Head of the Provincial Library and Archives Service of DKI Jakarta Drs. Wahyu Haryadi, M.Si, conveyed his gratitude to Sampoerna for supporting the literacy program, through the book launching event. “We are very grateful to Sampoerna Academy as we really hope the collaboration will improve Indonesian children’s literacy level, especially in Jakarta. Since revitalizing the library on July 7, 2022, we have been supporting the activities at the Jakarta Library. We do hope Sampoerna Academy will continue to collaborate with Jakarta Library in advancing Indonesian literacy,” expressed Wahyu.
Elidi and The Ancestor’s Garden book is the work of Sampoerna Academy students written in three languages (Indonesian, English and Mandarin) by Cassia Florentine Basuki (Grade 4, SA BSD), Charlie Wijaya Zhang (Grade 10, SA L’Avenue) and Victoria Elizabeth Franco (Grade 6, SA Medan). Sampoerna Academy also involved Dylan Geraldo Cayadi (Grade 8, SA Surabaya PI), Krisi Nohan (Grade 11, SA BSD) and Hasna Mufdah (Grade 12, SA L’Avenue) as the book’s illustrators.
Sampoerna Academy is the STEAM pioneer in Indonesia, an institution that integrates and applies 5Cs knowledge in various disciplines. The 5C competencies stand for Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Character, which are all the competencies needed in authoring. “We collaborated with various classes and SA (Sampoerna Academy) campuses, starting from creating stories to putting their imaginations into actual works of art, the illustrations. Their communication skills were also improved, as they were encouraged to communicate and think creatively during the process of bookmaking. In the end, the book develops their character and personality through the work and values from the storybook,” concluded Wulan.