I believe I was put on this earth to:
bring a change in someone’s life. Whether that was bringing joy to my immediate family or influencing the people that I come in contact with.
My purpose is to:
challenge the way people are currently living (degradation of the natural environment) to be more environmentally friendly.
I believe (my core values):
that people should be living in harmony with the earth. Current degradation of the natural environment has been the result of greed and we must stop our hunger for more when it does not necessarily bring us happiness, contrary to what people believe.
The one thing I must do before I die is:
change an aspect in the way developed countries live to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
My advocates and supporters all believe I:
have the capabilities to do anything I set my mind to.
The evil I want to eradicate in this world is:
waste. No one waste things like the way people in the US does. We never end up paying for the price of wasting things. The people who pay the price are out of our sight (developing countries) and we think trash magically disappears.
I want to work in order to:
change the way people live to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly, specifically reduce the amount of waste related to food that is generated by the US. These could be the food itself or even its container.
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:
make sure that I never buy too much food and when I go grocery shopping I try to buy food that have very little packaging or packaging that can be recycled.
I never:
waste food that is on my plate that is still edible.
My work style is:
to make sure that I do my part of the deal as to not drag other people down and disappoint myself.
I try to treat people:
in the same manner as how I want to be treated and avoid judging them because I will never know the full extent of their experiences.
I approach problems by:
looking at the overview of the problem and then zooming into the details.
Victories are time to:
applaud yourself and others who have helped you along the way in the back. It is a moment of sharing a fragment of your excitement and joy with others.
If another attacks my point of view I:
listen to what they have to say first. Digest and analyze the content. Present my own thoughts after going through the thinking process.
If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will:
Tell them in an indirect way as to why I disagree and hope for a change. If nothing changes, I don’t bother to convince them unless this disagreement directly relates or impacts me.
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.
| What Have I Done | List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned |
| Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships | Degrees: BS Mechanical Engineering
Minor: Product Design Deal’s list Nakatani RIES finalist in 2017 Autodesk Inventor certified |
| Research Experiences
|
Evolution biology of chickadees
Phage research (RARE) PlasTech Ventures plastic research Mountaintop Summer Experience Determining the vitamin C level in potatoes after various means of processing |
| Inventions and Innovations
|
Tetris block design for PlasTech Ventures
Sliding vertical garden Cooking tool in product design Picture frame for mom on mother’s day |
| (Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures
|
PlasTech Ventures |
| Publications
(Formal and Informal)
|
Comparing the material properties of PET brick to Concrete Masonary bricks
An analysis on the financial viability for entrepreneurs in the PlasTech Ventures |
| Formal Presentations
(at Lehigh and Beyond) |
GSIF presentations
Design Review for Capstone GSIF co-chair 2020 |
| Awards and
External Recognition |
Dean’s List
Nakatani RIES Finalist 2017 |
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.
| Teamwork Experience
(and Lessons Learned)
|
There were sometimes when I and or another team member end up doing almost all of the work. It was frustrating thinking that the others were not contributing. I learned that it was not the fact that they did not want to contribute, it was the fact that they didn’t know how to.
Lesson Learned: Reach out and confront the entire team in equal contribution in advancing the team forward. Often times, the reason for limited contribution is not what you expect it to be. |
| Conflict Resolution Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
There was uneven contribution of work done on the project and some members were concerned.
Lesson Learned: Reach out to the entire team and set weekly deliverables from each person. The weekly meetings were deliverables were presented holds each team member accountable for their work. |
| Leadership Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
Recently I co-chaired a session with a teammate for the 2020 GSIF conference. I received a set of instructions and had executed them well. The only aspect I was unprepared for was asking questions to the presenters if no one else asked questions.
Lesson Learned: Anticipate and ask questions regarding the role assigned to ensure smooth and ideal operation. |
| Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned) | Figuring out exactly what the team wanted to do with the plastics that would be recycled. It felt like we were going in circles for 3 weeks trying to justify what kind of product should be created out of plastics. In addition, there was difficulty in obtaining stakeholder feedback from the Philippines to verify whether the product is worth pursuing.
Lesson Learned: Conflicts and challenges are all part of the growing process, whether they are painful or not. Figuring out exactly what the venture is all about takes time and patience. All storms will end, you simply must continue pushing forward. |
| Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned | When the team was determining what product to make out of recycled plastic, it was incredibly frustrating to not have a solid idea for 3 weeks. As the product designer lead, I felt incompetent. There was a point in time when our advisor had the whole teamwork on the design aspect of the project because we were going around in circles.
Lesson Learned: Writer’s block (or designer’s block) can occur. Having a solid design that the venture will focus on within a week is nearly impossible. Sometimes giving yourself a breather and letting the team think together as group is better than thinking alone. Rely on team members during difficult times. The act of reliance is not a sign of weakness. |
| Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned) | When reaching out to stakeholders in the Philippine or interacting with Filipinos, I have sometimes noticed a change in their mannerisms that is very different from the casual American interactions.
Lesson Learned: Be mindful of cultural differences in mannerism and research them ahead of time to represent the team in a positive light. |
| An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major. | Designing for Tetris brick with my product design background and determining its technical feasibility through my mechanical engineering background were experiences that connected my GSIF work to my discipline. In addition, I have utilized my Solidworks skills from my engineering class to prove PET as a viable building material. |
| 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. | When I entered the PlasTech Ventures meeting with my initial rough Tetris block design. This was probably the 20th time I presented a new design idea. We were at the point where the whole team was doing my role (product design) in the project because we were simply stuck. It was amazing to see people excited about my ideas and bringing the idea to reality. We went to the point of running simulations on Solidworks to prove the concept’s validity. |
| A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world. | I felt like I belonged to the team when I entered the PlasTech Ventures meeting with my 20th brick design. The design was well received by the entire team and I felt like I contributed to the team and lead them out of a 3-week turmoil hole. It was amazing to see people excited about my ideas and supporting it. I felt as if that was the moment and exact purpose I was recruited to the team for. |
