Episode Notes | Episode Transcript | AskTheGuest
Jemmy’s story is about a rich & energetic experience in college. On the academic side, he pursued mechanical engineering, complementing it with internships to get hands-on experience.
He got involved in the Future Car Project on campus, participated in Indonesian Student Association, socialized with students from all over the world.
He became a student of American Football. The Saturday home game tradition became a ritual.
Hi-Fives from the Podcast are:
Episode Title: Jemmy Chayadi on UW Madison: Mechanical Engineering Major, Becoming a Global Citizen, and Saturday Football Games.
Episode summary introduction: When he was in High School in Jakarta, Indonesia, some students from UW Madison talked about their experiences in college. Young Jemmy was impressed and was motivated to apply to US Colleges.
Jemmy Chayadi is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
In particular, we discuss the following with him:
Topics discussed in this episode:
Our Guest: Jemmy Chayadi is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Jemmy later earned the Master’s in Industrial Technology and Operations from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
Memorable Quote: “...I could actually learn about the country, their culture, their food, and so on, without actually having to go to their countries.” Jemmy about meeting students from other countries.
Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.
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Transcript of the episode’s audio.
A lot of the experience at UW Madison helped me to be more versatile and help me to be more, how do I say, in the sense that okay, you to be able to, have the ability to adapt to new situations. And then, but having the confidence that I already have the basic skills, and knowledge, and the foundations from UW Madison.
Jemmy Chayadi is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
When he was in High School in Jakarta, Indonesia, some students from UW Madison talked about their experiences in college. Young Jemmy was impressed and was motivated to apply to US Colleges.
Jemmy hasn’t looked back since. It took him halfway around the world, made him a Global Citizen and gave him the confidence to chase opportunities he may not have otherwise.
Jemmy Chayadi joins us today to share details of his undergraduate years at UW Madison.
Before we jump into the podcast, here are the High-Fives, Five Highlights from the podcast:
[Memorable Experience]
Miss the atmosphere in Madison where there's an area where we call the Terrace next to the lake, the Saturday football games and just everything that just make me want to come back to Madison. And so UW Madison is always special for me.
[Why UW Madison]
And some of them came back to say like during their winter holiday and all that, they came back, they spoke and shared the experience in, with the high school students.
I was one of them who, who heard about the UW Madison for the first time. So that that kind of drove me to start applying for some schools.
[Indonesia to the US]
It was mixed feelings, scare, anxious, worried, but also excited to go abroad. First time. It was a big, big move, big cultural shock. Big language shock. Everything Big. Definitely a huge shift in my life and a big challenge.
[Int’l Peers]
I never travel abroad anywhere. So just to be able to meet with them. And to be able to be friends with them. I can, I could actually learn about the country, their culture, their food, and so on without actually, having, having to go to their countries. So it is like traveling around the world in but I stayed in Madison. So I think experience of, global experience, I did get it when I was in, in UW Madison.
[For Aspiring Students]
The experience in UW Madison. It really offers a more complete and holistic college experience. That's actually part of the college experience this, this sport, this football game on Saturdays, and like basketball games and so on. And I think there's this balance of strength in academics and sports that really helps actually to enrich that college experience.
Venkat Raman 4:15
Now, I'm sure you want to hear the entire podcast with Jemmy. So without further ado, over to Jemmy Chayadi!
Venkat Raman 4:24
Hey, Jemmy!
Jemmy 4:29
Hi, Venkat, How are you? How are you?
Venkat Raman 4:32
Very well. Very well. Great to hear your voice. Welcome to our podcast “College Matters. Alma Matters.”
Jemmy 4:42
Thank you for having me today.
Venkat Raman 4:47
Absolutely. It's 10pm your time so I really really appreciate this.
Unknown Speaker 4:55
Don’t worry. This is actually the best time like I like I told you. There's, there's not many distractions, and I can really focus on, on this one.
Venkat Raman 5:06
Fantastic, fantastic. Okay, let's get started.
I would like to talk to you about your undergraduate experience that University of Wisconsin Madison. And as I mentioned to you, we are making these podcasts for folks like you'd from 20 years ago who might have been looking at colleges in the US.
