Crossing Oceans
Wimar Widiatmo ’20 recalls his journey from his childhood in Indonesia to his life at West High
If you are a student reading this right now, there is a very high chance that you were in grade school eight years ago. It was the proving grounds, not only for meeting lots of new people and making connections but also for language development. For many students, this was quite the norm, but for Wimar Widiatmo ‘20 this was not the case.
Widiatmo is a natural-born Iowan, but he and his parents moved back to their home country of Indonesia after he was born. The island nation was no paradise: “It was very crowded and poor. There’s a lot of people living in the streets,” he said.
His family came back to the United States around the time Widiatmo entered second grade, or precisely eight years ago. Transitioning to American life was hard, but crossing an ocean wasn’t the most difficult thing for him to do, it was crossing the lingual barrier.
“It was difficult for me to make friends because I didn’t learn English yet,” he said.
Despite his early hardships with English, he found solace in his neighbors and his fellow students. Those new friendships quickly blossomed and became one of the most important tenets in his life. “I didn’t realize I needed them,” Widiatmo said. When he is around his friends, he shines.
His connections brought opportunities, and those opportunities brought talent. As a seventh grader at Northwest Junior High, he found a calling in music. “I like listening to music and playing music,” he said. Widiatmo is currently occupied playing the sousaphone in West High’s Marching Band.
Band is an incredibly social experience, and naturally Widiatmo felt right at home in the mix of it. He describes the day-to-day ordeal as chaotic, but fun. Despite the chaos, he always makes sure to focus. “As far as I can tell, he’s almost always on task,” said Logan Pfannebecker ’19.
When asked about his future, Widiatmo said he does not have a plan for a specific career yet. However, the arts look attractive. “I guess directing would be something that’s cool,” he said. He also mentioned his love of music as playing an important part in the idea of directing.
Widiatmo plans to join the yearbook staff, and is dedicated to his Foundations of Journalism class. His future looks bright for finding a career that he loves to do, especially in writing and interactions. When Drew ‘18 (I was unable to get his last name) walked by and talked with us, I jokingly suggested that Wimar and I were pseudo-journalists, but he quickly replied: “You’re not pseudo-journalists. You’re soon-to-be-journalists.”
