Empowering High School Students to Promote Cultural Heritage for Tourism in Trowulan, Mojokerto

Trowulan, in Mojokerto, East Java, is a significant archaeological and cultural heritage site, historically recognized as the capital of the Majapahit Kingdom. Despite its historical importance, tourism development in the region remains underdeveloped due to limited promotion, infrastructure, and human resource capacity. This paper reports on a community development initiative conducted by the Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Airlangga, in collaboration with SMKN 1 Trowulan, aimed at empowering students to promote cultural heritage through creative writing, photography, and song composition. The program addressed challenges in integrating local heritage by designing a workshop that combined local cultural knowledge, persuasive writing, and music composition. A total of 74 students participated, producing 233 outputs across four categories: photographic documentation, narrative texts, song lyrics, and musical compositions. Five winners were selected and used as exemplary cases for analysis. The findings highlight that temples, particularly Bajang Ratu Gate, Brahu Temple, Tikus Temple, Majapahit Kingdom, and the Segaran Pool were the most frequently chosen objects. Students employed historical references, emotional appeals, and persuasive strategies in their narratives and lyrics, transforming heritage objects into promotional media that link the past and present. It is concluded that the potential of education-based cultural promotion lies in evoking heritage awareness, tourism development, and intergenerational cultural sustainability. Youth participation is an important aspect in bridging cultural preservation with innovative promotional practices for sustainable community development.