And, you know, the world has become smaller, and a lot more people are moving to different colleges around the world. So I think this is great that you could talk to us about how we went about that experience.
So maybe we could start with what your overall sort of feelings and impressions are, after all these years about University of Wisconsin?
Oh, yeah. You're right. I mean, 20, I was actually more than 20 years ago. And I think the, at that time, it was very much different, to look for information about where to go to college and all that.
So you're right. I mean, technology has advanced, so much easy to look for this type of experience as, to the this type of informations. Right.
Yeah, my overall undergrad experience at UW Madison. I think just like many students, I mean, when I came to the University of Wisconsin Madison, I went there to, to obtain the high value education from one of the top universities in the world.
But what I did not expect was just to fall in love with the city, to really fall in love with the traditions, the people, and just to have those memories close to my heart Even till today.
Well, of course, it's not all walk me like walk in the park. I mean, I know. I still don't like the super cold weather, in Wisconsin. But maybe because I think what I try to justify to say, oh, maybe because I just I just don't enjoy the winter sports as much. Maybe I just so I don't have that, that right, the right appreciations for the snow and the winter seasons.
But overall, I think my undergrad experience was definitely one of the best and most memorable times of my life. College experience is always there with you forever. I mean, just looking back I, I always miss the campus, I missed the atmosphere. The in Madison, where there's an area where we call the Terrace next to the to the Lake, the Saturday football games and just everything that just make me want to come back to Madison. And so UW Madison is always special for me.
Venkat Raman 8:22
So let’s you know, maybe you can tell us a little bit about why you picked UW Madison, how that came about?
Yes. This This takes me back in 1996. I, I was well, I was I was still young. And I did. I did not really have any inspirations at that time. So I chose UW Madison because it had a good Academic Ranking. It was, It is one of the best public schools in the US. But the other thing that attracted me personally, at that time was because there was already an existing group of Indonesian students at that time. Okay.
So through the word of mouth and and they some of them came back to say like during their winter holiday and all that they came back they, they they spoke and share their experience in with the high school students. So I was one of them who, who heard about the UW Madison for the first time was so that that kind of drove me to start applying for some schools and like you said, at that time, there were no internet whatsoever, So we really have to believe in that word of mouth. Right, right.
Well, we didn't even see we just say Okay, you know what, yep, University of Wisconsin Madison. Okay, I'll go there because they were already an existing group of Indonesian students and friends in Madison.
So now when I, when I speak to high school students about their reasons for applying to UW Madison, it is mostly the same, I mean, good Academic Ranking. But in Indonesia, I can add one thing is a strong alumni network in Wisconsin Alumni Association Indonesia chapter.
Venkat Raman 10:22
Absolutely, absolutely know that that matters, that matters. Word of mouth, at the end of the day, is probably a big driver.
Venkat Raman 10:32
Let's talk a little bit further back in time. Were there any special interests in high school? While you are still getting ready for college? Did you do anything differently, you know, what subjects, what, what interested you?
Well, not. Not many kids, especially in high school, like know, really know their interests. I did not know know my interest.
But in Indonesia, there's, there's actually a back in the day when I was doing my time in high school. So there was a system already set up in the Indonesian high school education system where during our second year of high school, the students have to be split into three different group or majors. So we call it like the A1, which is for science students. And there's an A2 for biology students. And then there's an A3 for Social Studies students.
So there was during the second year, so I know at that time, I was somewhat good in math. And I do like physics. So automatically, when I get into my second year of high school, so the school put me in, in the A1 major, which isn't science, right.
But really to think about it, I did not have any specific strong interests back in high school. But because of that track, that was set up by my high school and I again, there was, okay, they put the students they're more, have strength in math and physics than they will put in that specific science major. Right.
And that also affected my decisions when I when I went to college. So that's, that's how I actually came about to choose like engineering as my major is because, I had that track that was set up back in high school.
But again, that was high school and college. But it's interesting, because as we talk about now, with my career and all that, it has nothing to do with engineering, but I'm glad because of that engineering background that I had. It does help a lot with, with my personal development and my career development.
