BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – Being a college student, it is too monotonous to just take class and complete assignments. Outside of academics, there are many positive activities that can be followed to improve soft skills and productivity.
Kelvin Mohammad Yusron, a 2018-grade student of Communication Studies Faculty of Social and Political Science Universitas Pasundan, who is in the middle of his academic activities, is still able to take on a business and initiate a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
This 22-year-old student is currently running on a fashion business, which are named to My Skylar, and initiating a community named to Bandung Care. Bringing the tagline ‘Helping, Teaching, Guiding Each Other’ (lit. Membantu, Mengajar, dan Membimbing terhadap Sesama), the community works with volunteer students from various universities in Bandung to take part on social activities.
Driven by his concern for the current sad condition, as a student, Kelvin is determined to be an agent of change and apply the values of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education by providing benefits to the surrounding community who are still less fortunate.
“Alhamdulillah, Bandung Care has already been into the third-generation and had more than 100 members. I, myself, have monitored and helped on the main problems, such as co-working with the corporate, donator, and company in branding the community and becoming a regular sponsor,” he said on Thursday (July 1st, 2021).
This time, Bandung Care is going to hold 6 huge programs, namely creation-video competition about encouraging people in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, mental health webinar and forming an online study-group tutoring for primary school students in Bandung. Apart from that, the community also engages on movement named ‘100 masks’ on the hashtag #BandungFightsCorona as well as educates and gets people used to keep their life healthy by always using face mask. It also forms Bandung Care Tanggap Bencana and Sharing is Caring program.
“Tutoring program aims to help people, especially those who are at the primary school age and have difficulty completing lessons or doing school assignments. Later, each division of the program will bring 40 children together to study and solve the problems, two weeks before final exam. For Sharing is Caring, we strive to grow the personality and care of members by lightening the burden of those in need,” he explained.
Besides building social awareness, Kelvin said that Bandung Care was a connector in expanding the knowledge and relation since each member of the community has their own unique character. It will also keep them communicated even outside the community.
Because of his interest in entrepreneurship, Kelvin assisted by his brother, also runs the fashion business. Even in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, he thinks, people’s interest in shopping for clothes is still relatively high. Seeing these opportunities, Kelvin tried to make local clothing brands and made international brands his benchmark.
“I choose ‘My Skylar’ as the brand to create an international brand in consumer’s mindset, because it has basic outfit concept, based on its similar concept and design,” he said.
For Kelvin, when starting the business, he did not expect for immediate significant income and sales, but intensified the branding to make it known by the public. It was proven that even though his business has only been around for four months, he has managed to gain more than 250 thousand impressions with the help of promotion and consistency.
His business of running the business and monitoring the community he has established does not necessarily interfere his academic activities. Kelvin was even listed as an awardee of Beasiswa Juara from Kompas and Avian Brands, and received West Java Future Leaders Scholarship twice in a row.
“The key is to stay focused and study. By then, the score obtained could help us apply for the scholarship. You should also be active taking part in an organization, because it could hone our skill, both in public speaking, writing and others,” he explained.
Recently, he also holds a national webinar as a requirement for final-thesis trial. Amazingly, the webinar entitled ‘Strategi Komunikasi Pelaku Ekonomi Kreatif and Inovatif di Era Pandemi’ presented several well-known speakers, namely the Head of Human Resources Development of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Dr. Anggara Hayun Anujuprana, ST., MT., Founder of the OK OCE Indonesia Social Movement Dr. Indra Uno, and Founder @dya_id Datu Adrian, S.E.
“The webinar was successfully held and there would be a training facility as well as supervision from Juraga GrabExpress and Sandiaga Uno for the society and entrepreneur students,” he continued.
After finishing his study, Kelvin plans to work in the startup business and finds for Magister Program Scholarship to the foreign country. If he passed this, he would try to implement the knowledge to develop a better Indonesia and achieve his dream to be a politician.
He advised millennials to get up from being lazy and start doing something. Armed with the knowledge gained during college, students should be able to apply it in society.
“Start thinking about the concept first. Let us work much smarter, harder, complete and sincere. I always stick to the motto ‘improve relationship with Allah, Allah will make things easier for us’. So, put your trust in Allah, continue to worship, endeavor, and trust,” he ended. (Reta)*
