WMU Aviation Flight Science Student, Josh Yoweni
There are out-of-state students in the WMU College of Aviation, and there are some far-out-of-state enrollees.
Like Joshua Yoweni, who, if he goes home, travels to Jayapura, Papua -- Indonesia's largest province on the northern coast of Western New Guinea. For the geographically challenged, that's on the other side of the planet from Western's Kalamazoo campus.
Nobody has a story like Yoweni's regarding how he got to Southwest Michigan from southeast Asia. It involves a side trip to and a variety of experiences in -- not Japan, Hong Kong, Japan or even Mexico. Try Germany! We'll get to that a little later.
Most Western aviation students report their affinity for this kind of career dates to a childhood fascination with flying, looking down on their homes from a 5,000-foot perspective, or seeing huge metal structures defying gravity. That's not exactly Yoweni's genesis story.
Request College of Aviation Information
Yoweni and his family during his Christmas visit back home to Jayapura, Papua, in 2018. This was his last visit with his father before his passing in July, 2021
"When I was a little kid as I was being fed," says the 2013 graduate of a public school in Jayapura, "my mom sang a short tune about 'when I grew up, I would become a pilot.'" That seemed impossible for him because there were no targeted classes or aviation clubs during his schooling years.
There was, however, his imagination at work. "Being able to fly a big bird that is almost 1,000 times bigger than the normal human seemed just awesome to me," he says. Eventually, what he imagined became reality as he was able to observe sky-lighted cities from 43,000 feet or so.
The WMU College of Aviation became a blip on his career radar screen when he listened to a Western representative make a presentation during a recruiting mission to Southeast Asia. To prep for becoming a member of a university's cadre of international students, Yoweni enrolled in a six-month course at Jakarta International College to polish his English. Next step -- Kalamazoo and a double major in aviation flight science and aviation management and operation, right? Not quite.
Awarded a scholarship by the government of Papua to seek a bachelor's degree in another nation, that seemed like good news-bad news for Yoweni because he believed it diminished his chances to attend a flight school. About the same time came another opportunity -- he was chosen to head to Europe to pursue an education.
Yoweni and his family during a visit to WMU after his brother's graduation from Boston University
"All I knew about Germany was that it was good in soccer," he says, "and that the first Christian missionaries who came to Papua were Germans." Replicating what he did at the Jakarta college for his English, Yoweni specialized for a few months learning the Deutsch language so that he could talk to folks when he arrived in Germany in March of 2014.
He and five fellow Indonesians were enrolled in colleges in three different German cities. Initially based in Frankfurt, he moved to three locations over a five-month period. An aviation career seemed as far away as the moon because, Yoweni says, "I was trying to figure out what I was going to do there."
After nine months, Yoweni checked out the availability of flight schools, a career path that did not align with what the scholarship's sponsors had in mind. "I never got accepted in a flight school because I am an international student," he says. "I thought the only way to become a pilot would be to go home to Indonesia."
Yoweni and his significant other, enjoying a a nice sunny day with their dog, Summer
As that thought stayed in his mind, Yoweni decided to make the best of the circumstances. "I could not do anything except go to a university, which I did after a year and applied to a private college in Leipzig. It made me feel better because I felt I had a purpose for being in Germany."
Yoweni says he was enjoying "college life until my sponsor learned that some international students in Germany could take up to seven years to finish their degrees." That bit of information sent him and his five friends back home in October of 2015 to search for another intellectual opportunity. The United States and aviation quickly came back into focus.
Returning to his circle of information were the words spoken by that WMU recruiter. "This is when I felt that my life was coming back to me," he says. "When I got accepted by Western for aviation flight science, I was so excited. I had achieved what I had fought for -- the dream of becoming a pilot."
Yoweni and family visiting Disney Land in Orlando, FL, Summer 2022
Here's his relevant message for those encountering hurdles: "Never stop fighting for your dream even when it seems hopeless. There are always tiny holes that can lighten the darkness and offer fresh air. Nothing should stop you from seeking that light and fresh air."
Helping him see the light and take energizing breaths of air have been the likes of College of Aviation instructors Stephen Hasenick, Dennis McFall and Ed Kudzia. His experiences in "Line Oriented Flight Crew Simulation" have been exhilarating because "it boosts my motivation to become a pilot. It's about flying a Boeing 737-Max 8."
Yoweni visiting the "Bean" in Chicago, IL
Those days back in Germany have been replaced by memories of the college's Aviation Outlook Day, the air shows at the Battle Creek airport where the WMU program is based, working in the cafe inside the new Aviation Education Center, experiencing all kinds of weather in which professional pilots fly, the "great people" who inhabit the College of Aviation, and being in a community that is located almost exactly between the cosmopolitan metropolises of Detroit and Chicago.
A soccer player, volleyball enthusiast and angler during his off hours, Yoweni has grown closer to the creativity of music as a result of his Kalamazoo stay. "Even though I don't play an instrument well," he says, "the music courses have taught me how to read notes and how instruments are made. It's very relaxing to me."
He has served a stint as president of the Indonesian Student Association at Western. "That allowed me to meet students from other parts of Indonesia," he says, "and helped promote the culture of my country."
He might be able to tell fellow Western students a thing or two about Germany as well.