Venkat Raman 12:59
Sure. Well, were you into sports and other things? Were you playing any games in high school?
Jemmy 13:06
In Indonesia, badminton is his big course. Of course. I guess work. So I was one of the badminton applets like, back in high school, representing the high school and then I was also into basketball. But yeah, it was this those two those are the two sports that were my favorite. We were we trained after schools and we go to, like, events and like tournaments and all that. And yeah, but I played badminton since I was a very young, like many kids in Indonesia. And I, I still play feel today too. It's a, it's a very good sports and good pastime for me.
Venkat Raman 13:57
Absolutely. It's a great game. It's a great game.
Um, any, any music or anything, were you into any instruments or singing or any of that stuff?
Jemmy 14:09
Well, you definitely don't want me to sing!
Venkat Raman 14:12
Okay, we won’t ask you to sing.
Jemmy 14:17
I do play guitar. And so we had a small band when we were in high school and it was all acoustic guitars. It was funny because we had to, I think bands like when we were in high school, and the other one is, is more like electric guitars and all like full bands and with drums and all that so and while ours is like all acoustic guitars and it was fun.
Because I remember one of the school even back when we were in a senior year or so, I think we, we we had we actually managed to pull out of you know the song Hotel California. Yeah.
It was a very popular song. And so we had four acoustic guitars. And we actually pulled that song out. And just to put in, in context again, back in the days, there was no Internet. So we actually have to listen to a cassette, and then really rewind that, then listen to it and get the chords, get the word to the notes, and then like, start recording it one note at a time. So it took a while for us to get the whole song. But we managed to pull it out. And it was, it was a really good, memorable time for us in high school?
Venkat Raman 15:46
Yeah, so from Jakarta, to Madison, how was that whole transition, you know, one moving across countries and two, to a pretty cool place, Moving to college and moving to college here coming to college?
Yeah, believe it or not, it was one of the biggest moves, or probably the biggest moves in my life. The reason why, because that was also my first time going abroad, ever. So I never been abroad before.
And so it was funny, because I remember, I'm the first generation from my family who actually go to college. And then I chose to go to the United States. So just to add, like, I was also the first person in my family to actually been to the US. Uh huh. Um, and then so it was, it was definitely a biggest move in my life.
I remember I flew with, my flew us with my friend and her parents, my own parents, because we can afford the costs.
Of course, it was mixed feelings. Scare, anxious, worried, but also excited to go abroad. First time. It was a big, big move, big cultural shock. Big language shock. Everything Big.
Definitely a huge shift in my life and a big challenge. Because I need to be independent, disciplined, I need to manage my own life, my time and everything. I had to by myself for the first time ever.
Yeah. So. But I'm, I'm very thankful for this significant experience, because it was a real life changing for me. It definitely shaped me to be a strong person I am now.
Venkat Raman 18:10
How did you find the academic transition? How was, how was that? How are the classes?
Well, that one was unfortunate. Actually, that one is easier, because fortunately, from academic point of view, the transition was not too bad. Okay.
I graduated from one of the top academic high schools in Indonesia. It's funny, because some of the courses that I took in my freshman year were already taken when I was in high school. So it's almost like a refreshing course.
The other funny thing at that time, so they were because of word of mouth, and I think that it was very successful that time. So they were about 20 some students, my classmates, they were coming from the same high school in the same class.
So when I was funny, the reason why I said it was funny, because I remember one when I took some of the earlier courses during my freshman year, and I was sitting next to my ex, I mean my high school classmates.
It was almost like going back to high school because I was living with them. And I was like, Oh, yeah, we have this before. We have learned this before back in college, in high school. So the um, so I'm fortunate, I'm very fortunate that on the life perspective, it was difficult. It was a huge shift, culture shock and all that and I have to be independent and by myself and everything, but then on from the academic point of view, it was the transition was, was definitely easier than, than that. So that was very helpful.
Venkat Raman 20:08
How did you find your classmates, your peers? I mean, other than your high school buddies?
