Kalara Pringgoharjono's Resident Address
2025 Alumni Awards Dinner
One of the opportunities our alumni and friends appreciate most about attending our annual Back-to-Burg Weekend is the chance to hear directly from current residents about Burgmann and the value it brings to their lives.
At our recent Alumni Awards Dinner, second-year resident and Council Member Kalara Pringgoharjono delivered a thoughtful and deep reflection on her Burgmann experience, beautifully encapsulating the transformative opportunity that living in a diverse and connected college community provides.
'Everyone here is full of drive, ambition, and capability, but it doesn’t produce sameness. Quite the opposite. Burgmann is a place where your identity is constantly tested, and you have to confront yourself. I genuinely believe that to the core, you are always the same person…but it’s the environment that allows you to discover and express more of who you are meant to be.'
We are honoured to share Kalara's full speech below.
Good evening everyone,
My name is Kalara, and I’m a second-year student studying International Relations and Commerce. I feel very privileged and excited to be here tonight to speak about my time at Burgmann so far.
To tell you a little bit about myself, Australia is the fifth country I’ve lived in, and Burg is the seventh place I’ve called home. Every three years of my life, I have moved in some way. So, by the time I got here, change was nothing new.
When I came to Burg, I thought I had it figured out. I was a little dismissive and even a bit arrogant, thinking I knew exactly who I was and what I was here to do. I thought that this was just another place to adapt and assimilate into…things I felt comfortable and obligated to do. Pretty much somewhere to sleep while I studied. I had learned how to adapt everywhere else, and I assumed that was enough. It has become very clear to me recently that I had confused adaptation with belonging.
Burgmann is a place where opportunity and support are built into its very environment. From the moment I arrived, I was provided not only with the physical space and support to prioritise my studies, but also with an inherent culture of learning that has actively encouraged me to explore my interests beyond academics. I currently sit on Council and Board, have been a part of many initiatives through the Charities Committee, am involved in planning Dawborn, and this is the second year that I am in Burg Dance. I have always felt welcome and excited to be involved in everything the college has to offer.
But the most valuable gift Burgmann has given me isn’t just the social infrastructure or the opportunities. It is, truly, the genuine interpersonal connections that I have been privileged to make. What really surprised me is that I have come to feel the most myself I have ever felt during my time here. What makes this place extraordinary is the way it begs you to connect with people on such an intimate level. Here, you can’t just skim the surface of who people are. A natural, shared curiosity for your peers means that you genuinely come to know them, and to see them as more than just figures passing through your life.
This community is so rich and diverse in ways I’ll admit I was naïve to. Everyone here is full of drive, ambition, and capability, but it doesn’t produce sameness. Quite the opposite. Burgmann is a place where your identity is constantly tested, and you have to confront yourself. I genuinely believe that to the core, you are always the same person…but it’s the environment that allows you to discover and express more of who you are meant to be. Here, you frequently encounter moments of friction, where you’re pushed…where the views you hold and the person you think you are get challenged. That is where the growth happens, and that is where you are offered choices, and the decision to become.
The impact of this environment is so obvious when you look around the room…our incredible alumni. The people who carry the mark of Burg into the places they meaningfully influence.
Despite my global upbringing, it is here where I have really understood the importance of diversity. So much perspective is gained when you are able to authentically characterise people, and to stop thinking about them as abstractions from your life.
That is why scholarships matter. They’re not just about financial support …they’re about access, and trust in the value of diversity. They make sure the future voices of this country are not excluded by circumstance. Beyond this, scholarships signal belief … belief in a student’s potential, in their future, and in the transformative value of education.
For me, Burgmann has been the place that has allowed me to feel like I wasn’t just adapting… but truly belonging. Because what this place does best is give you the space, the opportunities, the friction, and the support to become.
Banner image: Residents Noah Smith and Kalara Pringgoharjono, Back-to-Burg 2025.
