Unlimit Your Sky

Hello! Thank you for visiting this website. I am no longer accepting donation to this because this was my personal story. 

I've reached enough money to help me with my education. Please click the "update" tab above, to keep you up-to-date with this project. If you're new to this, please read my story below. 

Thank you for your interest and let me know if you have any questions. Reach me at [email redacted] 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m Zhara and I have applied to the graduate program at The College of St. Scholastica. I am hoping through this go-fund me project, I can personally gain the financial means to continue my studies. However, if the amount succeeds that what is needed for my personal tuition, this will be donated into the “Unlimit Your Sky” campaign which will remain running for other international student education.

To keep my (F1) student visa status, I need to complete the program in two years, whilst maintaining my full-time student status. This means that  I don’t have the flexibility to take more time in completing the program (I will not be able to complete the program within 2 years whilst simultaneously saving up for tuition).  Coming from Indonesia, I have limited funding options. I am not able to take out loans unless I have an American citizen as my co-signer. I am not able to work off-campus due to immigration restrictions on the F1 students. I can work on-campus for twenty hours a week but that would barely cover my living expenses, let alone my tuition. Thus, without your help, I will not be able to attend St. Scholastica.

The Twist–Scholarship Fund:

“Unlimit Your Sky” is a campaign that allows people to support international education by donating a small amount of money for a scholarship fund for international students who are interested in pursuing a master's degree at St. Scholastica. The idea is to slowly get rid of the “impossibilities” in the minds of young people. It still blows my mind that I have grown up from a girl who could only dream to own a Rp.100,000 rupiah bill (equivalent to $9) to now being a grown woman living in America, trying to pursue a master’s degree to inspire the younger generation of Indonesia that they can dream as much as they want to. I would like to encourage the global community to support international students’ goals to improve their hometowns through studying abroad.

However, financial and immigration restrictions limit the access to higher education for international students to study abroad. Through the “Unlimit Your Sky” project, I hope to create a community that supports diverse cultural exchange through the access of international education at the United States.

My journey:

In my personal experience of growing up in Indonesia, most people from my background are not allowed to dream big. I say this because some Indonesian kids I know are taught to have low expectations due to the lower level of education and development in the country, as well as the lack of access to international education. Despite being put in the same position, my mother encouraged me to always dream and set higher goals for myself  while others were punished and pushed down for even trying. I did not have money or resources, but I had big goals. With the help of my stepfather, I went from being someone who was not able to speak the English language to being able to attend a British high school. Consequently, I received a scholarship  to attend St. Scholastica. For me, that help was invaluable. It was at this moment that I realized seemingly small actions can make a large impact.

After graduating from college, I worked for HTK Marketing (Hailey Sault) and had the opportunity of being sponsored. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to be picked from the lottery system of the H1-B visa. The skills I earned through my working experience encouraged me to achieve a larger career goal and ultimately fuel my goal to help children in Indonesia to expand their dreams through the resources from the global relationship.

My goals and vision:

This master program of MBA in Leadership and Change will allow me to develop the leadership and change-management skills, as these skills resonate with what is needed to encourage further development of Indonesia, which may lead to an increase in resources for the general public to access higher levels of knowledge and diversity. It is through the combination of this program and this project that I wish to encourage the global community to help each other. Overall, what I would like to achieve by the end of the program are the following three issues. I plan to develop the “Unlimit Your Sky” program to become a bridge between people helping other people through diversity, education and financial means. Secondly, I hope to become a qualified individual who can work in a bigger organization that aspires to inspire young individuals such as TEDTalk and UNESCO. Thirdly, I plan to contribute as much as possible to the St. Scholastica in Duluth community.

I’m also interested in acquiring educational tools and skills for diverse audiences, as diversity is an important issue in academia and business in today’s ever globalizing world. An example was someone’s experience at St. Scholastica’s information session. She was able to suddenly see things differently and manage in a way that she would have never thought of without attending the program. To be able to open the minds of other people is a powerful ability to have. My biggest goal for Indonesia is to contribute to the community by creating and implementing systems that address financial barriers and develop skills for low-income students to access higher education internationally, beyond the borders of their home.

Pursuing an education back home would not be the same because of the significant cultural differences between Indonesian and U.S. society. In my opinion, there is still a large part of Indonesian society that has a different outlook in having “dreams”  and who believe that the sky's the limit. This leads them to living in the “impossible” world. For example, some parents will tell their kids that they shouldn’t dream big because it’s not going to happen and that it will disappoint them, whereas in America, there are a lot of opportunities and beliefs that together, we can make a change to this world. I can take with me the highly ambitious values of the U.S. and adapt it internationally to inspire Indonesians citizens with similar drive, ambition and determination. Additionally, this would further improve my intercultural and interpersonal skills,  hopefully allowing me to better coordinate international projects.


Special Thanks to:

Hailey Sault team for helping me with developing this project including coming up with the support with everything, campaign concept, creating the logo and the video. Thank you SO MUCH! It would be impossible to make this happen without your help.

A big thank you to Duluth Screen Printing for donating their t-shirts and the collaborations for this project.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Any amount will be greatly appreciated.  As a special thank you, those who donate more than $50 will receive a t-shirt with “Unlimit Your Sky” logo on it.

Please share and spread the word for the good cause. If you have any question feel free to contact me.