I’m Feby Elsadiora, an alumna of SMP and SMA Margie. Until today, I thank God that I spent 6 years of my life in this school. It was not just a place for me to study rigid textbook theories, but more importantly, it was where I built a strong foundation for my life.

With Margie, young Feby explored almost everything – from wall climbing, basketball, student exchange, journalism, modelling, and much more! But the two things that really stick with her are the school’s annual English drama competition and the Majalah Dinding competition held by Deteksi Jawa Pos. They were her favourites.

Those were the times her inner creative seeds were nourished by the teachers. What happens to seeds when they touch water? They grow – and her inner creativity was explored, exposed, and appreciated very well. It turned out that the creative industry became her world. Now, she is a full-time collage artist, senior Art Director at Gojek, and a recent wife 🙂

Reminiscing, my school years contributed significantly to my current life.

I still remember building stage decorations for school events and drama competitions. Those times became my foundation for working as a Set Designer and Art Director when making music videos with Guava Production, Jakarta.

The presentations and public speaking activities that teachers assigned to me every month also proved useful in my current field of work, where in the past 4 years, I have to make a lot of presentation decks and present creative ideas for ad campaigns.

The inclusivity in Margie’s diverse environment taught me that differences in our backgrounds, skin colours, and beliefs are trivial – that all humans are equal in the face of God. I learned to love and respect each other, to turn diversity into a strength. It turns out, these lessons are unimaginably important these days, in such a diverse nation like Indonesia.

Well, there will never be enough space for me to share all the amazing things I’ve been through during my times studying in Margie School, but there’s a paragraph to summarize it all:

“Dear teachers, thank you for nurturing my days of self-search back then. I am a strong young tree with steady roots and healthy stems now. I hope I can provide fruits & shades for others in the future 🙂 “