Well, I know that UW Madison is, I mean, Madison itself is, is a city that is so diverse. So UW Madison in the campus is one of the most diverse campus in in the United States.
And I think that UW Madison has one of the largest number of international students, if not, they can let us numbers like there were more than 5000 international students from more than 120 countries going to University of Wisconsin Madison.
So my classmates, they were, I have, I've met friends and classmates, they were coming from countries that are, I have heard before, I mean, this is my first time going abroad. So I forgot. Yeah, I know where, like, are, where Spain is, where Germany is, and where Japan is, like some of the Asia what I even though I never been there at that time, right. But they were like some countries that have just never heard before. And it was so amazing, just to be able to meet all these classmates.
Because, again, I never been, I was, I was, I never travel abroad anywhere. So just to be able to meet with them. And to be able to be friends with them, I can, I could actually learn about the country, their culture, their food, and so on without actually having having to go to their countries. So it is like traveling around the world in, but I stayed in Madison, so I think experience of global experience, I did get it when I was in in UW Madison.
But of course the students they are, they are very smart, very competitive, very strong academically. And, and I am definitely very much, I was definitely very much challenged to keep up with them and to really contribute. Say, for example, we work in the, in the in the group, settings and all that. So it was, it was good to, again to learn about the diversity of the students to learn about the global perspective from different students, and also to really keep me stay competitive and be able to contribute while we're working in group setting. So it was very good.
Venkat Raman 23:10
How did you find your classes, you're teaching the professor's? How was that experience?
Well, I know you're there UW Madison's, we were very lucky to be hired by World Class professors in the world. Because when just say like some of the amazing scientific advances were made at the UW Madison's like, for example, just name a few like discovery of vitamins A and B, Like it's a big research about stem cells and all that they were they were being done in a UW Madison.
So you know, that the findings, it tells a lot about the quality of the professors and teachings at UW Madison. And so I also heard, like, for example, in the University of Wisconsin, it's considered as public Ivy. So it says a lot and I think, of course, it is supported by a very high level of research. I know that I think UW Madison had the research and development expenditures of more than a billion dollars, maybe it's one of the biggest number in among the universities in the US.
So I was able to, I was lucky to, it was a privilege for me to be able to, also engage had the opportunity to engage in some of the research when I was in school in campus. One of the research, is we're talking about 20 some years ago, was the, we call it this a Future Car project. So it was the beginning of the electric cars. We basically battery and then we put on the car. And then it was just what are the beginning phase of the development of the electric cars. And it happens. And there was I remember there was a competition yearly competitions and University of Wisconsin always participate in that I was always in that project. project.
So it was very rich, I'm very grateful to be able to learn from some of these professors to learn from the, I remember, I was doing, I was helping some of the professors doing research and to have the interaction as an undergrad students, with, with the graduate students, the PhD students. It was very, I mean, very rich and very, when good for me, especially as an undergrad student to have that experience.
Venkat Raman 26:08
So, let's move out of the classrooms and talk about how things were on campus. How was, you know, maybe we can talk about the dorms and the living. I mean, a lot of that changes, but how was that experience? And then we can talk about different clubs and other things.
Yeah, well, as I shared before, I, when I first came to the US, I didn't know a lot of people so and at that time, I, so I did not go to the door. And the beginning, I was because I was I was literally following my, my friend.
So they stayed in the, in the apartment, so I actually stayed in the apartment, so I actually didn't get a chance to, to stay in the dorm. And I think that's one of the things that I missed out. And I could go back to the time that, that I would definitely choose to have that experience in the dorm and to be able to, to learn and get that experience.
But clubs, I was very active inside the social, I mean, the clubs, from the Indonesians, we have, like the Indonesian Students Associations were when I was there, they were quite a bit of number of Indonesians, they were about 400 Indonesian students at a time when I was here. So it was it was quite a bit.
And then so we have the Indonesian Students Associations very active. So I was involved in that. But at the same time, there was an Indonesian Christian Fellowship. And I was part of the leadership on that as well.
Not only that, I was also involved in because I was my major was in mechanical engineering. So I was involved with ASME, and that actually lead me to that Future Car project. Good.
