Tanoto Foundation partner school Global Andalan Estate Baserah Private Elementary School, last year won a prestigious district-level Adiwiyata School award in Kuantan Singingi of Indonesia’s Riau province.

Adiwiyata is one of the Ministry of Environment’s programs aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness among students in Indonesia about environmental conservation.

Kuantan Singingi Mayor Dr. H. Mursini and Vice Mayor H. Halim presented the award during Kuantan Singingi’s 18^th anniversary celebration in October 2017.

“The key to success in receiving the Adiwiyata School award wass the shared commitment between the teachers, students, and school committees,” said Anidar, Head of Global Andalan Estate Baserah Private Elementary School.

Tanoto Foundation holds various training activities at the primary school, one of which is the Pelita ASRI (Healthy, and Environment Friendly). The training is in line with initiative of making Global Andalan Estate Baserah an environmentally-friendly school.

Environment-relevant activities are also continuously implemented, such as the processing of organic waste, the making of garbage banks and greenhouses, and vegetable planting by the students. Each class is given a plot of land to be used for planting purposes, and they are the ones responsible for managing it.

The purpose of the field management activity is to hone students’ technical agriculture expertise and to enhance their environmental awareness.

The district-level Adiwiyata award is a momentous achievement which is expected to further drive the spirits of the students and teachers to replicate the success at a regency level.

Currently, the Global Andalan Estate Baserah Private Elementary School also runs the Eco Techno Park program, an environmentally-friendly gardening program which incorporates technology use.

The annual Tanoto Scholars Gathering (TSG) event, which gathers all the Tanoto Scholars from across Indonesia on one place once a year, is one that is worth remembering.

Besides allowing Tanoto Scholars to build networks, the TSG also provides participating scholars with the opportunity to learn many lessons which can help them become future leaders.

Last year’s TSG 2017 was held in Pangkalan Kerinci in Indonesia’s Riau province from November 22 to 25. More than 250 Tanoto Scholars from 21 different universities enthusiastically participated in the four-day event.

“I really enjoyed the community service activities at the Buatan Baru elementary school on the first day. We made biopori holes and planted trees with the students there. This enhanced our awareness about how important it is for us to protect the environment,” said Abigail Flavia Dominilla, a Tanoto Scholar from Mulawarman University.

Agastyan Akbar, a Tanoto Scholar from Diponegoro University, expressed an interesting sentiment, saying that the art performance (held during the event) was very challenging for him.

For the performance, Agastyan and his friends had to spend almost a month creating a concept and training. During the process, they had to work together and help each other. Agastyan’s hard work was rewarded as he was named the best performer in the art performance.

Another Tanoto Scholar, Bella Fista of Andalas University, said she was very interested when she had the chance to visit the RGE Technology Center.

“I gained new insights when I saw the research and development centre there. I was able to view research which is conducted regularly and the latest technology which is in line with my educational background,” said the pharmacy student.

Meanwhile, Hengki Setiawan, a Tanoto Scholar from Jambi University, said he enjoyed the public speaking classes held during the TSG most.

As a student who is active in extracurricular activities on campus, public speaking is very useful to him as he has to use the skill when he is conducting discussions or organizing meetings.

We hope to see you at the Tanoto Scholars Gathering 2018. Various interesting activities lie ahead for our Tanoto Scholars!

Rosta Rosalia, the Tanoto Foundation scholarship recipient from Diponegoro University in Semarang of Indonesia, should be proud.

Together with her colleague, Rosta had the opportunity to attend the 11th International Conference on Cognitive Science (ICCS) held at the GIS National Taiwan University Convention Center in Taipei from September 1 to 3 last year.

The ICCS is an international event which brings together researchers of both academic and industry backgrounds in various cognitive disciplines including anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology.

The meeting of the researchers from various countries is meant to facilitate discussions about the latest research and developments within the fields.

Rosta, who is a psychology student at Diponegoro University, attended the conference with support from Tanoto Foundation. Along with her colleague, Rosta presented the results of her research paper titled ‘Social Intelligence in a Neuropsychological Context’.

Her paper discusses five important components which can be considered in the assessment and intervention of a person’s social intelligence when viewed neuropsychologically, namely situational awareness, presence, authenticity, clarity, and empathy.

“It’s great to be able to give a presentation in front of neuroscience professionals. In fact, almost all of those present have received doctoral degrees and professorships – while we are still students,” Rosta said.

Throughout the three-day event, dozens of research posters were presented by participants from all over the world. Rosta was scheduled to present on the final day of the ICCS.

Being one out of two of the sole Southeast Asian representatives (the other participant being from Malaysia) was a mental test for Rosta, who hails from Sidoarjo Regency in East Java of Indonesia.

“Of course I was nervous. This was my first experience going abroad for a conference. I faced many concerns, including academic and language abilities, as well as cost,” Rosta recalled.

“But I had made up my mind and was determined to appear in the ICCS. Courage was crucial to me, and we are also grateful to Tanoto Foundation for supporting us,” she added.

Besides presentations from researchers, the conference also comprised of classes which could be attended freely by participants, based on each individual’s interests.

Various classes about cognitive problems were held, which saw experts speaking on the topic from different perspectives. There were also public lectures by keynote speakers, including Patricia Churchland from the University of California; Stanislas Dehaene of the CEA Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit in France; Chih-Jen Lin from National Taiwan University; and Ernst Poppel from the University of Munich.

“This international event not only added to my academic knowledge but also provided me with the experience of flying to another country and networking with researchers from all over the world,” Rosta concluded.