Duo of FKIK ULM Students Wins 2024 MEDDIPS National Scientific Essay Competition
Semarang – Students of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FKIK) of Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM), Alfitri Chellyadiza and Amelia Rahma have won first place in the national essay competition Medical Science of Diponegoro Olympiad (MEDDIPS) 2024. They managed to get the highest score in the student scientific essay competition after competing with 42 teams from various universities in Indonesia.
The scientific essay that led to the victory was entitled “D-Care: Revolutionary Innovation for Diarrhea Prevention Through Education with the Utilization of IoT (Internet of Things) and Volunteers in All Levels of Society”. In the essay, Amelia and Alfitri discussed innovative efforts to prevent diarrhea in Indonesia by utilizing IoT-based application media and volunteer activities for community empowerment. The title was chosen after considering the suitability of the theme and choice of sub-themes in the MEDDIPS competition.
MEDDIPS 2024 carries the theme Digestive with several choices of sub-themes. Amelia and Alfitri said that they decided to choose the subtheme of Health Promotion Development as a National Scale Gastrointestinal Disease Preventive Effort.
“In addition to being relevant to the subtheme, we chose the essay title because it is in line with the scientific field that we are studying in college,” they said in an interview.
Previously, they admitted that they were late in finding out about the competition. This meant that they only had 5 days to write the essay script and 2 days to prepare the presentation and practice.
“Preparation for the competition was done by preparing mentally, strengthening understanding of the essay material presented, and asking for advice from seniors who were experienced in presentation-related competitions,” said Amelia.
Amelia and Alfitri also shared their memorable experiences while participating in the competition, where they were the center of attention because they were the only participants from Kalimantan. They were also noticed by the jury for using sasirangan when giving their presentation.
Amelia and Alfitri’s participation and victory certainly added to the series of achievements achieved by ULM students. The victory is a source of pride and a form of ULM’s success in providing support for students to be able to excel, both in academic and non-academic fields.
“Alhamdulillah, we received assistance from the campus through presentation training in the form of advice on how to carry ourselves in the presentation text. In addition, we also received funding for transportation and accommodation as well as pocket money,” they said.
Hopefully, the achievements and victories that have been obtained can continue to be maintained and even improved, and can inspire other students.
