Making Content Out of Essay Writing

That morning in late June 2026, the BI Corner at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS), was buzzing with activity. Several students sat in a circle with their laptops open.

In the middle of it all, Syaban Al Musyaffa Ibnu Ahmad could be seen listening to a friend who had drawn him into a discussion. Born in Kalabahi, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Syaban is one of the students entrusted by the faculty leadership to bring the BI Corner to life as an academic space actively used by students.

The faculty leadership did not entrust that responsibility to him without reason. Alongside his studies in Accounting, Syaban is known for actively participating in various national and international competitions. That experience eventually led to him being invited as a speaker at a number of academic events and regularly sharing essay writing tips through Instagram.

Syaban Al Musyaffa Ibnu Ahmad. UMS PR/Azhar Muzaqqi

"In my first semester, I entered competitions just because everyone else was doing it. I entered, I failed. Entered again, failed. Entered again, failed," he recalled with a small laugh. He admitted to experiencing more than ten failures across various poster, infographic, and essay competitions.

The more competitions Syaban entered, the more clearly one problem came into focus. Plenty of students wanted to compete but had no idea how to begin scientific writing, exactly the position he had once been in himself.

So in August 2025, Syaban began posting content about essay writing, scholarly papers, competitions, and personal growth in university life through his personal Instagram account, @el_musyaffa23. He packaged the material into carousel posts and short videos designed to be easy for students to grasp.

"Before August 2025 I'd made content, but it rarely gained traction and wasn't focused on any clear topic. I learned a lot about content from Mas Saminur, a fellow UMS Campus Ambassador. Over time it caught on," he said.

His turning point was a post offering an essay template. At the time, his account had only around 1,800 followers. That single post reached 60,000 views, 14,500 likes, and 4,949 comments.

Gradually his following climbed to roughly 5,000. Now, in early July 2026, Syaban's account has 8,655 followers.

Not every post performed the same. "The content about tips for writing scholarly essays draws the most interest. My top post now has nearly a million views, almost 63,000 likes, over 20,000 saves, and tens of thousands of shares," he said, gracefully.

Educational Contents Syaban shared on his Instagram. Instagram/el_musyaffa23

Positive responses have kept arriving through his Instagram direct messages. Many students ask for feedback on their scientific writing or simply want to consult him about a competition they plan to enter. Some return to message him again after making it through as finalists, or even winning, by applying the tips he shared.

"When someone tells me they made it through or won after learning from my content, it feels wonderful. It means what I shared was truly useful," Syaban said.

His consistency in sharing educational content slowly opened other opportunities. Beyond being invited to speak at various communities and campuses, Syaban has several times been trusted to judge essay competitions, including ones held by Malang State Polytechnic (Polinema), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), and most recently Universitas Muhammadiyah Pekajangan Pekalongan (UMPP).

For him, social media has become a space for sharing and mutual learning. That principle is what drives him to keep producing educational content to help students understand the world of scholarly writing. 

"I hope more students will dare to try. If the experience I share can help them grow faster, that alone is happiness for me," he said.

Long before studying at UMS, Syaban spent his childhood in Alor, then continued his education at Pondok Modern Assalam in Sukabumi, West Java. It was in that Islamic boarding school that he was first shaped by discipline, a culture of reading, and public speaking practice in three languages.

His parents were not the type to demand he top his class every year. What they always stressed was the process of learning itself.

"My mom and dad never set a target that I had to be number one. What mattered was that I kept learning and kept growing. They supported me in competitions too, whenever I was interested," he says.

Syaban first dreamed of becoming a diplomat. He was even admitted through the national state-university selection track (SNMPTN) into an international relations program.

That plan shifted after he served his mandatory devotional period at the boarding school. The obligation to serve caused the opportunity to lapse.

The following year, he said, that route was no longer open to him, so he pursued his studies through the other admissions track. Several universities sent letters of acceptance, yet on his parents' counsel Syaban ultimately chose UMS.

Studying at UMS is what finally drew him toward competing. "Back then I really had no idea what a scholarly-writing competition even looked like," he said.

The results were predictable. Proposal after proposal fell through. Posters were rejected. Infographics didn't make the cut. Essays met the same fate.

Rather than give up, Syaban turned every stroke of bad luck into material for learning. He began talking through his work with several accomplished UMS students, among them Saminur Fauzan, Arief Surya, and Samiyem, fellow members of his organization and campus ambassadors.

LEFT: Syaban serving as a judge at a national essay competition organized by Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). RIGHT: Syaban after winning a gold medal at the Asian Youth Innovation Award 2026 in Malaysia. 

From them he began learning how to find ideas, build arguments, and understand the patterns behind how judges score. "After a lot of conversations with them, I gradually understood how to think in a competition and in making content. Oh, so this is where I'd been going wrong," Syaban said, raising his index finger.

The change began to show as he entered his third semester. His failures started tipping over into wins.

An international competition in Malaysia was the first he managed to win. From then on, achievements came one after another. He took gold at the International Youth Excursion Network 2025; first place in the 2025 National Essay Competition; gold and a special award at the Asian Youth Innovation Award in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2026; silver at the International Intellectual Property, Invention, Innovation and Technology Exposition in Bangkok, Thailand 2026, and more.

Even so, Syaban claimed he has never treated medals as the main goal. For him, the most compelling part is the process of thinking through the construction of scientific writing and how it impacts society.

"I don't know why, but I just enjoy essays more. It's because I really do like writing and finding solutions to a problem," he says plainly.

Writer: Genis Dwi Gustati

Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid

Editor: Al Habiib Josy Asheva

Designer: Muhammad Nur Haqqi