Melanie Eirene Ohee is one of the graduates from the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya who attended the graduation ceremony for X period, Sunday (1/12/2024). This girl from Papua was finally able to achieve one of her dreams of becoming a bachelor in Fisheries Science.
She comes from Sentani, the capital district of Jayapura Regency which is located on the coast. Many people there work as fishermen. This background is motivated Melanie to study in the field of Fisheries.
“In Papua, there are indeed a lot of fish, I want to manage the resources there,” she said.
Since attending SMAN (State Senior High School) 1 Sentani, she has had the desire to become an entrepreneur in the fisheries sector. This desire grew stronger when she took a year of tutoring in Malang. In addition, a relative who has a business in the fisheries sector encouraged her to look for a college in the same field even though she did not know what special major to take.
In the midst of her confusion, the tutoring she attended after graduating from high school, conducted a campus visit to Universitas Brawijaya. Her interest began when she saw the beautiful campus environment and found out that UB is one of the best campuses in Indonesia. Melanie found that UB had a faculty in the field she wanted.
“I saw that there was a Fisheries Product Technology major, it turned out that it was learning on how to process fishery products, it really fit what I wanted,” said this 2019 student.
Story of Being a Student
Melanie started her studies at UB with tutoring to prepare for college. This college preparation was a scholarship that she received since she was in Papua and continued until she finished college. Not only financing, the Kaki Dian Emas foundation as the donation manager also provided mental readiness to become a student. Mental readiness to face classes, assignments and time management.
This readiness is very valuable because as an exact science student, she must be accustomed to making reports and also practicums from the early semesters. In addition, the adjustment to lectures at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic which forced lectures and practicums to be held online also overwhelmed her.
One of the things she told was when she was late in submitting assignments in Google Classroom. However, she still felt lucky because she didn’t have to repeat the course since her lecturer allowed her to submit the assignment.
Support from lecturers for Melanie was also the reason she enjoyed studying in Malang which is thousands of kilometers from her hometown in Jayapura. She said the positive response from the lecturer when she said her hometown was a source of encouragement. So, even though her family was far away, she didn’t feel isolated.
“Even my lecturer, he knows I’m from Papua, he supports me, he can make me comfortable. Like when we first met, he knew I was from Papua, he said if anything happened, just report it to me,” said the person who had never returned to his hometown since the beginning of the pandemic.
She said that her fellow students also supported each other without any restrictive or racist treatment. She even said that the rhythm of lectures which often included practicums to having to go to the Laboratory in Probolinggo with her classmates made the sense of family even stronger.
Currently, Melanie continues to pursue her dream of achieving the highest education possible. Similar to approaching her undergraduate degree, she is also preparing for her master’s degree in Bogor. [sitirahma/UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
