Richelle Sunarko – 9TWE

Being Indonesian – Chinese and born in Jakarta, but having grown up in Singapore for majority of my life does have a major impact on me as a person and I think that this has to do with how the country is such a diverse place, it makes me more aware of my surroundings as it’s given me the opportunity to step into a world full of culture and understand each one with different knowledge and depth. Whether it’s walking through Chinatown or Haji Lane, Singapore has been my ‘home away from home’, as it’s able to capture the essence of each ethnicity and allow people to share/celebrate those differences together. At times when I go back to Jakarta, there would be moments where I feel ‘less’ of what I’m supposed to be which shouldn’t be the case but I also know it’s because I don’t really know ‘the place’ and that it’s a different setting from what I’m usually comfortable with. However, when I come to school all of that doesn’t seem to play a big role, as if it doesn’t matter as much. Having gone through Grade 9, I feel that I’ve learned a lot more about myself as a person, I’ve grown my values and beliefs as well as what I want to let define me. I think that this mindset that I’ve been able to maintain for the most part of the year, has really helped me find my place both in school and at home.

Touching upon the idea of my values and beliefs, the two most important ones that have stuck with me are; to be open-minded and put others’ need above my own (to a certain extent) and to be reflective of my actions and how that allows me to stay grounded, regardless of what others’ think. I try my best to be open-minded and to understand the full picture before jumping to conclusions, which does help to not give up so easily but rather persevere. This also links to how I mostly put others’ needs above my own, but to a certain extent. I choose to follow by this value because as a person I believe that by helping others and understanding their needs, it can sometimes put your own life into perspective and it shows that everyone has things that they are going through but just a bit different. Especially at this stage of our life, it’s hard to keep away from social pressure and really ‘know’ who we want to be and why. Additionally, trying to reflect upon my actions and staying grounded is difficult when I’m the type of person who does give in and cares a lot about what others think about me. But learning to maintain the mentality of not letting others’ opinions get to me has been such a great benefit for me and for my relationships.

In relation to that, setting goals in the past has always been a priority as it impacts on me and the sense of achievement that I feel. However, throughout this school year, I’ve really been trying to focus more on short-term goals — the ones I can keep track of on a daily basis and see my progression through taking certain actions, rather than have a bunch of short-term goals alongside long-term goals. Now reflecting, I could say that the short term goals I’ve set have been realistically achievable. An example of this would be, balancing my school life and personal life. This used to be a problem for me as I wasn’t able to (either) have time for myself or time to finish work, but putting the goal in place and seeing how it has worked really well up to the end of the year is something that I’m really proud of. By making these short-term goals and having more complex long ones I personally think helps with my life throughout school and possibly my future.

Being introduced to the course of Global Perspective and going into depth with the material, I’ve currently had the thoughts of aspiring to be a lawyer, especially when we started learning more about Human Rights. The research and tasks that we’ve done in class have made me open my mind more and put things into perspective of the different concepts, as it’s made me more aware of the fact that this happens around the world on a daily basis. It makes me understand how fortunate I am to be able to live the life I do and do not have to face the brutality of the world as I am surrounded in a great environment of school and home. With this being said, it allowed me to connect to a personal experience that happened at the beginning of the school year. In early September, a service group that I had created back in sixth grade with a friend called Generation Education Period, GEP, had their first service trip to Phnom Phen, Cambodia alongside Green Umbrella, a global concern. Other than making many memories with my friends and the kids that I got to meet for a few days, the trip was definitely a big highlight of my year as it is an accomplishment. To see how a ‘Be The Change’ project started back then is now a college service, makes me feel a great sense of accomplishment as the extreme amount of work that has been put in over the years has shown great effort. The way it connects with the unit of ‘Human Rights’, is that these kids are provided with adequate education and a good system that allows them to be given the opportunity to have a much more stable future, which depicts one of many issues that aren’t addressed in the violation of human rights. The aspiration of mine to become a lawyer and pursue it as a career comes from this one experience, and hopefully many more to come, but learning from class as well has made me quite passionate to one day help others who aren’t as able to fight for their rights but have someone to assist them with it. To me, it’s important that the sides that aren’t told due to different reasons are told, in order for individuals to get a full truth out of it as well as, take small steps to prevent situations that are unnecessary.

Furthermore, there are many things that I have to work towards and set (in terms of goals) in order to one day pursue this aspiration of mine. I personally think that working harder in my subjects and taking more initiative/leadership opportunities outside of classrooms can help me build my confidence and ‘figure’ of public speaking. But more specifically, to continue to work harder and learn new things that I didn’t know before to make me more aware of what’s going on around me, outside of my ‘bubble’. However, my parents always taught me to be able to pursue different things and that is where my musical background plays a part in my future. If there was any reason to have a change of heart and decide to go down another path, I know that it would most likely turn to my music and try to make something out of it. I’ve immersed myself with different types of music mainly throughout this year because I think as an artist there is never a stop to exploring the depths of music. I’ve always been told by my parents that music is a backup option, it is something that I can always hold onto regardless of my choice in occupation or path in life. I never really understood how I could make something out of it, until recently this year. All sorts of things have occurred in my life and whether it was playing the piano, guitar or sing it allowed me to take a ‘breath’ and just put everything on pause and right back into perspective. Now I understand. Music has helped me through so much the past year and I thank my parents deeply for supporting me at any time, and with a great music programme at school, my teachers have taught me to express myself more and be self – assured with the ability of what I am able to do.

Overall, this year has been a great start and a good insight on looking forward to the rest of high school. I would wish to carry with me my values and beliefs, entering the tenth grade in a few months and change certain aspects of myself where I’m able to show growth as a student at school and a daughter at home. Additionally, with the mindset that I carry with me, I hope to achieve greater things next school term and continue to strive towards any new goals I set or even the ones from the past. I am confident enough to say that with all that has happened this year, I have been able to reach out for opportunities that come towards me and work through the goals that I’ve been able to accomplish. As a goal for next school term, I would like to continue everything that I’ve worked so hard for but to also be more outgoing and reach for different opportunities rather than wait for things to always come my way and step out of my comfort zone by doing so. This year has been a great year, filled with meeting new people, accomplishing multiple things that have come a long way but mostly a good start to High School.