A quick look at LTI

After our first General Body Meeting two weeks ago, I can't help but be impressed as to how fast things are moving in the LTI community. In less than one semester, we have managed to successfully train 9 new mentors, create a curriculum for the spring semester, and organize trips to Brazil and China. Additionally, we are almost done with student recruitment for the spring semester, and recently the LTI community was featured in the Komaza article for the SLP trip this past summer to China. While the spring session has yet to begin, I can tell from all of the accomplishments completed so far this semester that this year of LTI will indeed be a year of outstanding achievements.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Lessons Learned

Yesterday as I was flipping through the channels of my television, I came across a re-run of President Obama's speech at Kresge Auditorium. As I was watching, I started to reflect back on that day. In addition to the joy and excitement that I felt when I was reminded of the fact of the President of the United States had actually walked up the same steps and through the same hallways that I too had walked, I also remembered President Obama's comments on leadership. While it is true that the purpose of this comments was to urge Americans to take leadership in cleaner technology by highlighting some of the great work done here on campus, I also felt that these comments on leadership were also meant to inspire Americans to do whatever they could to help make a difference in this country. Once the speech was over, I soon realized that this speech that gave praise to all of the innovative leaders at MIT could also be used to encourage the LTI community. This thought made more sense to me as I started thinking about all of the great community service projects that our LTI students have completed over the years, and the impact that these projects have had on the greater Boston community. While President Obama may not have said it directly, we should all take great pride in being part of such an amazing organization.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Walking in someone else's shoes

Yesterday as I started my volunteer shift at MGH, I was reminded of last week's mentor training activity ("disability lunch"). As the title of this activity suggests, the point of this activity was for the mentors to pretend to have different conditions/disabilities and then see how the other mentors would react as they ate lunch together. After that event, we learned what it truly meant to walk inside someone else's shoes. Likewise with my volunteering I found myself walking inside of the shoes of each patient that I worked with. As I wheeled these patients in and out of different rooms and started talking with them, I slowly began to understand the emotions that each of these patients were going through and soon their obstacles became my own. While I wasn't going into surgery myself, by the end of that shift I was able to understand the fear and the pain that these patients were going through simply by listening to their story. Additionally, as a result of understanding these patients’ obstacles, I was able to complete another part of my job. I was able to lift these patients’ spirits up and encourage them as they prepared for their treatments. After that shift, I was better able to understand the lessons I learned in the “disability lunch.” Essentially, I realized that the point of walking in someone else's shoes is to learn how to understand a wide range of challenges and obstacles simply by understanding the people that experience them. Likewise, even in jobs outside of the health care system, often times in order to really stand out as a leader, it is necessary that one be able to understand other people's challenges. From politicians that have to understand their constituents to corporate CEO that have to understand the people that make up their market, in the end we are all required to understand each other. This makes more sense especially when I reflect back to President Obama’s political candidacy and how his speeches were able to incorporate the experiences of a diverse group of Americans.

No I In Team

Last week, the LTI staff completed one of the great ideas talked about in the retreat by organizing a very successful bake sale. While this fundraiser brought in over $600 in profit, what made this event a success was the fact that so many people on campus were able to learn about all of the wonderful things that LTI was doing. After my shift, I started walking towards my 3pm class, and from every direction all I could hear was people talking about how great and wonderful this "new" program was. But now that I reflect back on that week, I realize that the main reason why the bake sale was so successful was because of all of the hard work that each individual of the LTI staff put into the bake sale. Whether people cooked, made deliveries, or volunteered at the cookie booth in lobby 10, in the end it was everyone's individual support that made this bake sale a success. Just like the theme of this week's mentor training session (letting others lead), I was reminded of the fact that their is more to leadership then just giving out orders. While it is true that the bake sale required one individual to come up with the idea and start organizing, I feel that that what made this fundraiser a success was the fact that everyone was willing to lend their support. After the the bake sale and the mentor training session on Sunday, I can tell that the students of this year's LTI session will not only learn how to be effective leaders in their communities, but they will also become supportive members in their communities too.

An update on LTI

Hey everyone!

Recently, the LTI community has gone through some amazing changes to help start this year off incredibly strong. For starters the fall recruitment process recently ended, and as a result we were able to add some outstanding individuals to our executive board, mentors, and associate mentors. Additionally, last week LTI had its annual retreat at Cap Cod. In addition to serving as a way for new members to get better aquatinted with older members and form stronger bonds within the LTI community, this retreat also served as a great way for all of our members to get together and brainstorm new ideas for making this year's LTI the best year so far. Some of the ideas mentioned included different ways to: raise funds, recruit new students, and increase LTI's presence both here at MIT and on other campuses.

While LTI is currently in the phase of recruiting students by mailing out applications and brochures to prospective high school students, the mentors have decided to use this down time as a chance to get ready for the new LTI curriculum and to train new mentors. Every Sunday, mentors will be spending the afternoon developing different activities and themes that will help make LTI an even stronger program. Just like President Obama's confidence in the hard work of the American people to overcome this nation’s many obstacles, I too am confident in the efforts of the LTI community to achieve its goal of making this year the best year ever for LTI.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Team Work

Last Tuesday as I sat in on an info session for becoming a volunteer at MGH, I was reminded of the importance of teamwork. In the presentation, the speaker went over the requirements needed to become a volunteer, historical facts about MGH, and different positions offered. However, what really caught my attention was when the speaker began telling us how each position demanded that its volunteers become "team players." The way that the speaker put it, in order to give the best health care possible, MGH demands that its entire staff (doctors, nurses, administrators, and volunteers) be willing to give their best effort and work together.

Later that day, I was reminded again of that lesson when I was playing a game of taboo with a group of friends. While there were definitely people on each team that were "the best", none of that mattered, because in the end it was the team with the most points that won, not the most talented individual. After that game I realized that in life it is this principle of team work that matters the most. Often times we focus on becoming the best individuals, but in reality we also need to focus on becoming better team players. Like MGH, most businesses, corporations, and companies consider the element of teamwork to be just as important a factor to success as hiring talented employees.

After that day, I began to appreciate all of the team building exercises that our students do at LTI. Now I started to see how in addition to teaching these students specific aspects of leadership and communication, these exercises also show our students how to work with a diverse group of people, be efficient, and successfully complete a common goal with other people. So while it is LTI's goal that its students will stand out in their communities, I am glad that our goal is also to also have these students become apart of their community as well.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Progress Report

Recently, the expansion committee has announced that the LTI curriculum is currently being translated into Spanish (in preparation for the intensive two-week trip to Brazil in January 2010), and a new chapter of the LTI program will soon be established at UMASS Amherst. While it may be surpassing that in its third year the LTI program has managed to spread into other college campuses and high schools in different countries, these results aren't that surprising to me because I realize how unique the LTI program is. While LTI isn't the oldest mentoring program at MIT, LTI is the first program to focus on helping already successful high school students become better leaders by providing these students with the tools that they will need to make an immediate impact in their communities. Additionally, another factor that makes LTI so unique is the dedication found within its staff. It is this focus and dedication from every member of the LTI community that has created an environment that has not only inspired our students to make a difference, but has also inspired other campus and high schools to start an LTI program of their own.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu