Imtinan Nadhim

I was born in Jakarta on the 4^th of November, 1998. I was given the name “Imtinan Nadhim Pinandita” by my father. He told me that the name is a mixture of Arabic and Sansekerta language that means “A great leader and a blessing from God the Almighty”. I have 2 older sisters. They are 5 and 3 years older than me. When we were still young, we had a lot of fight over many little problems.

            When I was 2 years old, my family went to Italy for a vacation. However, I had no memories of that vacation, because I was very young back then. I can only recall that vacation from the photos that we took in Italy.

            Years passed and I grew older. I went to playgroup and I began to learn how to interact with other people and making friends. In playgroup, I was known as one of the smallest boy because I don’t like to eat. My mother was very worried about me and she gave me a special milk that increases my eating appetite. Since then, I began to eat a very big amount of meal everyday.

            I graduated from the playgroup a year later. After that, I went to a kindergarten named “Tadika Puri”. I made a lot of friends there. My mother told me that I was the bravest and smartest boy in my class. My family went to Singapore shortly after I graduated from kindergarten.

            I remember the Singapore vacation a little bit because I was already five or six years old at that time. I was so amazed when I saw the Merlion statue and didn’t want to leave, simply because I want to look at it all the time. I went to the Night Safari, too. It is a very amazing zoo because I can see the animals’ activities and behavior at night. But, the part of the journey that I will not forget is when I was lost in a mall in Singapore. I couldn’t speak English and I just cried, hoping that my family will hear it and find me. Luckily, my father found me just in time, when I was about to leave the building.

            After that, I went to elementary school. In the first and second grade, I was the smartest kid and I always got the first ranking. In the third grade, I had my first accident. When I was riding my bicycle around my house, a car hit me. I fell from my bicycle and then I was taken to the nearest hospital. The damage from that crash wasn’t too bad, though. I stayed in the hospital for one night and then the wound healed in no time. Time flew and I graduated from my elementary school.

            Then, I went to Labschool Kebayoran Junior High School. I took the test quite easily because my mother told me to learn hard. My sister has already studied there for two years, and she helped me to adapt in Labschool. In the 7^th grade, I was known as one of the funniest. Unfortunately, in the 8^th grade my scores fell drastically because I was so busy with school activities, such as BIMENSI. BIMENSI is a Labschool project where you train with the Indonesian Marine Corps for 4 days in their headquarters. My parents were so mad at me. They made me took a lot of additional courses after school. Thankfully, the additional courses helped me  a lot. In the 9^th grade, my scores increases and I graduated with a good score.

            Unfortunately, I couldn’t pass the test for Labscool Kebayoran Senior High School. I was disappointed and sad, because it has been my dream since the 8^th grade. After that, my family helped me to search for a new school. I was accepted by the 70 Senior High School a month later. I was scared because the 70 Senior High is well known because of their bullying activities to the juniors. My sister tried to cheer me up by telling the positives of the 70 Senior High, because she just graduate from there a year before.

            A day after I completed my registration to the 70 Senior High, my father got a phone call from Mrs. Ulya Latifah, the headmaster of Labschool Kebayoran Senior High. I felt over the moon after I heard that news. The next day, my father and I went to Labschool to meet Mrs. Ulya. After she and my father talked for 5 minutes, my father came out and then he told me that I can enter the Labschool Kebayoran Senior High if I want it. I immediately told him that I want to enter Labschool and then we went to 70 Senior High to cancel my registration.

            I made new friends in the Senior High, and I found no difficulties to adapt because many of my friends from Junior High also studied here. In the 10^th grade, I successfully passed all of Labschools’ exhausting event, such as BINTAMA, TO, MOS, and PILAR. My scores were good, especially in the 2^nd semester. Hopefully, I can continue my wonderful journey in Labschool Kebayoran Senior High in the years to come.