Ardha comes from Indonesia. She is a first-year master student in the Tourism, Society and Environment program and also a current board member of PPI Wageningen. Before she came to Wageningen, she studied Cultural Anthropology for her bachelor in Indonesia. She finds that learning about culture and sustainability is what keeps life exciting.

She loves being a part of WUR. The study atmosphere along with all the lovely people in it makes her feel comfortable and motivated to grasp all the knowledge from the courses. It also boosts her excitement to broaden her experiences and contribute more to society. “As an international student, I would like to have as many opportunities to face challenges beyond the academic area,” support her reasons to run for Student Council candidacy, so more students can have lived their life in WUR to the fullest.

Having many positive experiences doesn’t stop her to dream about a better future for the university and its students. She believes some things could also be improved, both from the academic and non-academic side. One of the ways of doing it is by empowering students to improve their well-being as she realizes student life could be stressful at times. Another form of improvement she proposed that will be complemented by students having less stressful time on campus is for the university to have a better sustainable education quality.

To address her concerns, she will make use of her time in the Student Council by focusing on turning her ideas into actions. She wants to articulate students’ need for well-being by advocating for them in organizing workshops, cultural and community sharing activities as part of campus’ regular agenda. She believes it will help to address her concern on equality which sometimes could be unconsciously ruled out. By doing so, she expects all students from various backgrounds could feel welcomed and will as well improve the integration within our campus.

When she is not in a ‘working mode’, Ardha likes to take a walk or cycle to the river and enjoy nature at nearby parks with friends. Sometimes she also explores other cities and hunts hidden gems in second-hand stores. At home, she likes to socialize with her roommates in the common room to have dinner or drinks together and watch movies. Oftentimes, she simply plays some music and struggles with chords.

#studentwellbeing #equality #integration #diversity #understanding #mentalhealth

Click here to check her speech.

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