Depok-His name stuck on the national stage thanks to his achievements as a roller skate athlete who won many awards. He managed to combine achievements from outside the campus and from the academic world. Barijani Mahesa Putra, a student of the Public Relations Study Program, Vocational Education Program at the Universitas Indonesia (UI) won the title of UI 2022 Most Outstanding Student at the Vocational Program Level.
Mahesa will represent UI in the 2022 Diploma Program National Most Outstanding Student Selection, namely the regional and national selection stages. Previously, he competed with dozens of other participants in the UI Most Outsanding Student Vocational Program Level and became a top 3 finalist. The three of them then competed at the UI level to win the title of UI Main Most Outstanding Student at the Vocational Program Level. 1st place went to Barijani Mahesa Putra, followed by Stephanie Nuriani Janice (2nd Place), and Saskia Dyra E.P. (3rd Place).
Mahesa said, “I feel very proud to be able to prove that it turns out that I can also excel in academics, not just competing in the field that I am involved in, namely sports. This competition is a form of self-validation and proof that athletes can also excel in academics. The stigma that athletes can only excel in non-academic fields is my motivation to remove that stigma.”
Mahesa is listed as a DKI Jakarta roller skate athlete who has made various national and international achievements. Some of his achievements include 1st place in the Men’s 10 km Team Time Trial (TTT) in the XX Papua PON 2021; 1st place in the Men’s 500M+D Sprint in the XX Papua PON 2021; 1st Place 3000m Relay JIRTA Friendly Competition 2021; and others.
At the international level, Mahesa has also contributed two gold and one silver medals at the 2013 Malaysia Open; one silver medal and one bronze medal at the 2015 Malaysia Open; and one gold medal at the 21km Half Marathon in New York, USA in 2018. He has also represented Indonesia several times in roller skating competitions, such as the World Roller Games in Barcelona, Spain in 2019 and the World Championship in Heerde, the Netherlands in 2018.
The victories he has achieved so far are the result of hard work, balancing the world of campus and sports. “For me, being an outstanding student is not the peak of a career in the academic field, but I want to realize and implement my work or innovation so that it will be useful for the Indonesian,” Mahesa explained.
The Director of the UI Vocational Education Program, Padang Wicaksono, S.E., Ph.D, said that he was very proud of Mahesa’s achievements. “I really appreciate what Mahesa has done so that he can win the title of UI 2022 Main Most Outstanding Student at the Vocational Program Level to advance to the national level. This shows that the achievements and achievements of each individual, both academic and non-academic, can be a provision for them to continue to develop their work and benefit the wider community,” said Padang.
Mahesa’s achievement was announced during the 2022 UI Student Appreciation Night which was held at the Assembly Hall, UI Depok Campus, on Friday, June 3 , 2022. Not only as an most outstanding student, this year he was chosen to be one of the skate athletes who will compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games next year (2023).
“Following this competition was my first experience competing in the academic field, competing with other finalists in terms of knowledge, critical thinking, English speaking skills, which I had never done before. Of course, I will continue to do my best to be a champion and give the best results for the Universitas Indonesia, so that the implementation of the products and innovations that I make can benefit the Indonesian,” said Mahesa.
