IntRoDucTioN

Welcome to my eportfolio.

First let me introduce my self. My name is William Simiadi and I am an international student from Indonesia. I am 18 years old and majoring in Industrial Engineering. Soon I am going to transfer to a 4 year university, most likely to Purdue University and I hope that will be another step for me towards success.

In this eportfolio, I will create my life map and focus on my journey in education. I will talk about my academic accomplishment as well as my activities in my school and some obstacles I have faced. One of the reasons I create this eportfolio is to try to remember all the things I have accomplished or done so far in my life. Sometimes people do forget the things they have done in life and I just want to think back and reflect what I had done, either wrong or right, and think if I can make myself better out of it. The other reason I create this eportfolio is to make me realize how I have grown up and changed through education.

I have post some of my certificate and some of my work I have achieved and done during my school days. I hope this eportfolio will be an interesting one and hope you guys like it.

Primary School

I could hardly remember the things I’ve done during my primary school so I will just give a brief description about what I have done during my primary school. I spent my Primary School in an international school. The only thing I remember is that I represent my school for a soccer tournament. During the tragedy that happened in Indonesia on 1998, I moved to Singapore to continue my studies. I was at grade 5 at that time. I learn many things in Singapore. One of the most valuable experiences for me is that I become a more independent person. In order to graduate from primary school, I have to take Primary School Leaving Examination. I’ve got 2 A’s and 2B’s. I think that my achievement was considered above normal and was satisfied with my grade. I also remember that I was chosen to participate in Science “test” and compete with the rest of the student in Singapore. I only managed to get a certificate of participation but that does not let me down. I am happy to have a valuable experience to compete with students all over Singapore.
Above are my PSLE Certificate.

High School

During my Secondary school, I learn a lot of things. I spent my secondary school in Jakarta and went to a school that uses Singapore System. I was chosen to be a prefect, “House Captain” and Soccer Captain. This 3 position I held taught me a lot of things.

(Bina Bangsa School Logo)
Prefect
In my school, there is a group of students, called Prefect, chosen by the teachers to help the teachers maintain the discipline of the school. Prefects also help to organize school events. One of the events we organized is new student’s orientation. We also organized Valentines Day event and both of the events went well. I was nominated to be a Quartermaster by my peers and teachers and therefore I held the position of Quartermaster. I was in charge of the store room where most of the things such as sports equipment and sound systems are kept. Every morning I have to prepare for assembly and set the Sound system in the hall. I was also in charge of making the Prefect’s room. Basically, the prefect’s room is a room for prefects to hang out. It has some books, some board games and some other stuff. I have learned a lot of things by being in this organization. I learn to be a more discipline person and also how to managed time properly between studies and school activities. I also learn to be a more responsible person as I have to meet the dead line for the task I was assigned. Moreover I gain the experience of working with a big group of people as in the real world you have to deal with that a lot. There are some obstacles we have to face when being a prefect. Sometimes when we told people not to break the school’s rules, they thought that we are bossy and they start to mock us. We, as a prefect, have to deal with that and have to get used to that. We couldn’t just mock them back and therefore we have to watch our temper and set a good example for them. Sometimes it’s frustrating but you have to learn to deal with it as in real world sometimes people think you negatively.

There is one big event that we, Prefects, participate. We become an ushers in National Chinese New Year Celebration. There were many important people in that event including the President of Indonesia. It’s an extremely valuable experience for me.

House Captain
In my school, students are divided into 4 colored-groups. These groups are to participate and compete each other during Sports day. I was appointed to be the “house” Captain. My job is to choose the right people and ask them to participate in an event. It’s a hard task as sometimes people do not want to participate. I have to force them to join and sometimes it just frustrating. I learn to be patient when dealing with people and also I learn how to persuade people. We held the event on a Stadium but unfortunately our “house” does not win. But I managed to win some event such as 100 m run. Being a “house” captain improve my leadership skills and also team work. It’s a great experience and glad to be appointed for “house” captain.

Soccer Captain
I was also appointed to be the Soccer Captain of my school. We participate on some inter-school tournament but unfortunately we did not manage to win the tournament. I think that this is due to our new school. The school I entered is a new school therefore there is not yet a teamwork established yet. Being a Soccer Captain I also learn leadership skills too as I have to manage my team mates on and off the pitch. When we are trailing I have to make sure that my team mates still have the spirit to win the match and when we are winning I have to make sure that they don’t lack of concentration. I learn that a leader has a big responsibility as I have to take the blame when my team mates do not behave well on and off the pitch. Passion is another thing you need if you want to reach your goal, which in this case to win matches. I also discover that team work is better than individualism. Without teamwork you’ll never win. This also works in real life. No one ever work alone in real life. You have to work in a group to be a successful person and learn to cooperate with them.

