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

The People That Change Our Lives

As LTI is in the middle of its selection process for mentors of the Spring LTI session, I have started thinking about how valuable mentors are in our lives. After analyzing the lives of many successful people (including many movie stars, politicians, businessmen, writers, and doctors) I have realized that in one way or anther, each of these individuals has had somebody in their lives there to help them out. Essentially, all of these people have had a mentor.

The dictionary defines a mentor as somebody who is very experienced and helps train other people. Based on this definition, I believe that is exactly what the mentors of LTI are doing. Basically, every week our mentors provide guidance to their students. While it is true that our mentors aren't necessarily teaching our students how to become lawyers, doctors, or politicians, they are providing them with the support and the skills that they need to become successful. As a result, I feel that the mentors of LTI provide an invaluable service to their students. By teaching these students confidence, communication skills, and different aspects of leadership, our mentors have supplied these kids with the tools that they will need to go out into the world and achieve their dreams.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Avoiding missed opportunities

Yesterday as I was in the library frantically trying to finish my term paper before the midnight deadline, I came across a frightening discovery. After turning in my paper at 11:58pm, I realized the importance of developing good communication skills. Here at MIT, most students stress developing technical skills over developing communication skills like writing and oral presentations. Like many of these students, before writing this paper I also felt that it was more important to focus on technical skills (like efficiency in a laboratory setting, extensive knowledge of theorems and formulas, and field experience). However, after I turned in my paper and began to walk home, I started to realize that good communication skills meant more than simply being able to write elegant essays, or delivering exciting speeches. During that walk I began to understand that being a good communicator meant going the extra mile to help other people understand an unfamiliar topic. Additionally, I realized that many scientists and engineers who don't posses good communication skills often miss out on opportunities, and end up doing a disservice to themselves. While it is true that the overall aim in science and engineering is to solve problems, effective communication is needed to help bring these discoveries from the world of science and engineering to the broader public. Just like the story of a researcher who was able to get funding for her lab simply by explaining a scientific phenomena to the head of a major corporate company on the elevator, often times good communication skills open up the door to different opportunities.

As a result of this revelation last night, I now see why so many people in the general public are unaware of many of the "discoveries" that take place in science and engineering. Rather than being uninterested in these discoveries, the fact is that too often, many of these discoveries aren't effectively communicated to the general public. As a result, I have a new appreciation for the presentation and public speaking workshops that we provide for our students here at LTI. While it is important that these students get trained technically in school, I am glad that our students are apart of a program like LTI that helps them become better communicators. Just like the researcher who was able to get a grant for her lab simply by having a conversation on the elevator, it is my hope that through these communication workshops, our students will be able to take advantage of all of the opportunities that life will present them with.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu