Semarang (April 29, 2018) Student Executive Board (BEM) of the Faculty of Foreign Language and Culture (FBBA) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang (Unimus) held the 5th English Festival on Sunday, April 29, 2018. Taking place on 4th floor of Nursing Research Center Building of Unimus, the festival was themed “Hitch Your Wagon To A Star” . The event was attended by 63 participants from senior high schools and vocational high schools in Semarang and the neighboring towns and also West Java Province.
The festival was opened by Mrs. Diana Hardiyanti, M.Hum, the Head of English Literature Study Program of Unimus, who represented the Dean of FBBA. “This event is aimed at promoting the faculty to the public. So far, the public’s response has been quite nice to the FBBA’s English festival,” Mrs. Diana said. “English Festival is an annual agenda of FBBA, as a medium for the students’ actualization and creations, soft skill improvements, as well as talent scouting among language learners on senior high school level,” she added.
“It is one of big events organized by the Student Executive Board of FBBA annually. And this is the fifth year. Thanks to the God’s grace that the number of participants this year improve,” Siti Sapuroh, FBBA Students’ Governor, stated. Meanwhile, Slamet Sri Puji, the committee chairman of the English Festival 2018, added that the English Festival was an event to show students’ talents dealing with English language. Through the English Festival, they’ve learnt skills to be courageous to show their identities in front of the public. “Themed “Hitch Your Wagon to a Star, the English Festival 2018 sends a message that a dream is a future goal that must be realized. Through the event, the students are expected to be able to realize their future goals,” she added.
Syifaul, one of the participants from SMA Negeri 3 Demak (a state senior high school in Demak Regency), stated that his interest in participating the English Festival was because the theme was cool. “The English Festival held by Unimus was pretty prestigious and exciting,” he added. The English Festival was considered trending among high school students because the committee didn’t only distribute posters but also used social media for promotion. There were 4 competitions available in the English Festival this year. They were Spelling bee, singing contest, speech contest, and storytelling.
Each of the participants got a certificate and for the winners, they got certificates, trophies, and cash. The winners of the competitions were as follows. The Speech Contest winner, runner up, and third winner respectively went to Fanny Julia from SMK 7 Semarang, Lusia Devayani from MAN 2 Semarang, and Indah Wulandari from SMAN 1 Guntur Demak. The Singing Contest winner, runner up, and third winner respectively went to Celsa Alfreza from SMAN 9 Semarang, Immanuella Alesia from SMA Theresiana 1, and Nisrina from SMK 7 Semarang. The Short Story Telling winner, runner up, and third winner respectively went to Syifaul Ummah from SMAN 3 Demak, Ulfa Aulia from MAN 1 Semarang and Linda Amalia from SMK Muhammadiyah 1 Weleri. Meanwhile, in the category of Spelling Bee, the 1st winner, 2nd winner, and 3rd winner went to J’Hazkel Victora from SMA Theresiana 1 Semarang, Disyon Hizkia from SMA Theresiana 1 Semarang and Syahda Vania from SMAN 3 Semarang.
Reported by the Technical Unit of Public Relations and Protocol
