Tahsinur Rahim, Grade 12
UWC-USA
On one boring Tuesday, in the middle of a hot, sweaty, July, I received an email from my school about the opportunity to sign up for the Global Citizen Year Academy. The Global Citizen Year Academy would be a semester-long program that you take as an extra-curricular alongside school, where you would be in a cohort of aspiring leaders from around the world. Many would be UWC alumni and pupils in their gap year between high school and university. I initially thought it was interesting so I signed up for it. In addition to that, I would receive two “Creative Engagement of Conflict” credits that you would have to do for the school in order to get your UWC diploma.
I started this program at the beginning of my first semester at UWC-USA. At first, I was really excited to begin the program, and have discussions with people my age from around the world, some of them from my school as well! But then, later on, it daunted me that there is a lot of work to do for this program. It felt like I was attending two schools at once. I felt the crushing feeling of dread, exhaustion, and detest.
Before class, you had to do pre-class work, which is another way of saying: Homework. These could be podcasts you listen to, articles you read, or videos you watch on youtube, and they relate to personal philosophy. It is equivalent to the self-improvement books, such as the ones written by Jordan Peterson or the series “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. I felt like it was a burden alongside my schoolwork that I was having a difficult time managing. To sum up, my struggles so far, adjusting to a boarding school, learning how to live alone in another country, adjusting to a rigorous school curriculum, and attending a program that is best described as online schooling is difficult to manage.
Over time, however, I got the hang of it. Sure, there would be days where I just felt groggy, exhausted, and disgusting, but I got to pull myself through it. I learnt to cope with the struggles and pains that one may experience in life with their work life. To be fair, this is not the worst struggle that anyone can imagine going through. I learned to enjoy the activities that the program would make us go through.
The most transformative part of this experience was the collaboration and mentorship. We collaborated in small group activities such as bullet-point listing the pros and cons of a situation. This way we got to learn about each other's different perspectives that a leader would find really helpful in their job. Furthermore, each of us had our own mentor to talk to. My mentor was a think-tank worker and economist who has appeared on the news before. I got to talk to her and seek advice about productivity and all. Through the hardships that I have undergone, I find myself enjoying the results, in the end, a lot more. I was very optimistic and happy about the activities that we do, such as breathing exercises to get a clear mind, entrepreneurship pitches and the amazing discussions that we would talk.
In the end, we had to write a final pitch where we would present a social issue, and propose a solution for it. It was called the social impact proposal. I would write mine about a radical, Montessori-style inspired school curriculum, where the sole purpose was to learn topics for curiosity, knowledge, and simply learning. Reflecting back on all of this, I learned that I can think of solutions to issues and that I can take initiative. I became more confident as a person, and more social too! I highly valued this experience, and I am really glad to have gone through this program. Especially since I did not have to pay a penny for it.
Image Courtesy: https://www.globalcitizenyear.org/financial-aid-tuition/
I started this program at the beginning of my first semester at UWC-USA. At first, I was really excited to begin the program, and have discussions with people my age from around the world, some of them from my school as well! But then, later on, it daunted me that there is a lot of work to do for this program. It felt like I was attending two schools at once. I felt the crushing feeling of dread, exhaustion, and detest.
Before class, you had to do pre-class work, which is another way of saying: Homework. These could be podcasts you listen to, articles you read, or videos you watch on youtube, and they relate to personal philosophy. It is equivalent to the self-improvement books, such as the ones written by Jordan Peterson or the series “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. I felt like it was a burden alongside my schoolwork that I was having a difficult time managing. To sum up, my struggles so far, adjusting to a boarding school, learning how to live alone in another country, adjusting to a rigorous school curriculum, and attending a program that is best described as online schooling is difficult to manage.
Over time, however, I got the hang of it. Sure, there would be days where I just felt groggy, exhausted, and disgusting, but I got to pull myself through it. I learnt to cope with the struggles and pains that one may experience in life with their work life. To be fair, this is not the worst struggle that anyone can imagine going through. I learned to enjoy the activities that the program would make us go through.
The most transformative part of this experience was the collaboration and mentorship. We collaborated in small group activities such as bullet-point listing the pros and cons of a situation. This way we got to learn about each other's different perspectives that a leader would find really helpful in their job. Furthermore, each of us had our own mentor to talk to. My mentor was a think-tank worker and economist who has appeared on the news before. I got to talk to her and seek advice about productivity and all. Through the hardships that I have undergone, I find myself enjoying the results, in the end, a lot more. I was very optimistic and happy about the activities that we do, such as breathing exercises to get a clear mind, entrepreneurship pitches and the amazing discussions that we would talk.
In the end, we had to write a final pitch where we would present a social issue, and propose a solution for it. It was called the social impact proposal. I would write mine about a radical, Montessori-style inspired school curriculum, where the sole purpose was to learn topics for curiosity, knowledge, and simply learning. Reflecting back on all of this, I learned that I can think of solutions to issues and that I can take initiative. I became more confident as a person, and more social too! I highly valued this experience, and I am really glad to have gone through this program. Especially since I did not have to pay a penny for it.
Image Courtesy: https://www.globalcitizenyear.org/financial-aid-tuition/
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