Dreams can be obtained with determination and hard work. Alike Ahmad Suyoko and Muhammad Erwin Althaf who never gave up on the situation. He is both succeeded in proving material and physical limitations and did not prevent them from achieving their goals, and even graduated cum laude from UGM.
Ahmad Suyoko (23) is the third child of five siblings Alm. Tayeb and Nurlaila from Tepas, West Sumbawa, NTB. Although living with economic limitations, it never limits his dream to be able to pursue education up to tertiary education.
“In memoriam of my father was a farmer and mother is an ordinary housewife. Even though my parents are just ordinary people but they prioritize the education of their children,” he reported to reporters on Wednesday (19/2) after undergoing the graduation procession of the second period of the bachelor and diploma program in 2019/2020.
This was also proven, his two older siblings had successfully graduated from UPI and IPB. And even now, he succeeded in catching up with his siblings in completing his undergraduate study from the Faculty of Biology, UGM with a GPA of 3.78 and winning cum laude. Meanwhile, the younger brother is currently also undergoing studies at Brawijaya University, while his youngest brother is preparing to enrol in college this year.
Ahmad still remembers the words from his father who always emphasized the importance of education. To father, education is a way that can change a person’s condition.
“You said education was number one. Education can change us from the current condition, ” said alumni from SMA Negeri 1 Sumbawa Besar.
He was diligently learning to achieve dreams can become a researcher in the future in the hope that he does not want to disappoint his parents. His results showed that it never betrayed his effort. Moreover, there are various achievements were achieved at school. In elementary school, he became a finalist at OSN IPA at the national level, then at junior high school, he became a finalist at the district level Biology OSN and high school he became a national level OSN Biology finalist.
Thanks to good academic skills that finally led Ahmad to study at UGM and get a scholarship from a regional company in Sumbawa. In fact, he became the first person from his village to study at UGM.
In college, he also managed to donate a gold medal from the Biology Student Science Olympiad (2019) and a silver medal at the National Olympiad of Mathematics and Natural Sciences College in biology (2019). Not only that, but Ahmad also participated in a summer school at Chungnam National University, South Korea through the Global Korea Scholarship for ASEAN Countries’ Science and Engineering Students scheme.
On the other hand, Nurlaila expressed her gratitude that her children had successfully completed their studies. Surely this did not slip out from the enthusiasm and persistence of their children in learning.
“I am so grateful that they pursue excellent goals. I always pray the best for them,” she said.
Nurlaila said she felt unsure if she could send her children to the university level, especially with the economic condition realizing his husband who works as a farmer with a meager income.
“Somehow I feel like unsure if I could send my children to high school. However, my husband always assured me that we could do it no matter what and he also encouraged the children to seek scholarships. I am so grateful to know the reality that my children can go to college on a scholarship,” she explained.
Another inspiring story is Muhammad Erwin Althaf. Even though he has hearing loss, Althaf was able to complete his studies from the Faculty of Animal Science UGM. He was partially hard-of-hearing from birth and could only hear sounds with high decibels, such as honking, applause, and hubbub.
Althaf said he did not feel any significant difficulties during college because he was also assisted by his friends. In class, he can still understand the material conveyed by lecturers through power points or writing on the board. Even so, it does not mean he has never experienced difficulties at all in class.
“The main point of difficulties is when somehow the lecturer explains the material which is not presented visually or they explain things differently from the PowerPoint,” explained the man born in Semarang, January 30, 1995.
Althaf is the son of Dr. drg. Edi Sumarwanto, M.M., MH. Kes and drg. Eny Rusdaningsih, Sp.KG’s couple. He was born as the second child of three siblings. Althaf has lost his hearing ability since birth.
“Althaf is a hard-of-hearing child, but we never distinguish him from his other siblings,” they said.
Despite his limitations, Althaf is an independent person. He dared to live far from his parents by continuing his high school education in Yogyakarta. Thanks to his diligence in learning which makes him always have good academic value. Althaf also managed to enter UGM without a test. He successfully enrolled UGM through the SNMPTN Invitation and now he is graduated with a cum laude of 3.51 GPA.
“We thank UGM for not distinguishing children with different abilities during college,” they said.
Author: Ika
Photo: Vino Abdurahman
Translator: Natasa A