I believe I was put on this earth to…

I believe I was put on earth in order to experience life. 

 

My purpose is to…

My purpose is to experience life and be kind when possible. 

 

I believe (my core values)…

My core values are to work hard, spread positivity and to be as empathetic as possible.  

 

The one thing I must do before I die is…

The one thing I must do before I die is connect with others and form positive relationships. I also want to find a career that I feel productive and useful. 

 

My advocates and supporters all believe that I…

My supporters believe that I am hardworking and am very competitive. 

 

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is…

One evil in the world that would be interested in eradicating animal cruelty. This is something that I am passionate about and would be interested in wrong towards in the future. 

 

I want to work in order to…

I want to work in order to be more at peace. 

 

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…

I always try to choose the option that causes the least amount of harm to others. 

 

I never…

I never purposely make a decision that would cause direct harm to someone else. I have to do this sometimes but I try to do as little as possible. 

 

My work style is…

My work style is to get focused on my goals and work towards them. 

 

I try to treat people…

I try to treat people with as much empathy as possible. 

 

I approach problems by…

I approach problems by thinking as much as possible about them. I think I could benefit from thinking a little bit less about issues.

 

Victories are time to…

Technically everything could be a victory if you are able to learn something from it. 

 

If someone attacks my point of view I…

If someone attacks my point of view I usually won’t say anything about it unless I’m really close with them.

 

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will…

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will not typically get associated 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	Bioengineering, GSIF
Research Experiences	AgriWrap lab work: Got time to practice performing experiments, recording, and sharing results
Inventions and Innovations	LUSI Mars Rover (Device that takes up sol sample and can determine if life is habitable there)
(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures	AgriWrap Venture: Got experience networking, forming partnerships, and writing research paper
Publications (Formal and Informal)	Plastic use by street vendors (Not finished yet)
Formal Presentations (at Lehigh and Beyond)	End of semester AgriWrap presentation; Presentations in the Philippines
Awards and  External Recognition	No awards yet

 

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)	While we were performing fieldwork during the summer it was difficult because we did not have a specific direction for our project. It was a challenge but by working together as a team we were able to find ways to make our time in the Philippines productive. From this I learned that sometimes it is more difficult actually just getting a project started and things are more smooth sailing once you get over this hurdle.
Conflict Resolution Experience (and Lessons Learned)	We experienced conflict in our team about the extent to which we wanted to interview street vendors. Some members thought that it would be better to perform in-depth interviews for a few vendors while others thought it would be more productive to just observe many vendors. We decided to create a short list of questions to ask each vendor.
Leadership Experience (and Lessons Learned)	During the first semester all members of the group had one meeting that they would run. When it was my turn to run a meeting I had to create a plan and then guide the conversation during the meeting to make sure we covered everything important. From this I learned the importance of planning ahead and being prepared for meetings.
Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned)	We were supposed to have a meeting with one of the manufacturers we spoke with but then at the last minute were not able to meet there because Grabs (Uber equivalent) did not run in the area the meeting was supposed to be in. Last minute we needed to find a way to be productive with our time. From this I learned the importance of staying flexible in ambiguous situations.
Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)	A time that I was outside of my comfort zone was while we spoke with street vendors to better understand the products that they sell and the packaging associated with it. I am a more reserved person so starting up conversations with strangers was definitely outside of my comfort zone. Still by putting myself out there we were able to collect a lot of useful information.
Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)	When we spoke to street vendors some did not speak English very much. We needed to figure out how to navigate this situation and still effectively communicate. From this I learned the importance of patience. The conversations took longer but we were still able to get the information we needed.
An experience that helped you connect your IF work to your discipline / major.	We were able to perform lab work last semester to get a better basic understanding of how plastics are created. Since my major is bioengineering it was interesting to see how I can apply what I am learning in class to work that has the potential to 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.	While in the Philippines we presented our project to a group of other startup owners. Afterwards we got a lot of good feedback and recommendations for our project. Additionally after the presentations we spoke with other groups and found one that is very relevant to our project. We ended up connecting and meeting up with them later to discuss how our projects could collaborate. It was nice to see that by sharing our project we were able to form a new partnership.
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.	We met a group called AlgoPlast that creates bioplastic pellets out of seaweed. It was motivating to see how far their project progressed because it seems like they started out in a similar place to our project. Their initial goal was to tackle the plastic pollution issue. They then realize that the main cost driving up bioplastic costs was that materials needed to be imported from other countries. They then focused on creating bioplastic pellets that could be locally sourced. This is a similar path that our project is currently on so it is motivating to see how successful they were.
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized, interdependent world.	We are currently writing a paper on street vendors’ use of plastic in the Philippines. I am excited that we are writing a paper on a specific topic that has not been written about yet. I hope that this paper will be able to help other research groups collect information that are studying similar topics.

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.

