Among the 31 student teams from Universitas Brawijaya who will compete in the 2016 Student Science Week (PIMNAS), the Faculty of Administrative Sciences (FIA UB) managed to send one team to the Bogor Agricultural Institute, the host of the event. The team calling itself ORKESTRA is chaired by Wildan Avian Pratama (Business Administration/FIA) and strengthened by Dodi Irawan (Psychology/FISIP), Nadiya Maulidya (Midwifery/FK), Anjang Feronica Putri (Nursing Science/FK), and Reny Rachmatika ( Midwifery/FK). During the preparation of the proposal, ORKESTRA was directly accompanied by the Head of the Business Administration Study Program, Dr. Wilopo, M.AB.
ORKESTRA itself is an abbreviation that represents the main idea of their community service proposal, which stands for Optimizing the Creativity of Mentally Disabled Arts. Met by the PSIK FIA UB Team in Building B, Wildan said that the idea for the ORCHESTRA proposal came from their concern for the fate of children with mental retardation who are often marginalized in society. According to him, mentally retarded children are viewed that way because their true talent potential has not been detected. "According to the results of our team's study, mentally retarded children do have problems in their left brain, so they are weak academically. But not with his right brain. This side is what we are trying to explore,” he said.
The ORKESTRA team realized their idea of service by collaborating with SLB Sumber Dharma. At the special school for the disabled located in the Blimbing area, Malang City, the ORKESTRA team provides assistance and teaches several artistic skills to people with mental retardation. "During the two months there, we taught pantomime drama, dancing, singing, handicrafts, and reciting the Koran. Everything is done once a week, namely on weekends,” he added.
As it turned out, their struggle was not in vain. The mentally retarded children they trained succeeded in increasing their self-confidence in society. This is proven by the achievement in the competition between SLB in Malang City a few weeks ago. "Our students have won prizes in various competitions, starting from the 1st runner up to the 3rd winner in Malang City," said the 2015 batch student.
Wildan hopes that this activity will not only take place during the submission of community service proposals, but also be sustainable. For this reason, Wildan and his team have opened opportunities for fellow students who are interested in participating in these activities. “We invite our fellow students to join this ORCHESTRA movement. Thank God, many of them are willing to continue our initiative voluntarily," said Wildan at the end of the interview.
Coverage Team:
Article: Aulia Luqman Aziz & Private Priambada
Photo: Personal Documentation
