The sentence often heard from his parents was, “It’s okay, your studies must continue. Let us handle this problem.”<\/p>\n To meet his needs, Uji also started looking for work. In his 4th semester, Uji worked freelance and worked on projects within organizations. Then, in his 5th semester, Uji taught sociology at Madrasah Diniyah, Madrasah Ibtidaiyah, and SMP NURUS SA’ADAH Tegal Bluto Sumenep. Uji worked to fulfill his needs and did not want to burden his parents. Uji’s monthly income was Rp150,000.<\/p>\n Active in Organizations and Social Activities<\/p>\n From the beginning of his studies until now, Uji has been active in various organizations, both at the internal and external campus levels. These include BEM UNIBA MADURA, Senyum Desa Korwil Sumenep, BPC HIPMI Kabupaten Sumenep, LDIT Tera’ Adhemar UNIBA MADURA, Pemuda Pancasila, PAC Ipnu Batu-Putih, IKSPI Kera Sakti Ranting Batuan, Pemuda Perubahan Sumenep, Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (HMI), Karang Taruna Sinar Tanjung Gedang-Gedang, and ISMA of the Al-Azhar Bahaudin Islamic boarding school.<\/p>\n In addition to being involved in organizations, in February 2022 Uji was also participating in the Zenius Batch 2 certified internship and independent study program in the field of Accelerated Social Media Management Program.<\/p>\n Uji also frequently organizes social activities through various organizations he participates in. For instance, through BEM, there are social activities such as cleaning mosques. He and several students go to villages every week to clean mosques for free. During the fasting month, Uji and his organization colleagues distributed basic food packages and takjil (iftaar snacks). In his external organizations, social activities are more numerous and diverse. Some of these include the youth organization (karang taruna) in his village conducting outreach, clean-ups, and reforestation. There are also activities related to disabilities. Uji and his friends went directly to villages to find children with disabilities and then teach them and play with them.<\/p>\n Uji hopes that in the future, his studies will be smooth until graduation, and that he will be given ease to be more diligent in learning, both in internal and external campus activities. Uji has a strong desire to pursue a master’s degree after graduating, and he hopes to receive another scholarship to continue his post-graduate studies.<\/p>\n Uji also expressed his hopes for YIIM and INSIGHT.<\/p>\n “For YIIM and INSIGHT as my scholarship providers, first, I would like to express my deepest gratitude. Second, I hope that this scholarship provision will not stop; YIIM and INSIGHT will continue the scholarship program for students in need. Because there are many young people who have graduated from high school with great desires and big dreams but are hampered by economic factors. As a result, they cannot continue to the next level of education. With this scholarship, it is extremely helpful. It can help children go to college and achieve their dreams.”<\/em><\/p>\n Salam Inspirasi!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Through the Higher Education Scholarship program from YIIM and PT Insight Investments Management, Ach. Zarnuji, a farmer’s son from Madura, received full tuition support and leadership development, enabling him to achieve outstanding academic results in university.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[3535,233,3523,252,3515,3522,234,51,58,231],"class_list":["post-7413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact-stories","tag-ac-repair","tag-education","tag-higher-education","tag-impact-stories","tag-pt-insight-investments-management-insight","tag-scholarship-recipient","tag-sdg01","tag-sdg04","tag-sdg10","tag-sdg17"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"