Where Creativity Took Flight

I moved to Jakarta with my family in 1986 and attended JIS for my Junior and Senior years of High School. I graduated in 1988, then attended the University of Kansas, where I explored several majors before finding my true passion, Visual Arts/Painting.

I was able to take a double period of art during my Senior year at JIS. Mr. Rashid Carré was my art teacher, and he was very supportive and encouraging. JIS was a place that seemed to embrace the concept of letting a student choose a unique combination of classes in order to create opportunities to dive deeper into areas of interest.

My favorite memory is a field trip from my Junior year. I took Environmental Studies, and we had a two-night boat trip out to Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands). We explored the coral reefs by day and slept under the stars on the boat at night. I was so happy that I took that course, even though I didn’t get a good grade.

My advice to current students: Take advantage of all the opportunities to get out into the real world. Ride the trains, take the ferries, interact with people who are different from you.