IO, Purwokerto – The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired graduation ceremonies at a number of universities to be conducted online. To encourage 2020 graduates, the presenter and founder of Narasi TV, Najwa Shihab, started a decoration competition #LDRGraduation2020 (#WisudaLDR2020), and the winner chosen is Shafira Rahmania, a 2017 class year student from D-3 Management of Fisheries Resources at the Faculty of Biology, Jenderal Soedirman University (Unsoed), Purwokerto, Central Java.
Shafira explained that there were requirements to join the event: applicants had to prepare graduation photos at home or videos containing travel stories from college to graduation, and plans after graduation. “I prepared a one-minute video about my journey through college until graduation and my dream after graduating from Unsoed,” she said.
She didn’t expect to be selected as one of the chosen graduates, considering thousands of people registered, and less than 100 were chosen. The participants are from Indonesia and even foreign countries, such as Japan, Turkey, and China. On June 9, 2020, she received an email from the Narasi TV team, saying that he was chosen as one of the participants in #LDRGraduation2020 (#WisudaLDR2020).
“I feel very proud to be able to carry the name of Unsoed in hundreds of other graduates,” she expressed. “For the next stage we had to make a superb decoration, as unique as possible, record the process and then upload the video on Instagram and tag @narasitv,” added her.
On D-day of #LDRGraduation2020 (#WisudaLDR2020), it was announced that Shafira was named the best decorating champion. “I was surprised because I didn’t expect much. I just used a regular pencil and my bedroom wall. I am touched and proud when they call Unsoed and my name in front of hundreds of participants and thousands of audiences,” she claimed.
According to her, the motivation for participating in the event was the desire to celebrate graduation even though it is online. “Besides, I want to keep my promise to Unsoed three years ago; I was rejected at all other universities where I applied, and at that time only Unsoed would accept me as its student. Since that time, I made a promise not to make the university ever regret accepting me. I can prove that, in the end,” she said. (*/est)