And then I was also involved in like, some actually, one thing that that may be is a bit of the, the, the side note was that there was there were a lot of like opportunity for, to work in campus, for example, you work in a library, you work in the computer center at that time, it was like really a computer where you go in queue for a computer. Right? The Time Time flies.
So yeah, those are some of the things that really, you get a chance to learn and to be to have to work in, in in campus.
But yeah, Wisconsin, there's a saying in Wisconsin, what we call a Wisconsin Experience. So where we combine a learning like inside and outside of the classroom. So this is something that I always encourage our students or new students to, not only to be excel in our or to excel in academically but also to maximize the time and the opportunity to be involved in clubs and in social activities that are huge.
I think there were like 600 clubs or something in, in at UW Madison's and there you name it, like chess clubs, any clubs like a dance club and all those clubs. There are so many different activities and clubs that the students can can be involved in. And really, I think is that Wisconsin experience is something that I feel like would help not only, definitely not only to, to get that experience, wherever the for example, in the activity that you are focusing on, but also to help enhance the to bake, bake, make that person to be a better person. And because it's more holistic you get to experience academically, but also outside of the classroom.
So I always encourage the students, new students, to going to UW Madison's to do really get as much as Wisconsin experience as possible.
Venkat Raman 30:47
What about the summers? Did you get to do anything, internships or courses? How did you spend your summer?
Yep, most of us, at that time, most of the Indonesian students, including myself, so during summer, we, we tried to take the summer outside of the UW Madison.
So there was a summer where I actually took a summer course at University of Washington, in Seattle. Oh, wow. That was, that was nice, because I love Seattle, I think it's really good city, very nice city, especially in the summer. And then it was a beautiful campus, but then just to be able to get out and to see other campuses, and to be able to experience different setting of like, academic settings, in different cities. And just to have, again, just to have that more holistic experience, because, United States is so big, I mean, there's so many cities, so many areas where you can definitely explore as a student. I know there's not much time that you can read that one of the time that you can actually use is actually during summer, so you can actually take course, outside of like, elsewhere, and some other of my friends actually took summer course, even to Europe, for example, I think is also very good experience for them, personally, as well.
But then there are other summers when I took internship. I spent time doing that doing internship. And I think those are the two main things that we usually do during our during summers.
And Definitely, yeah, I think it's good because you feel like when you come back to fall, and you have this new experience, you have this new it's kind of like, you know, you go back and you feel refresh[ed] in that sense, to just get out a little bit and then and get a different exposure. And then when you come back to Madison, you, you are definitely more refreshed and you, you bring something new and then you're like ready for this new fall semesters and, and moving forward for that.
Venkat Raman 33:25
So, what kind of internships did you do? Tell us about that.
Jemmy 33:31
Yeah, um, so at that time, because I was an engineering major, my, my, I was a mechanical engineering.
Well, during my senior year, I started to have a special interest in quality engineering. Back in that time of quality, like quality engineering, quality management, it was, it was a big topic. Just like, for example, like Sustainability now is a big topic. So back in 20 years ago, quality was a big topic.
So I had the opportunity to have an internship, it was actually a coop & intern, so, so last semester and a summer internship at that time. So I had it at Kohler, Kohler, Wisconsin, so, you know, cooler as a brand is. So they make this like famous, like toilet bowls and faucets, like, yeah, that like so.
So I had a chance to work in the mill, and especially in the quality department, where I helped to inspect like, some quality issues like some of the products might be defective. So need to find, So I have to go through the process, okay, where the defect happens and how to fix the defects that were probably caused, during the process for maybe a faulty cast or maybe maybe the wrong temperature or things like that.
So, we tried to basically, I was helping the project and in the project as an as an intern, my job is to find out, okay, there is a defect in this product, okay, where it happened, what is the root cause? And how to find a solution how to fix the defect. So it was it was good, it was very fruitful.
And I learned a lot in terms of like, Okay, what is the real work feels like, and just to be able to work with the real engineers, and I had my Quality Manager at the time. So just to be able to learn how to do a report, manage the project, and then give a presentation about like, the issue, for example, and how to fix it, and then actually implement the solutions and then be able to report back on the result. So it was very, very good.
