stories

E - N E W S L E T T E R W A R G A F R E E P O R T31 Maret 2009

Thorifah Yumma, an eighth grader of Yayasan Pendidikan Jayawijaya (YPJ) Kuala Kencana (KK) Junior High School and Adelheid Bethany Sudibyo, a ninth grader of YPJ Tembagapura (TPRA) came out on top in the regional WORDS Competition held in YPJ KK (3/12) and YPJ TPRA campuses (3/18).

WORDS Competition is an English speaking creativity contest conducted by American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) and United States Department of State. ”Two winners from YPJ Junior High School KK and TPRA are eligible to take part in national level competition that is going to be held in Jakarta this April,” explained Rebecca Miller, English Language Teaching Assistant. The winners of the national competition will receive scholarships to support their studies. Rebecca added there were three criteria to be judged by committee, including best English speaker, most creative English speaker, and topic relevance.

Kuala Kencana

Some eleven seventh and eight graders participated in WORDS Competition in Kuala Kencana. The eleven students showcased various art forms delivered in English, such as monologue, singing, speech, and poems.

The competition took place in second floor campus auditorium was watched by hundreds YPJ KK Junior High School students. The three judges who scored the event were Imam T. Hidayat, Lisa Cook, and Ferdinand A. Deda.

When announcing the winners, Lisa Cook expressed her delight in seeing students’ enthusiasms and courage to speak English in front of hundreds audience members. “For those who haven’t been chosen as a winner this time, please don’t be discouraged because you can participate in the same competition next year,” she said.


Finally, the three judges decided that the lucky student who will get the chance to participate in the national level competition is Thorifah Yuma. Michael A Saputra (8D) was chosen as the most creative English speaker; Dina Maria Danumira (8C) as the best English Speaker and Reze Nur Raudityo (8D) as have the most relevant topic. The three winners received attractive prizes from the committee for their achievements.

The American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF), established in 1992, is a bi-national non-profit foundation that administers the Fulbright Program in Indonesia. AMINEF launched the WORDS Competition to promote mutual understanding by motivating students to use English in a creative and practical manner to discuss cultural topics.