Fall Semester Blog #11
Living an Impact-Focused Life
What’s your Why?
I believe I was put on this earth to…
Make an impact and help people, more specifically people of color as I identify as African American and want the best for my community is what I hold dear. I also want to look out for my family as they are people that love and hold a lot of weight in the impact they have made in my life. So it is important that I give back in any ways possible when I start to live on my own.
My purpose is to…
Not entirely sure what my purpose is but I want to help people who did not have the same opportunities that I have had and help put people in a position where they can succeed. I want to make sure that people that I surround myself with are ok and doing well.
I believe (my core values)…
Respect, honesty, fair,
The one thing I must do before I die is…
To travel the world and help people internationally which I kind of did with GSIF. Use the experience I had in Kazakhstan and approach other countries with the same mentality and find ways to help people that have some longevity in people’s lives.
My advocates and supporters all believe that I…
I am kind and open minded
The evil I want to eradicate in this world is…
The devil. But also unfairness
I want to work in order to…
provide for the family that has supported me
Walk the Talk – Your How
If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?
I always…
will stay open minded to different perspectives
I never…
Disrespect anyone
My work style is…
calm and collected
I try to treat people…
with respect and kindness
I approach problems by…
Fully analyze the situation/problem and format how I the different ways I will solve it and figuring out which way is best to solve it
Victories are time to…
Acknowledge/thank the people that got you there and to celebrate
If someone attacks my point of view, I…
Understand where they are coming from and why they are attacking my view point
If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will…
respectively disagree with a at least one or a list of logical reasoning to why I am disagreeing with them
Your Credibility – Your Whats
You have spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Impact Fellowships, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How. You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.
| What Have I Done | List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned |
| Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships |
|
| Research Experiences |
|
| Inventions and Innovations |
|
| (Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures |
|
| Publications
(Formal and Informal) |
|
| Formal Presentations
(at Lehigh and Beyond) |
|
| Awards and
External Recognition |
|
Articulating and learning from IF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.
| Teamwork Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
|
| Conflict Resolution Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
Making sure to communicate with one another and why someone disagrees with what and ways to tackle the issue. Talk as a group to why we are having the conflict and ways to address or even talk to other resources for help. |
| Leadership Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
I learned that you are given a task that you are taking lead on and you feel stuck. It is better to ask for help almost immediately instead of taking a long time to figure it out yourself. Taking too long to figure it out yourself can bring the project behind schedule. |
| Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned) | Take a step back as a group and really look at the issue at hand. In this step back making sure everyone is on the same page and knows exactly the task they are doing if they are doing it right. |
| Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned) | Making sure I was engaged the whole time, because there are times where I catch myself being distracted. In field work there were moments where a couple people in the group were distracted and instead of telling them to focus we as a group decide to take a 10 minute break so everyone has a chance to relax and then we will return back to our work. |
| Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned) | Always be respectful of different perspectives and cultures. I think it was a lot easier having someone in our group who lived in the same place we were working in so we just followed what she told us about the lifestyle of Kazakhstan. |
| An experience that helped you connect your IF work to your discipline / major. | I think being able to engage in the community with issues at hand. As for air quality and really talking to people who are experiencing this issue and even getting their input on how to address the issue and help expand our project. Which I believe is similar to Urban Planning which is something I am interested in with my political science major talking to people in the community on development projects they may want for the city and ways city planners can make a positive impact. |
| A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you could speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better. | Leading the meetings that I had with students from Haliuburry. As the Zoom meeting was done solely on my own with the students that were interested in my part of the project which was air monitors. I led them and asked the necessary questions about the monitors that our students engaged. |
| A moment where you felt like you were making the future – like you were creating something that had never before existed and would (or could) influence your future and that of others. | I don’t think there was something that I made that had never been invented but I like that I was prompting something that is not really thought about. I think if the project was to expand way bigger than where it is it can really make a huge impact on a country. |
| A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized, interdependent world. | Doing the introduction of our presentations helped get the audience to be involved in the presentation and really think about the air pollution around them. |
Draw Your Life
What’s Your True North?
Create the story of your life. How do you want to contribute to the world through your talents, passions, and unique strengths? Think about your values, the roles you play, what gives you a sense of purpose, and ultimately, what you have to offer by being your best, authentic self. Draw a picture of your life as you envision it. Be remarkable. Be yourself.
