Teaching Award 2015
Risa has been awarded the USAID Scholarship administered by US – Indonesia Teacher Consortium (USINTEC) in 2013 to accomplish a master’s degree in the US. She received her degree from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where she studied Teaching and Learning with a specialization in Science Education. Upon her graduation in 2014, she returned to teach in Junior High School 3 in Pontianak, West Borneo. Because of her passion in teaching, learning, and sharing, Risa applied for the Teaching Award on the regional level for her city. After several tests such as teaching practice, interview, and best practice presentation, she was selected to represent Junior High School teachers in Pontianak to compete at the Province Level. In this level, there are 13 Junior High School teachers from the districts in the Province of West Borneo who will participate to be finalists at the national level. The event at the Province level is more competitive, but she was nominated to represent West Borneo on the national level. The Teaching Award in the National level was held in Jakarta in November 2015. At this event, all teachers have the opportunity to receive direct instruction about the government’s policies in education from The Minister of Education and Culture, Anies Baswedan, Ph.D., and they also attended Teachers’ Day in Istora Senayan, Jakarta with the President of Indonesia, Ir. H. Joko Widodo. The best part about being one of the finalists of the National Teaching Award is that she met and shared experiences with other fellow teachers from across Indonesia who are bright and inspiring teachers. As a result of her achievement, the Mayor of Pontianak, Sutarmidji, M.Hum gave her an Umrah Trip Award, a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia next year. Risa also enjoys being a volunteer and currently is involved as a mentor in the USA Mentorship Program, a platform where Indonesian graduates of U.S. colleges and universities guide young Indonesians who want to study in the United States.
Congratulations Risa!