Coalition Slides

The annotations are in the speaker notes.

Identify the 10 toughest questions from the 14-page list for your project, and answer them in advance of your presentations.

• Managing costs at steady state- all financial questions are especially tough because we have not delved deeply into our financial model. We believe it is better to focus on how our project will work long term now and focus on how it can sustain itself later, once we have a primary model set up.
• Who might lose something or be harmed due to the venture? – As with most ventures, our competitors will be harmed in our venture once people prefer our products above our competitors’. 
• Are you disadvantaging certain populations and further marginalizing them? – We may be excluding populations who cannot opt for our product due to price, however this doesn’t necessarily marginalize them further.
• What are possible failure modes of your project? – The biggest failure mode of our project is based on the fact that a new team takes the project annually, and if new people have a very different idea of the project then this could lead to possible conflict.
•  What kind of full-time staffing will you need? – This question relies heavily on our dependence on our partners. However, it is certain that we will need manufacturers, people to distribute raw and finalized materials, and perhaps a marketing team as well. 
• What political and legal issues are relevant to the operation of your business? – There are strict laws and regulations when it comes to manufacturing goods that will be used by the people, especially when it is packaging that comes in contact with food. We will need to make sure that the packaging passes all of the food and chemical safety regulations in the Philippines. We will also need to comply with labor laws if we hire employees. 
• What specific insights do you have about your customers’ needs and behaviors? – From fieldwork we observed that the main priority of our customers is cost. This is the main factor that goes into their decision of purchasing food packaging. We saw that higher end companies were able to opt for higher quality or more environmentally friendly packaging, while those without that same flexibility often opted for the most cost efficient option available. 
• What are your biggest gaps in your understanding of your customers / stakeholders? – The biggest gap in understanding that would be helpful to the venture is knowing the specific price that a few vendors and companies would be willing to pay for the more expensive biodegradable packaging. 
• What are the environmental constraints (temperature, humidity, sunlight) that limit product functionality? – We know that when liquids are put in contact with bioplastics, it damages their structural integrity. We will have to do more tests to determine the specific temperatures and conditions that start to break down bioplastics. 
• If there is one metric that indicates success, what is it? – One metric that will indicate success for our project is when we are able to make our first sale. The only issue with this metric is that we are currently just in the research phase, so it is a long way until we will be ready to sell a product. 

 

Write 3 elevator speeches about your project. Identify three different stakeholder groups and craft a different speech for each one. Use the “12-floor” (1-1.5 minute) format.

 

Stakeholder:

 

1. Potential Investor:

Did you know that on average 60,000 tons of waste is produced annually in the Philippines, and 30-40% of this accounts for plastic waste. The use of plastic is a pressing issue because of its environmental and health implications. AgriWrap is working to tackle this issue. Our team is currently working with other manufacturers in the Philippines to produce bioplastics. We are looking to collaborate with Algoplast who has developed bioplastic pellets out of algae for cheaper than traditional bioplastic pellets. We are also in partnership with Sachi Group who produces compostable packaging out of bioplastic pellets. The high cost of bioplastics is deterring customers. Sachi Group said that the most expensive part of production is importing bioplastic pellets from Indonisia. If Sachi Group is able to directly source bioplastic pellets from Algoplast in the Philippines, then they will be able to significantly drive down their prices. It will be much easier to sell compostable packaging when it is more comparable in price to traditional plastic and is friendlier to the environment. 

 

1. Environmental NGOs (ex- Greenpeace Philippines)

Plastic waste is choking ecosystems across the Philippines, with over 20,000 tons generated annually. AgriWrap is tackling this crisis by developing affordable, biodegradable packaging through partnerships with local innovators. SACHI-Group produces compostable packaging, but high costs make it challenging to market. Meanwhile, AlgoPlast is advancing a low-cost, durable film made from seaweed-based polymers. By combining AlgoPlast’s innovative materials with SACHI-Group’s manufacturing capabilities, we can drive sustainable impact in the Philippines.

With the support of NGOs, we can amplify our mission through advocacy, increased visibility, and joint community projects. Together, we can empower businesses to choose sustainable solutions, educate consumers on the benefits of eco-friendly packaging, and make a lasting environmental impact.

1. Restaurant

Plastic packaging waste continues to accumulate in landfills and oceans, causing harm to ecosystems and public health. AgriWrap is addressing this by creating biodegradable, affordable packaging options through partnerships with local manufacturers. In the Philippines, we’re working with AlgoPlast, which produces algae-based bioplastic pellets that are more price comparable to regular plastics, and SACHI-Group, which transforms these pellets into compostable packaging. By using locally sourced materials, our solution not only reduces costs but also ensures a reliable supply chain. We’re helping restaurants switch to eco-friendly packaging that’s competitive in price and accessible, enabling them to serve customers while also reducing their environmental footprint.