New Experience Gained During The Student Fest Event

By: Rita Sudiarti

I chose this topic because, during the Student Fest 2025 at Politeknik Tonggak Equator, I gained many experiences that I had never had before. These experiences made me realize something I had never tried, and which I previously thought I had no talent for. However, after I dared to try, I found that I could do it. 

The experience I gained during the Student Fest Polteq 2025 was:

1.Performing a traditional dance during the opening of Student Fest Polteq 2025

During the performance of the traditional dance, I felt very nervous, and I was very tired because my team and I went through a very long preparation process. Our performance time was at 16.35 WIB, but we had already been on campus since 12.00 WIB because we had to do makeup, get tattoos on our arms, wear the Dayak traditional costume and accessories, and do hair styling. The reason it took a lot of time is that there were five of us dancers, while only two people were doing the makeup and drawing tattoos on our arms. 

This experience is very memorable for me and is one of the things I remember most about preparing for the traditional dance performance. It was just for a single performance that lasted about 3 minutes, but in reality, it took a lot of time and effort to prepare. This experience also made me feel very nervous because we were the opening performers for the Student Fest event, which was witnessed by Polteq leaders, directors, lecturers, staff, students, and the general public. This made me even more nervous. However, I am very proud of myself and my team because we were able to perform our dance smoothly without any problems. Since then, I have become more confident in myself and my team because we managed to present our dance flawlessly. I also realized that performing in public is not as scary as I had imagined.

2. Attending a painting workshop

In this activity, I gained the experience of painting together with friends from various backgrounds. Actually, I had never painted on a canvas and used painting tools like brushes, color paints, and other equipment before, and I even previously believed that I couldn't paint. However, I realized after participating in this activity that I could also paint like my other, more experienced friends. I also learned various painting techniques, how to use a brush correctly while painting, how to mix colors, and many more. The committee was also very kind and gave instructions very patiently. At that time, we painted a mountain landscape and a road like in a forest, and we also wrote our hopes on paper and made them into star shapes, which were then put into a small bottle. After the activity was finished, we had a photo session and we got to take our artwork home.

3. Participating in a poster competition

This competition was a new experience for me. Although I didn't win, I was brave enough to try and compete with others. I also learned many ways to arrange elements on a poster to make it look beautiful and neat, as well as adjust to the theme given by the committee. With this experience, I became more confident to participate in future poster design competitions, and to improve myself, adding knowledge in designing for the next competition.

So, basically, at the Student Fest event at Politeknik Tonggak Equator Pontianak 2025, I gained a lot of enjoyable experiences that I didn't know before. The Student Fest event really helped me develop my confidence in performing in public through the traditional dance performance. This event also allowed me to make new friends from various backgrounds and from different campuses. Hopefully, next year's Student Fest will be even more amazing with more competitions, workshops, and a more exciting theme.