Ten thousand miles away from home, Andhika Periwitasari, a student in DMACC's nursing program, has become an irreplaceable presence in the Carroll community.
As she makes her way through campus to the nursing lab, she stops to engage in some friendly chatter first with the desk personnel, then with the custodian, and finally with a classmate roaming the halls, her beaming smile ever present.
And while she relentlessly works toward her goal of becoming a doctor in the US, her husband and two young children cheer her on from Jakarta, Indonesia.
This isn’t her first time pursuing a career in medicine.
Andhika, who goes by Ayu, was a practicing doctor in Indonesia for 13 years before coming to Iowa in 2023, where her certification is no longer valid.
This setback hasn't dulled her drive in the slightest.
And Ayu is no stranger to starting from scratch; the daughter of an airline pilot and a flight attendant, she spent parts of her childhood all over the world: from Indonesia to New Zealand to Saudi Arabia.
In fact, her love for medicine began at the American International School of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ayu fondly remembers her contagiously energetic 7th-grade biology teacher with a “uniquely New York attitude," who she partly credits for her career choice.
The passion sparked in Jeddah lay dormant throughout her high school years in Auckland, New Zealand, until it reawakened when she began college in Indonesia.
Around the same time, her younger brother was battling nephrotic syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes the kidneys to malfunction, leading to severe swelling throughout his body.
"Watching my teenage brother struggle with self-esteem issues because of a disease completely out of his control broke my heart," Ayu remembers.
"That's when I realized I want to help people like him."
Ayu approached every patient with the care and sweetness of an older sister, often spending hours listening to their aches and worries.
Coincidentally, while working in Indonesia, Ayu became acquainted with the daughter one of her patients, who was a nurse at the Manning Regional Healthcare Center in Manning, Iowa.
Moved by Ayu’s warmth and compassion toward her father, the young woman recommended Ayu for an open nursing position to the small-town hospital, an opportunity Ayu secured thanks to her extensive 13-year record of hard work and diligence, and in part to her international background and education at the American International School in Jeddah.
Unfortunately, the hospital couldn’t accept Ayu’s credentials from Indonesia. They pointed her in the direction of DMACC, and in August 2023, Ayu officially enrolled in DMACC’s pre-nursing program.
But she never imagined how much she'd change as a student the second time around.
Before a shy pupil, scared to ask the wrong questions, Ayu had now become a fully engaged scholar with a hunger for success.
The faculty and staff at Carroll helped Ayu embrace her curiosity and make the campus a home away from home.
"The language barrier I was so worried about is now almost irrelevant," said Ayu. “Faculty support me in ways that still let me demonstrate my competence and make me feel like an equal.”
Thanks to their support, Ayu successfully served as last year’s Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society Regional Officer and is in DMACC’s Honors Program.
Ayu fully believes she'll become a doctor again.
In the end, everything she does is for her family's sake. She knows she’ll face obstacles along her path, but Ayu stays ruthlessly determined, pushed forward by their love.
And she encourages others to have faith as well.
"Believe in your journey", Ayu urges. "Believe in yourself; take the positive energy from people around you and use it to build your future."
Bear Trails highlights unique journeys of DMACC students, alumni, faculty, and staff, celebrating their diverse experiences and inspiring paths. Have a story idea? Contact Savannah Eadens, Public Relations & Communications Specialist, at sjeadens@dmacc.edu or 515-675-3275.