The Orientation Week (O-Week) 12.9 of Thursina International Islamic Boarding School (IIBS) officially kicked off on July 21-26. The number 12.9 refers to the 12th cohort of seventh-grade junior high school students and the 9th cohort of tenth-grade senior high school students. The program serves as a crucial opportunity for new students to be familiar with the environment, values, and culture of Thursina IIBS.
By the theme "You Are The RECODING Generation," Orientation Week has been a medium for instilling the fundamental values of Thursina IIBS: religious, caring, open-minded, and inspiring. These values are expected to build the character of students as an excellent generation that is relevant to the challenges of times.
The Thursina Student Association (TSA) and Leadership Coordinator, Ustadz Hendika Wicaksana, S.Pd., explained that O-Week is not merely a ceremonial event, but a fun and engaging adaptation process. "We want new students to feel accepted, enthusiastic, and ready to learn in a new environment," said Ustadz Hendika.
Opened with Khutbatul Arsy and warmly welcoming atmosphere, the new students walked from the front of Pendopo to Alexandria Field, along with enthusiastic applause from the mature students. The ambience reflected the family spirit of Thursina IIBS in embracing the fresh students.
Over six days, they are introduced to various aspects of life in the boarding school, involving campus tours to introduce facilities, infrastructure, cleanliness and tidiness habits, and even the daily regular system to help them understand the rhythm of life in the boarding school. They are also introduced to the supervisors (musyrif/musyrifah), academic advisors, and the management of guardian council.
Moreover, the O-Week presented inspirational seminars, one of which is themed "Implementation of RECODING", "My Teacher My Hero" training, introduction to flagship programs in Thursina such as overseas, enrichment, and competition programs, as well as Student Learning Assistant (SLA). There are, furthermore, Marching and leadership training, uniform fashion show and barbecue time with murobbi/murobbiyah.
Thursina IIBS encourages its new students to enjoy learning to understand what they study well and offer long-term benefits. O-Week is the starting point for the whole process. Ustadz Hendika, in addition, highlighted an interesting phenomenon in the seventh grade of this year for the presence of Gen Alpha - the digital native generation born in 2011-2012. "They are immensely tech-savvy. This is a great opportunity for Thursina IIBS to build a RECODING generation, who are not only digitally adaptive, but also have strong religious and inspiring characters," he added.
Besides the seventh grade, the tenth grade has shown great eagerness as well. Many of them have been interested in the Thursina Voice Enrichment Program, the Saman program, and other majors, performing both on the national and international stage in the name of Thursina IIBS.
The final day of O-Week ended with a fun outbound event. The students are supposed to become closer to one another and foster a sense of camaraderie. Ustadz Hendika hopes the new students would adapt accordingly and practice the values of RECODING in their everyday lives. (sls/lil)