And so when I came back, and I was, I was at that internship actually helped me to, to decide on what I want to do for my full time job. So. So I was, at a time, I was trying to say, Oh, you know, what, the quality was really the thing for me. But thanks to that internship, I actually get into a career in, in quality engineering.
So I was an engineer, after graduations, I work as an engineer for five years focusing on quality engineering.
Venkat Raman 36:48
Maybe we can talk a little bit about your major, I mean, how did you settle on mechanical engineering? You know, any, any thinking? Or was it you know, something that just happened?
So I think it was, it was something that that is just, just happened. And I think so I will start by, I think when I shared what my experience when I was in, in high school. So I was already kind of like, into in this science bracket and science major. So engineering was definitely kind of like the next step after that, so.
So it's more like, okay, which engineering. So there's only Yeah. So I also happen to like, cars a lot, I like automotive. And that's, that was the reason why I also mentioned about getting involved in the future car project. Yeah, yes. Cars.
So choosing mechanical engineering was was somewhat, I think that was the closest thing that I that fits into my, my interests, engineering and cars.
So but I think it's during the process, well, back in, I think I'm sharing a bit about my internship in Quality engineering.
So during my junior and senior year, I started taking some of the industrial engineering classes, and quality engineering classes. So those are some of the classes that I took in senior that were even though I graduated as a mechanical engineering, but I can still manage to, to take some of the classes that are more high level classes that that still helped me to prepare, or help me at least prepare for my full time job.
So it's a, it is a slight detour, during my senior year from mechanical to more to quality engineering at that time. Because I after that internship, I believe that you know, what, I want to pursue a career in the Quality Engineering, then I started taking so more of the quality engineering classes. And that, in that is, is is doable, and I think it's, it's still within the engineering scope.
And, and yeah, the engineering aspect from the mechanical engineering still helped me when I analyze how the issues from, for example, from the machinery issues or tools and all that some of the mechanical engineering classes actually came handy for that.
Venkat Raman 39:42
How do you think you know, a few decades have gone by, how do you think UW Madison has impacted what you've done, after college?
Yeah, it's a I would say is, is humongous. I mean, I, in the, in the nutshell, I, I owe UW Madison for what, what, who I am now and everything in not only my career, but also personally as a person.
I graduated as with a mechanical engineering degree, so. So when my career, my first job I was working as, as an engineer, I was in Chicago for five years. So it was a very specific job, where I did a lot of quality engineering stuff. But there was a point in my career where I decided, you know, what, I think this is really a good phase in my life. So I decided to quit my job and then move to China.
And this, and then in China, I worked with IKEA. And then I started, to, to work in a field outside of engineering. So that was the first time when I start getting to know about corporate social responsibility, and, and really jumping from being a specialist in engineering to be more of a generalist in and knowing other other fields and, and areas as well. I think so that job. It was, it was quite interesting.
The reason why I was sharing about that jump from an engineering to a non engineering, career, and UW Madison shaped that because I feel like that that experience, a lot of their experience at UW Madison helped me to be more versatile, and help me to be more, how do I say, in the sense that okay, to be able to have the the ability to adapt to new situations, and then, but having the confidence that I already have the basic skills and knowledge and the foundations from UW Madison.
Because I remember when I was offered the position at IKEA with within the corporate social responsibility, I remember I was asking the interviewer I said, like, because they asked me like, he asked me, Do you know anything about corporate social responsibility? And I replied, to be honest, this is the first time I've heard that word. So it was amazing how IKEA took the step to hire me.
But at the, at the same time, I think, the confidence to still for me to actually still pursuing a career, there is not with I don't have any experience, I don't have any education background. But having the confidence that I know I have enough basic skills and foundations that I got from UW Madison's to be able to make that shift of career and from a specialist to a different field.
