SUMMARY OF YSEALI ACADEMIC FELLOWSHIP-FALL PROGRAM 2016

Written by Albert Christian Soewongsono, VDMS Alumnus from Nusa Cendana University (UNDANA), Kupang

Being a representative from East Nusa Tenggara in this year’s YSEALI Academic Fellowship was such an amazing experience not only for me, but also to my communities. This five-week program of learning and seeing new things have taught me to be more equipped on how to realize what I can do for others. I was so blessed to be able to learn about America’s social movements from the amazing lectures at the Northern Illinois University. Coming from non-social study background, I had limited knowledge about America’s past social movements, but, a wise man says: “It’s never too late to learn new things”. I am so inspired on how influential figures on civil right movements, such as Dr. King, Rosa Parks, and Congressman John Lewis led people to fight for same goals. At the end, what all of those leaders had accomplished made them as part of history. During our study tour to places in the South, such as Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, we visited museums, parks, sculptures, and other historical places dedicated for themselves. These shows how the current generation really appreciate the result from their works to communities, starting from the Selma-Montgomery March in 1965 that led to the freedom of vote for colored people in the U.S. to Sit-ins action and bus boycott leaded by the freedom riders to end the segregation among white and colored people in the States.

NIU YSEALI Fellows at A. Philip Randolph Museum in Chicago, Illinois

My five-week journey in United States was not only learning about what had happened in the past, but also learning form fellow delegates and seeing how things work here. I do hope that these thoughts that I am going to share with you can influence you to be a leading agent in your own communities.

Taking A Photograph In Front of the U.S. Capitol

NIU YSEALI Fellows During the Welcoming Luncheon

Indonesian YSEALI Fellows at the U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C

Sharing – Volume 2 | I | 2017