Living an Impact-Focused Life
What’s your Why?
I believe I was put on this earth to:
To bring positivity and joy into other people’s lives
My purpose is to:
To learn and understand from other’s experiences and my own
I believe (my core values):
Respect, determination, passion, happiness, creativity, empathy
The one thing I must do before I die is:
Connect to my most inner self (spirituality)
My advocates and supporters all believe I:
Am independent, determined, caring, self-motivated
The evil I want to eradicate in this world is:
The lack of understanding and willingness to compromise between people
I want to work in order to:
Prevent climate change and create an earth that is equal for all humans and living organisms
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:
Eat oatmeal in the morning to start my day
Listen to the daily podcast when I run
Workout every day
Text my mom
Try to understand others conflicting view points
Surround myself
I never:
Drink caffeine
Eat dairy
My work style is:
Strong-minded
Determined
Very scheduled, schedule oriented
Do it myself kinda person
I try to treat people:
As if they are my friend, with kindness and respect
I always give people the benefit of the doubt and assume I will get a long with them and respect their boundaries
I approach problems by:
Trying to understand the other persons point of view
Admitting that it could be my fault
Passive aggressively
Victories are time to:
To celebrate and to learn what you did right to continue to move forward
If another attacks my point of view I:
Try to explain mine, but also try to interpret theirs and understand why they think the way they do. I like to get in their heads and really consider if I should think the way they are
If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will:
Speak out about it without being too aggressive. I stand by my viewpoints, but try not to get too involved where it is not my place
Your Credibility – Your Whats
You have just spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Global Social Impact Fellowship, 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.
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What Have I Done |
List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned |
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Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships |
Mathematics degree with computer science and environmental studies minors |
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Research Experiences |
GSIF, independent study with Professor Carr, REU at Michigan State (Graph Scattering Transform) |
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Inventions and Innovations |
AQA app, improved accuracy in algorithm to classify data |
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(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures |
Air Quality Almaty |
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Publications (Formal and Informal) |
Graph Scattering Transform (Covid Paper on linear regression) Almaty Paper (Analyzing how cities combat air pollution to find solutions within Almaty, Kazakhstan) |
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Formal Presentations (at Lehigh and Beyond) |
Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium Mid-Sure Undergraduate Symposium JMU |
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Awards and External Recognition |
Contribution to Student Life Award University Dean’s List |
Articulating and learning from GSIF-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.
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Teamwork Experience (and Lessons Learned) |
Know how to assign tasks and install trust within group Learn how to step back when you feel you are taking on too much responsibility |
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Conflict Resolution Experience (and Lessons Learned) |
Figuring out a good communication system, how to communicate with members to get the best results Staying on the same page as everyone so everyone knows what they are doing. I learned that sometimes you need to let others help you because you can’t be the one holding up the group all the time. |
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Leadership Experience (and Lessons Learned) |
I learned how to be an affected leader by being understanding, knowing when to set in and knowing when to step back and let other people take the lead. I’ve also learned how to give people certain tasks so it fits their specific skillsets. |
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Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned) |
I’ve learned that sometimes things are just out of my control and I need to accept that I as one person can only do so much. I learned that I can still be successful through my own work and that my actions will help motivate others |
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Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned) |
I struggled a lot with working with a group that isn’t very good at communicating and not having another person that was willing to take the lead on the group project. I also struggled with tackling non-stem related problems and how to think about issues from a personal perspective to learn how the real world really works |
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Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned) |
From my group I’ve learned that everyone comes from a different background and has different personal issues that they struggle with from coming from different parts of the country. It helped me learn to be more understanding and not jump to conclusions about a person without knowing their full story. |
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An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major. |
I think that GSIF helped me figure out that I wanted to go into climate science. It made me realize that my major can help with environmental issues and that I should use every ounce of talent I have to try and contribute to preventing further global warming. |
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A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you can speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better. |
I think when I spoke with Rachel (a previous student of Khanjan’s from Penn State) I realized how much potential I really have. She really made me feel like I could achieve whatever I set my mind to and that I shouldn’t be afraid of doing something because I’m not sure of the outcome or if I’m ready. She made me feel like even if I’m not ready, I will be ready when I get the opportunity to do it, |
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A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world. |
I found my purpose in life by realizing I can use mathematics to change this world and that I don’t have to have all the answers right now. This moment came to me when I took my first environmental studies class and I realized I can’t just sit by and not try to make this world a healthier and happier place. I don’t want to be another by stander and I want to do my part as a human to take care of the world I live in. |