And I think that, that confidence that I got from UW Madison eventually shaped my future career when I start really understanding that I am a generalist, and I have the view of a generalist, I, I am a strategist I like to actually I do have the strength and in setting up strategy and seeing the big picture of an issue or situations and to be able to analyze it from my engineering, again, from my engineering background, to be able to analyze the problem, and just to be able to come up with the solutions that that works. That, that confidence I got from UW Madison, and that confidence from UW that I got from UW Madison and how to shape my future career and help to shape my life and to be able to to actually be where I am now.
It's, it's something that I owe to UW Madison.
You know, if you had the ability to go back, go to Madison for four years, all those, you know, really those four years. What would you do differently? I know you'd stay in a dorm, but what did you do?
Jemmy 45:05
Yeah, number one, I would Yeah, I definitely would like to have that, at least for here experience thing in the dorm, I really regret not having that. And I've heard so many stories from, from my friends, who, who have that experience. And I think they were so memorable. They are not all flowers and all that. But I know that it was definitely a good experience that can only get back in freshman year, sophomore year.
But one thing that I could, I would do differently at UW Madison, because I shared a bit about the Wisconsin Experience, and I know that there were so many opportunities in campus and UW Madison, where you can explore your interests, your passions, your even just a slide of like, questions. There's clubs for that up in in Madison.
So the other thing that I would do differently is just to be able to be more brave, to to explore my passions, to, to have interests, for example, in arts, or, like dancing, for example, which I never done even.
But I think those are the times when in college, where, when I can also explore freely, and we having a chance to just make mistakes and say like, Oh, you know what, that's really not what I liked. That's not really what I want. And kind of like, quickly move on from, from there. And I think these are really the perfect time to do when, when I was when you were in campus.
Last thing that I would do differently, or maybe I would do more is actually I would, I would travel more. Even in Wisconsin, I wish I travel more just to see the Wisconsin, just to see the cities, I, I don't think that I travel enough, even within the state of Wisconsin.
Venkat Raman 47:29
Now I'd like to switch gears and have you give some advice to all these youngsters who are in high school, looking to go to college, looking to apply to the, you know, to a college in the US, maybe want to go to UW Madison, what would you tell them?
How should they think about college? And how should they apply?
Yeah, well, I think, um, I think I probably have mentioned this many times before, for young students who are interested to go to, to us or even to UW Madison, really, to make sure that you can maximize that what I said the Wisconsin experience, that's one thing, right?
Because you don't get that in, in I think, I know that we will not be able to get that in our own city or in our own even schools in Indonesia. So the experience that we call a Wisconsin experience, I think it's something was so valuable. And I always encourage all Indonesian students to, to really optimize that. I mean, a lot of the Indonesian students, they said, Oh, yeah, they want to go to UW, and they want to get a 4.0 GPA, which are they actually do. Right.
Well, I told them, yes, it's great. It's great to have a 4.0 GPA, but really, you know, four years, they go by so fast. Yeah. And next thing, you know, I mean, you miss out all these opportunities to explore that new things that I just mentioned, say this year, and it's like, so things that you can learn outside of the classroom.
So I think that's one is, to really maximize the Wisconsin, Wisconsin experience.
But then, I also think that I mean, the, the interesting because I'm now part of the I'm leading the Wisconsin Alumni Associations, Indonesia chapter. One of the one of the things that I also can see, which I think is very interesting, the difference between US, the US alumni versus the other alumni, for example, like from Europe or from Australia or from other countries. And I can, I can talk on behalf from, I can talk from the perspective of the UW Madison.
As you know, UW Madison is part of the Big 10 conference. And one thing that I'm very proud of the Big 10 schools like Wisconsin is that not only that we are good and strong in sports, and not only that we are good in, in strong in academics, but we also very good and strong in sports. Right?
The way I see it, the reason why I mentioned this, because I think this Wisconsin experience in UW Madison, it really offers a more complete and holistic college experience. That's actually part of the college experience this, this sports, football game on Saturdays, and like basketball games, and so on. And I think there's this balance of swing an academic and sports that really help the actually to enrich that college experience. That's number one.
