Grade 9, 10 IGCSE and IB Students participate in SteMa Education Fair 2023
On the 2nd of September 2023, Stella Maris, Gading Serpong held an education fair at the Gethsemani Auditorium. An education fair is an event where students and parents get information about college degree programs based on their interests and strengths, financial aid, tuition, admission requirements, schedules, and classes from various schools.
In this event, the students got the chance to get that information by going to booths with every participating school with their representatives (local and international universities) and personally speaking with them regarding their courses and scholarships offered.
Stella Maris has invited over twenty universities and university partners. Some of the universities and university partners include Raffles Jakarta International Design & Business School, University of Nottingham, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Kyoto University of Advanced Science (KUAS), Universitas Prasetiya Mulya, UNSW College Australia, Indonesia International Institute for Life Sciences (I3L), JMC Academy, Southern Institute of Technology, Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts, EU Business Munich, Hosei University and many more.
Each student who joined this event received a subject-related project that each could work on based on the knowledge or information they gained. Students from Grade 9 IGCSE received an activity paper in Global Perspectives and several questions for interviews for their English class. Grade 10 IGCSE and Grade 10 IB received a paper filled with questions they could ask the representatives. These activities also help the students to figure out what they want to ask based on the topic; like the environment of the universities or admission requirements.
Two guest speakers came that day to enlighten the event. First, Ms. Winda Ardianti. She is a psychologist from Tes Bakat Indonesia. She spoke to IGCSE students in grades 9 and 10 about “Anti Salah Jurusan,” or how to choose the correct major for yourself. The second speaker was Dr. Maydison Ginting. He is the Vice Dean of Student Affairs at Prasetiya Mulya School of STEM. He spoke to IB students in grades 10 until 12 about “Future of Jobs and Future Life Skills.”
Other than choosing college majors, Ms. Winda Ardianti also encouraged students to take a test to see their interests and aptitudes so they can see which major suits them best. Afterward, it was time for the IGCSE students to look around the booths and do an interview session or a Q&A. As the IGCSE students were touring the booths, the grades 11 and 12 IB students were doing a free IELTS trial test provided by the school in the Secondary building. IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. This is an internationalized test for non-native English speakers and it is designed to help people who migrate to English-speaking countries.
At the end of the booth touring session for IGCSE, the session for IB students started. It began with Mr. Maydison Ginting speaking about the “Future of Jobs and Future Life Skills.” It was very informative. He talked about the continuous advancement of technology and the reasons for choosing to study now can affect or be affected by that. He also talked about the skills we will most likely be needing in the future. Then the booth touring session for IB students started. It was a similar experience for this session, students would look around for universities they might be interested in and further ask about information about this university. For instance, school tuition, financial aid like scholarships, or what criteria are important for the university when students apply.
In conclusion, this education fair is a very important opportunity for students to choose their next step to university and can also help them see what they can expect and what they should be aiming for, seeing that it is related to their future.
