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INDONESIA, CIKARANG

School fees and student tuition often exceed a familys

monthly income. Evonik therefore supports a select

group of committed schoolchildren and students. One ofthem is 22-year-old Setiawan, pictured here with his

family

About 15,000 kilometers away, RezaSetiawan is sitting in the office of An-dri Gunawan, the personnel managerat the Evonik plant in Cikarang Indus-trial City on the Indonesian island of

Java. Setiawan, 22, has a good reasonto celebrate: Yesterday he receivedhis diploma in mechanical engineer-ing at Indonesia University of Educa-tion in the regional capital Bandung.He needed only four years to com-plete his studies, instead of the usualfour and a half. Whats more, he wasthe first student in the universityshistory to receive a perfect gradepoint average of 3.87.

Theres also a good reason whythis academic star is celebrating hissuccess today at Evonik. My par-

ents are simple rice farmers, and Ihave three siblings, he says. Wecould never have afforded a uni-versity education on our own. Myscholarship from Evonik made itpossible. Setiawans parents earnabout 500,000 Indonesian rupiahs amonththe equivalent of just under40. A month at college costs at least850,000 rupiahs a month in total, headds. But he was luckyhe was thefirst person to receive a scholarshipin Cikarang. This is where Evonik

produces hydrogen peroxide for thepaper industry. The plant is locatedonly 20 minutes from Setiawanshigh school, SMAN Cikarang Utara,in the residential neighborhoodnorth of the industrial park (utarameans north). Today the Groupsupports the high schools 15 bestgraduates every year. Evoniks per-sonnel manager Gunawan and Ka-maludin, his boss, conduct personalinterviews with the five best grad-uates and choose one of them to re-ceive a university scholarship. Rezaimpressed us immediately, becausehes very smart and also because hesa local boy. An original Cikarang na-tive! says Gunawan.

In addition to Setiawans student

fees, books, and a laptop, Evonik fi-nanced his living costs, as he wasliving on his own during his studies.Its an investment that has paid off. Idefinitely want to get a masters de-gree, preferably in Germany, saysSetiawan. This spring he will applyfor a place at the Technical Collegeof Jena. Until then, hes doing an in-ternship at Evonik.

Equal opportunity in an unequal world:Evonik sponsors education

28 G O O D N E I G H B O R S

Evonik Magazine 1 |2013

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