Author: David Park ('24)
Photographer: Michael Hartono ('24)
Photo courtesy of Michael Hartono
“I was able to feel how BAIS had close-connected communities. It was really interesting to see everyone including teachers and students well bonded and greeting each other and me,” said Maggie Limandibhrata (‘24).
Even during COVID-19, students from a variety of backgrounds have joined the BAIS community this year. A shared experience the new students have is the strong connections they felt with the community. In an Interview with the Times, Maggie Limandibhrata, Enrique Guo, and Eunho Choi, shared their personal growth and experiences they had ever since coming to BAIS.
Photo courtesy of Michael Hartono
Maggie, a sophomore who joined BAIS this year, began the interview by providing background information about her previous school. She said, “Before I went to BAIS, I attended Bina Persada which was located in Bandung. It was a small school compared to other schools. It was a national plus school, and I struggled with Indonesian in that school. However, I have attended and made connections in that school for around 9 years. So, moving to BAIS was a drastic change for me.”
As Maggie experienced drastic changes in her life, she also explained the reason for moving to BAIS. “I moved to BAIS for education. I think the education that BAIS offers is American-oriented. I wanted to attend a university with American curriculums, resulting in me moving to BAIS looking for AP courses and SAT opportunities,” Maggie noted.
Furthermore, Maggie shared her first impression of BAIS, and said “First of all, I had to admit that there was a lot of work. The first week I felt the loads of work, especially the AP world history class. It felt harder since it was my first AP class to take in my life. However, after several weeks of school, the assignments and time management all became manageable. One difference from my previous school was that BAIS wanted students to have their own responsibilities and be self-disciplined.”
Maggie concluded by sharing her bonding experience with teachers and classmates. “Chapel, class meetings, and Bible classes also bring connection between me and the students,” Maggie said, “Those classes provide specific time that I could form bonds with teachers and classmates.”
Enrique Guo (‘24), who joined BAIS two years ago, also shared his thoughts and his experiences at BAIS. He started off by providing some background information about his school life previously going to BAIS.
“I went to multi school before coming to BAIS. I went to local school, national school, and national plus school. However, at grade 8, I moved to BAIS since I wanted to have a connection with the community that BAIS offers.” Enrique continued, “First impressions were nice, like how people were greeting each other. After two years of school life, I found out that the community was indeed more deep and well connected than the year I came. Also, I really enjoyed the facilities that BAIS offered such as a swimming pool, basketball court, and awesome soccer field”
Photo courtesy of Michael Hartono
Like Maggie, he admitted that there were difficulties when attending a school that requires English proficiency. Enrique said, “I had some difficulties when I came to BAIS such as native language and cultural differences. However, I effectively was able to overcome those difficulties by having close contact and ties with teachers and classmates.”
Enrique further mentioned the emphasis on spiritual growth in BAIS and the impact he experienced. Enrique noted that “BAIS has unique, well experienced teachers which actually care for student’s success and their ego. Bible class, chapel, and class meetings are significant classes in BAIS which helps me to learn about God, have a relationship with God, and to build my own ego effectively.”
Photo courtesy of Enriqe Guo | Enrique Guo doing Charity Work
Not only does BAIS offer him a chance for spiritual growth, it also offers him a chance to explore his interest outside of school.
“I think extracurricular activities are helpful and necessary since it helps students to build their talents and make relationships outside of school time. Activities that I enjoy are soccer and basketball. I am aware that IISSAC is not available due to COVID, but I look forward to in-school activities and tournaments involving sports,” Enrique said.
Eunho Choi (‘27), who moved to Indonesia in the first grade and moved to BAIS in seventh grade, also shared his experiences on BAIS to the Times. He attended BPK in Bandung, which was an Indonesian school before moving to KBP and going to BAIS. Eunho's family had in mind to move him to an international school that has an English curriculum, and his family chose BAIS for that reason. He was challenged to communicate with teachers and classmates in English, which is not his native language.
Photo courtesy of Michael Hartono
When he first joined the BAIS community, his first thoughts on school were that “it was awesome.” He enjoyed the clean environment and facilities BAIS offered and mentioned the variety of extracurricular activities BAIS offers that he is interested in, and said, “I really enjoyed basketball and was interested in joining swimming in the future.”
In conclusion, BAIS offers a wide variety of opportunities regarding facilities, academic, and extracurricular activities that new students look forward to. But more than that, the BAIS community and the people in it make these new students, Maggie, Enrique, and Eunho, feel welcomed and help their transition to a new school.