Dismantling the Stigma of Student-Led Initiatives: A Story by Merakit Project
By: Aspiratif.Id Team
Tags: Education, Stigma, Ngo, Youth

Dismantling the Stigma of Student-Led Initiatives: A Story by Merakit Project

We often say that youth are the future of our nation, yet they are often associated with nuances of incompetence. A partner of Aspiratif.id, Merakit Project shares their break-the-stereotype story. Aspiratif.id Team Follow Dec 18, 2020 · 5 min read

There are three types of reaction to an introduction of something new in this world: accepting the brand new idea, rejecting the brand new idea, or having a certain limitation whether they are accepting/rejecting. Where does this term apply? Who will reach in this situation? The answer is uncertain because one’s reaction could always influence others. This leads to the crucial figure and time matrix that is believed to have grand ideas to disrupt the society for the better, the youth and early-young-adults. Some of them are creating a small community, some are choosing to build a non-profit or non-governmental organization, even some are starting to build a company based on their self-anxiety and motivation to an issue.

As a student, I personally believe that we need to view the world as it should be, instead of as it is. Idealist? Maybe. But we never know if we never try to revamp the stigma, right? It turns out, in this current developing society, there are a plethora of students who build a student-led organization. Not only to address certain issues that need to be addressed, but also to learn about how to lead a team and most importantly creating a small step to build impacts. The student-led organization caters to several core deliverables, it could be an educational forum, or even a community-based development program.

When you live in a small city with a short length of exposure, you only know what is happening in your textbook, almost never beyond that. For me, personally, it is because there is little to no program to help me understand what it’s like to be living in another city with higher exposure. When someone moved out from that small city to the capital for their study, the shock both socially and academically is so high. Turns out, 87% of my peers feel the same and 90% are hoping to know what it’s like to have bigger exposure since the beginning. This is how my peers and I built Merakit.

Merakit is a community-based organization that is focusing on the educational and sharing platform for academic and non-academic (e.g. culture and trend) agendas for students in Madiun. At the first glance, you might see that this organization is the “noble” one due to its purpose in developing the youth during their student phase. Yet, again, in every initiative, there are three types of reactions. In the first month of Merakit, a ton of negative feedbacks are running through Twitter and Instagram, expecting Merakit as a sunset community that will be dead in the first month due to the assumption of, “People here will never, ever, and ever, be developed with any organization. It is just another early failure.” The stigma of a student-led organization, not only Merakit, but also a ton out there all over Indonesia is the same: an early failure.

Did we, as Merakit, stop? No, we did not, we are growing. In four months, Merakit has introduced Model UN to students in Madiun, resulting in one winner from Merakit in an international MUN as a first-timer. Merakit also became the platform to connect with COVID-19 survivor in an exclusive interview, even being the only organization to have collaborated with the Indonesian community in Germany to advocate environmental protection during Eid Adha. The growth is getting bigger and bigger, and the assumption of sunset has never been true because the dusk will always lead to dawn, the sunrise.

To every student-led organization out there. You always have the right to pursue your purpose and initiatives. You always have the right to give back to your surroundings. You are the one who drives the ship and the bigger the wind, the faster you will grow. Again, in every assumption of sunset, will always lead to sunrise. The dusk will always bring the dawn.

There are three types of reaction to an introduction of something new in this world: accepting the brand new idea, rejecting the brand new idea, or having a certain limitation whether they are accepting/rejecting. Where does this term apply? The answer is uncertain because one’s reaction could always influence others. This leads to the crucial figure and time matrix that is believed to have grand ideas to disrupt the society for the better, the youth and early-young-adults. Some of them are creating a small community, some are choosing to build an organization, even some are starting to build a company.

As a student, I personally believe that we need to view the world as it should be, instead of as it is. Idealist? Maybe. But we never know if we never try to revamp the stigma, right? Then, when you live in a small city with a short length of exposure, you only know what is happening in your textbook, almost never beyond that. Based on my organization’s and my survey, when someone moved out from that small city to the capital for their study, the shock both socially and academically is so high. Turns out, 87% of my peers feel the same and 90% are hoping to know what it’s like to have bigger exposure since the beginning. This is how my peers and I built Merakit, a community-based organization that is focusing on the educational and sharing platform for academic and non-academic (e.g. culture and trend) agendas for students in Madiun.

At the first glance, you might see that Merakit is the “noble” one due to its purpose in developing the youth during their student phase. In the first month of Merakit, a ton of negative feedbacks are running through Twitter and Instagram, expecting Merakit as a sunset community that will be dead in the first month due to the assumption of, “People here will never, ever, and ever, be developed with any organization. It is just another early failure.” The stigma of a student-led organization, not only Merakit, but also a ton out there all over Indonesia is the same: an early failure.

Did Merakit stop? No. In four months, Merakit has introduced Model UN to students in Madiun, resulting in one winner from Merakit in an international MUN as a first-timer, became the platform to connect with COVID-19 survivor in an exclusive interview, even being the only organization to have collaborated with the Indonesian community in Germany to advocate environmental protection during Eid Adha. The growth is getting bigger and the assumption of sunset has never been true because the dusk will always lead to dawn, the sunrise.

To every student-led organization out there. You always have the right to pursue your purpose and initiatives. You always have the right to give back to your surroundings. Again, in every assumption of sunset, will always lead to sunrise. The dusk will always bring the dawn again.