The reason why I mentioned that, because, as you may know, sports unite people, and in Wisconsin, when, like, during the Saturday football game home game, is that they when we all are united, I mean, so this is actually the time when even some of the freshmen like the international students, this is the time when we actually start building up the school pride. And there's strong connections with the school with the fellow students with the Badgers and become a being a Badgers, and all that.
And this connections will follow through to when you are an alumni eventually, yeah, and this is all true when you become an alumni. This connections, stays and it becomes like a family you become like we always say like becomes the Badgers family. And this connection strong, continues as we also can go and give back to communities, give back to mama therapy back to Wisconsin, and and and so on.
So this separate I think from, from this view, being an a US alumni, thus have a unique experience, a unique connections, unique pride for the schools, in my cases, Wisconsin, and the unique connections to the alma mater.
And I really think that I think the other schools outside of the US, I don't see that strong connection that strong prior to their school. And eventually when they become the alumni. They don't have that strong connections back to their alma mater.
So I really feel that for the students who are considering to go to the US or to the UW Madison, for college, these are some of the things that will take you beyond that four years in college, will take you all the way in your life.
Venkat Raman 53:42
So Jeremy, we are now kind of reaching the end of our podcast, I wanted to give you a chance to share anything that we may not have touched upon, or you want to say something more, or some memories or traditions or some things that you know, you'd like to share that you think might be of interest.
Well, I briefly mentioned about the football game. I mean, I yes, like going all the way from Indonesia and one of the things that I fall in love when I was in the US, especially in Madison is actually American football.
And I remember my, my fondest UW Madison memories was actually a football game. A specific football game. I watched so many football games, home games, but one specific football games was when there was running back that we had his name is Ron Dayne. There was a time when he actually set the the NCAA Division One rushing record. I was in that game and I, I was sitting. So when that happened, I was, I was really sitting in the middle, I was sitting in the middle, it was too slippery, right? It's almost like right in front of me, and the atmosphere of the stadium and how people were cheering and and, and really, that was just such an amazing memories.
I really, so every time I go back to every time I have the opportunity to return to Madison, one of the things that I always try to do is to watch football games at Camp Randall Stadium. I define that as that feeling I define as a small taste of heaven on earth.
Venkat Raman 55:54
That's, that's wonderful. It's great that you had a great experience. It's not just that you had one, but you're living through these memories, and that you're able to sort of make an impact.
So Jemmy, I want to thank you for taking the time. And I must remind the listeners that it was past 10 o'clock Jakarta time when we talked. And I really thank you for talking in such great detail. We were very generous with your time. And I really, really think that this would be beneficial to all our listeners.
So I'm sure we'll talk more Jemmy, but for now, take care and be safe and good night.
Jemmy 56:40
Thank you Venkat. Thank you for the opportunity.
Venkat Raman 56:43
Sure thing. Take care.
Jemmy 56:45
Take care.
Venkat Raman 56:47
Yeah. Bye.
Jemmy 56:49
Bye.
Venkat 56:55
Hi again!
Hope you enjoyed our podcast with Jemmy Chayadi about the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Jemmy’s story is about a rich & energetic experience in college.
On the academic side, he pursued mechanical engineering, complementing it with internships to get hands-on experience.
He got involved in the Future Car Project on campus, participated in Indonesian Student Association, socialized with students from all over the world - in the process learning about their cultures and customs.
He became a student of American Football. The Saturday home game tradition became a ritual.
It’s hard to not take a closer look at UW Madison after listening to Jemmy.
For your questions or comments on this podcast, please email podcast at almamatters.io [podcast@almamatters.io].
Thank you all so much for listening to our podcast today.
Transcripts for this podcast and previous podcasts are on almamatters.io forward slash podcasts [almamatters.io/podcasts].
To stay connected with us, Subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify or visit anchor.fm forward slash almamatters [anchor.fm/almamatters] to check us out.
Till we meet again, take care and be safe.
Thank you!
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US Colleges, College Admissions, University of Pittsburgh, Pitt, Study Abroad, India, China, Extracurricular, International Students, Model UN, Common Application, Common App, College Essays, Innovation, Gig Economy, Thesis, Capstone, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Business Development, Dubai, Singapore, Grab, Ride-Sharing.