Ramadhita Putra Purnomo (center) with the 2023 National Pioneer Youth winners during the award night

ITS Campus, ITS News — Pioneering the realization of technology as a forum for the benefit of society, the students of the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) succeeded in winning 2nd place at the National Pioneer Youth level. This award was handed over directly by the Directorate of Youth Development of the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora), Wednesday (18/10) evening, at the Ciputra Hotel, Jakarta.

Ramadhita Putra Purnomo, a student from the ITS Chemical Engineering Department, is the figure behind this brilliant achievement. The East Java representative managed to occupy second place after outperforming 24 other provincial representatives in this annual competition organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. “For the category, I chose to compete through the Technology Innovation category,” added the young man who is often called Rama.

Ramadhita Putra Purnomo (fourth from the right) when providing direct outreach regarding the innovation he pioneered to residents

To achieve this position, Rama admitted that he had first gone through various quite lengthy selection stages. Starting from district level selection, continued with provincial level selection until he successfully advanced to the national level. At the national level, Rama again went through various tests including a live presentation in front of a jury to a question and answer session in front of hundreds of audiences. “It’s a relief that this long struggle has borne sweet fruit,” said Rama gratefully.

Regarding the innovation presented, this third year student explained that he presented an innovation in the product of processing used cooking oil waste into clean oil that can be reused. In his presentation, Rama revealed that this product had passed various laboratory tests to ensure its safety and content. Not only that, Rama has also established his own Technology Innovation House as a concrete step to expand the benefits of this product for society.

Ramadhita Putra Purnomo (center) together with local residents show off the innovation of used cooking oil products into clean oil

Through this innovation he pioneered, Rama admitted that more residents were helped to get access to oil that was healthier and cleaner than using used cooking oil. The easy manufacturing process is also an added value to this innovation. According to Rama, these two things are important because the innovation he pioneered is open and can be enjoyed by all groups.

Ramadhita Putra Purnomo (left), ITS student who won 2nd Place in National Pioneer Youth 2023 with the Head of Youth and Sports Division of Disporabudpar Nganjuk

Closing his explanation, this young man from Kertosono expressed his deep gratitude for this extraordinary achievement. For Rama, the struggle that he started in 2021 is a big thing that involves various parties. For this reason, he hopes that the development of this innovation will not stop here. “In the future, hopefully this innovation can continue to improvise better and more people will be helped,” he said optimistically. (ITS Public Relation)

Reporter: Shafa Annisa Ramadhani