A dream is generally viewed as one’s contemplation, fiction or an ephemeral euphoria, where the experience stays only on the other side of the dimension – our imagination. Nevertheless, I believe that the world that we possess today is assembled by those of our predecessors back in their days. No one could ever think that humans would be able to reach the moon or even be friends with mechatronics. Glazing back, the reality we see today bears faith that dreams do cross the other side.
I personally am an ambitious dreamer. From dreaming of joining the Power Rangers to ruling the world, my friends and families would say I have the wildest dreams. Stepping into adulthood, I learn to convert my dreams into vision – a more optimistic form of a “dream” – that is to become an engineer. It might not sound like an exceptional dream to you, but planning on diving into such endeavor is arduous for a girl as I.
In primary school, my talent in computer science shine most amongst my friends’. I almost got streaks of As on the subject since 3rd grade until I graduated, won a gold medal in nationals, and a regional presentation competition. In junior high school I won another presentation competition and started learning the basics of programming. My teachers were astounded by the creations my age can create while it felt just natural for me to like computer and every possibility it opens me to. For those reasons, I set my mind to pursue software engineering as a major. A year after the great triumph, I plunged myself into battle in the national science olympiad for Biology.
After submerging into the biology world, my inner naturalist ego blooms. Since then, when a teacher announces an upcoming Biology test, there’s always this one student in class that yells “yeay!” while the rest of the class would sigh. You guessed it, that one student was me. Biology illuminates my eyes to the incredible depths of living creatures, a dope that flies me to understanding.
Just recently, the “sacred moment”, of choosing a major and tertiary education finally came insight. I allocated laborious amount of time into research and finding the right occupation which I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Considering my burning passion to create and my current expertise, it seems logical that I plan on becoming an engineer.
Nevertheless, It’s been countless times that I told my dad that I want to be an engineer, half of them replied in silence and another half by “hahaha”. Apart from the gender-based segregation that’s still lingering in society today, his response might be comported to the fact that I don’t excel as much as he did in physics. However, my engineering spirit has yet been tarnished. There’s a voice in my heart which consistently telling me that I’ll not venture only for the sake of my dream, but of much more, a million dreams. So I always take his response with a grain of salt.
Those million dreams are of sustainable development and welfare that my people, Indonesians crave to attain. Meanwhile, a big boulder is blocking the way of achieving them: latrophobia, a fear of doctors and medical treatments. How many times have you been avoiding check-ups when you have a fever for instance? Trying to independently diagnose and prescribe yourself over-the-counter drugs? If that covers most the time, I’m pretty sure you’re an Indonesian. Once, my mum was hospitalized for a surgical failure that almost cost us her life it was really traumatic for our family. From that experience, I learnt that there are complex reasons behind the transcended habit, from the irritating length of que, financial constraints, intoxicating smell of the hospital aisles, to the traumatic treatment experience.
From that moment henceforth my head is filled by questions starting “What If”. What if catheters are less painful, what if human errors can be eliminated, and so forth.
After an intense struggle it came to me an epiphany – Biomedical Engineering. A study which melts engineering and biomedical science together. I believe this study will enable me to invent human friendly devices to aid lives : prosthetic arms, artificial hearts, even medical assistants like Baymax. I got this idea to pursue BME after seeing how an American doctor yet engineer, Dr. Bach-Y-Rita, changes people’s lives by his inventions in neuroscience. It touched my heart after seeing footages joyous patients who realize that they’re finally free from their ailment that has been caging them for years.
I picture 10 years from now I’ll be able to answer all of my “what if” questions, achieve my engineering dream, and actualize the millions of my people’s with devices I invent, through Biomedical Medical Engineering.