Aditya Dharma Putra becomes the youngest student of the 10,248 new students in this 2011/2012 academic year. The young lad from the city of Bekasi now registered in the Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, is only 14 years 11 months 27 days old.
At first glance, Aditya, as he is familiarly called, looks not much different from other students. A fairly high stature for his age often makes people think that he is a 14 years old teenager. "Few people know that I’m only 14 years old," he said after attending the inauguration ceremony of new student admissions, Thursday (8/9), at the courtyard of UGM Grha Sabha Pramana.
Aditya who was born in Bekasi, 4 September 1996, is the first of two brothers from Supriyadi (stock exchange staff in Jakarta) and Anik Mei Saktiana (housewife). He entered Al Azhar primary school Bekasi when he was 5 years old. He finished his elementary education in five years following the acceleration program. Similar story in his junior high and high school, Aditya followed acceleration program, thus successfully graduated one year faster than regular classes. Aditya entered SMP Al Azhar Bekasi at the age of 10 years old and continued his study in SMA 1 Bekasi at the age of 12.
Aditya says that he never once felt overwhelmed participating in the acceleration program. To be at the acceleration class was indeed his personal desire, not because of the encouragement of parents. "I was intentionally taking the acceleration program in order to graduate quickly," said the young man who loves science fiction genre books.
According to this man with glasses, he is among those people who do not push himself to study. After school hours, he still spent the time to play with his friends. "Like other children, after school I play with friends. Otherwise, I take a walk to the mall or visit a bookstore. It could be said that I actually rarely studied. I study only when there are tests and while in school," he said with a smile.
After he graduated in 2011, Aditya registered at UGM through SNMPTN Invitation mechanism, opting for Department of Industrial Engineering as his first choice and Civil Engineering as second choice. After going through a series of tests, he finally accepted at the UGM Department of Industrial Engineering. "Actually, I wanted to take the Department of Economics, but my parents encouraged me to take the Industrial Engineering because in high school I took the science majors. My parents said that there are also economic lessons in Department of Industrial Engineering. Then, I finally decided to chose that department," said the man who has twitting as his hobby.
To sign at UGM is actually not Aditya’s choice. He did it on the advice of his high school teacher. "Actually, that time I wanted to sign at the UI (University of Indonesia) that is close to home, but my teacher advised me to take a test at UGM," said Aditya who is now living at a boarding house on Jalan Kaliurang Km 6, Pandega Marta.
The spirit to quickly graduate is apparently still inbuilt in Aditya. He targeted to be able to graduate from UGM in 3.5 years. After graduation, he still has no plans to continue his studies. Aditya actually wants to move to the U.S. and find a job in the Uncle Sam’s country for a better livelihood. "After graduating from UGM, I’m planning to move to the U.S., get a job there to raise the livelihood of parents and sister," said Aditya who aspires to become a company manager.