Studies
In my secondary school, I took 9 subjects; English, Chinese, D math, A math, Accounting, Geography, physics, biology, and chemistry. In high School I think that the interaction between students and teachers are better as we are stuck with the same teacher for more than a year. The teachers are also more helpful as they are willing to offer extra classes for those who needed it. I consider my grades to be a good one. I was rank 8 out of 24 students and I think this is a quite remarkable achievement I’ve made. For my O’level, I manage to get 3A’s, 3B’s and 2C’s. I am not that satisfied with this achievement and regret my self for studying in the last minute. Therefore, I guess I learn a valuable lesson that is not to study in the last minute.

We are often asked to present some projects that are assigned to us either as a group or individually. The assignments my teachers assign us help us to improve our team work skill as well as our confidence. We are also train to be responsible people as all the homework has to be submitted before the dead line.

There are some obstacles in high school. I have many activities outside the class and therefore have less time preparing for my studies. But that does not stop me from wanting to get good grades. I always feel bad when I get bad grades and always wanted to be better each time. There is once, when I failed my A math exam. I was so depressed and scared that I will fail the subject. But through my hard work, I managed to pass the subject and I was proud of my self. There are many varieties of student. There are the hard working one and the lazy one. Sometimes you may be influenced by the lazy one and lead you to having bad grades. You have to resist that bad influence and have to realize that our parents have spent a lot of money to send us to school. We have to repay them by getting good grades.

When the times came for me to choose my major, I was confused. Before I came to the states, I have to make this decision. I took this test that could tell me which major that suit my personality. When I see the result it says that I should take a major in accounting. I don’t believe this test result as I don’t think I like accounting. Then my father told me to take Industrial engineering as when I graduated I will be able to help him with his business. Then he told me what I will learn in Industrial engineering and I feel that it is interesting thing. During my high School, I also realize that I like Math and physics more than any other subjects. Therefore, I choose Industrial Engineering as my subject. This is a crucial decision I have to make. I also decided to follow my sister and went to Foothill College.

Foothill College

When I first came to Foothill College, I was afraid I can’t adapt to the surrounding and the school. I also feel anxious as in order to get an A, we have to get grades above 90 where in my home country 75 are already considered an A work. This makes me work extremely hard during my first quarter in Foothill and manage to get straight A’s in all my classes. I found out that college is different from high school. The instructors do not really care whether you do your homework. They only encouraged you to do it and it is your own decision whether to do it or not. We are treated as an adult in college and this have made me more mature in my thinking as well as my action. I also found out that the classes in college are much deeper than in high school. Even though I have learned Math 1A in my high school, I still find it hard when I took Math 1A in Foothill. Even though, the classes have become tougher I still managed to maintain high GPA. I hope I still can maintain my GPA and get accepted to a good university.

I join the Honors Program. The main reason I join the Honors Program is that it increases the chances of being accepted to a good university. When I start to take Honors class, I found out that it really offers an interesting class, just like this class. It’s worth it to join this program. I also become a tutor in the Pass The Torch program. I became a tutor for 2 quarters and it has been a wonderful experience. I realize how hard it is to be a teacher and help your student to understand the materials.

I also join Engineering Club. We organize some events; such as calculator workshop and some talks regarding physics. We also have hiking together in San Antonio Ranch.(pic on the left) In this club I learn more things about engineering by listening to the talks and by participating on certain events such as Physics Olympic. Recently, there is a physics Olympic in Foothill College and I together with my friends participate on that events. We compete for block stacking and laser maze. We tie 1st for the laser maze and 3rd for the block stacking. This is a fun experience and moreover teaches us to practice the theory we have learn in class in real situation. (pic on the right: Lazer Maze)


I’m majoring in Engineering therefore most of the subject o took are math and sciences. There is only one project so far. It is to build a bridge with straw. It’s a tiring and troublesome work. But we have done a good job. (Our Bridge)

Closing Word

Soon I am going to transfer to a 4 year-University. I hope which ever University I get in will be another step for me to achieve my goal. I will continue my hard work and be a better man in the future and repay my parents for all the good deeds they had done to me to make me a person I am now.