Wishful Thinking – Lisayani Kriwangko

Lisayani Kriwangko4

Artikel ini adalah karya dari Lisayani Kriwangko yang merupakan juara 2 Jurusanku Essay Competition in Colaboration with Victoria University .

Walt Disney once said “If you can dream it, you can do it”. Disney’s movies have instilled the idea of dreaming big and working hard in the minds of millions of children worldwide. As a child, I was one of those millions who were encouraged by his happily ever afters.

My dream had always been to make a mark in this world. I wanted to make the most of my short time and leave behind something great. I hoped that people would know my name, long after I was gone. When I was a child, I found that a variety of occupations could provide me with this. I could write a bestselling book, become a famous actress, or even discover a planet and name it after myself. Who knew? The sky was the limit. However, as I grew older, I discovered more about my passions and strengths. I learned that I wanted to be an architect.

After graduating high school, I would like to major in architectural engineering. This could be my first step towards building houses, dams, offices or best of all, skyscrapers. Nevertheless, I do not want my houses to just be houses; I want to be able to build homes. I want to furnish residents with a place where families come together, relax and feel safe. This is where my education plays a large role.

At Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, undergraduates are introduced to essential environmental systems, such as air conditioning, power, waste removal and much more. This guarantees a comfortable atmosphere for all occupants. The course also offers to teach about buildings’ structural systems. This is what keeps buildings standing tall despite strong winds and earthquakes. This I consider as a fundamental skill because I want my buildings to be able to protect its occupants from external dangers, instead of posing as a threat itself. Finally, students are given the opportunity to learn creative architectural skills from real architects. I see this as an important aspect because in our monetary-dependant world, people succumb to throwing morals out the window. This leads to corruption, cutting of materials, or deterioration of building quality. Nonetheless, I find it my responsibility as an engineer to ensure that people are secure under my roofs. Therefore, by learning from great professionals, I could offer my absolute best.

Apart from my ambition of becoming an architect, I have always wanted to study abroad. This is not uncommon amongst teenagers my age, due to a selection of reasons. Personally, I want to visit other countries for the adrenaline rush, the sense of adventure, the experience. I would like to be able to align both of my dreams, and Victoria University allows me to do just that. Their architectural engineering course encourages students to study in other continents for a semester. This is a golden opportunity for me to explore another small part of this magnificent world.

Even for international students majoring in different courses, the school could still be an obvious choice. This is because numerous scholarships aimed at varied demographics are offered every year. Those who need financial aid or feel they deserve acknowledgements for their hard work would find this pleasing. At the end of the day, education is priceless. To add to that, international student support such as orientation programs, social activities, and contact numbers are provided to assist foreign students in adapting to their new lives.

Aspiring to become an architect, I took it upon myself to choose physics as one of my subjects in school. To my dismay, I discovered on my first day that out of 18 physics students, I was the only girl. Have gender boundaries and social stigma shaped our world in such a way that young girls are only encouraged to strive for “feminine” careers? I asked myself. Or is there a biological reason as to why there seems to be more men in the scientific field as there are women? I thought. I was hit by the sudden realization that only a small percentage of working engineers in the real world are women. In consequence, I became more driven to reach my goal in order to prove society wrong. I also want to inspire a younger generation of girls by showing them that stereotypes can be broken, and lines are meant to be crossed.

In twenty, thirty, forty years time, I picture myself strolling along a road enjoying a brilliant day. I would turn my head a certain angle and see a majestic building in front of my eyes. For the millionth time I would be fascinated by how a fragment of my imagination could physically appear so permanently before me. Then I would recall all those hours, days, years leading up to that moment. It all started with a single dream.