Leadership Training Institute

An Amazing Journey

2010-04-25T19:30:00.001-07:00

As we are getting closer to the end of the school year and closing ceremonies, our LTI students are working harder than ever to get their community service projects completed. However, despite all of this hard work, what impressed me the most from last week's LTI session was an activity. In this activity, the students were blindfolded, and they had to navigate their way across a maze of string inside building 7. While the point of this activity was to show the students that the easiest way to overcome difficult obstacles is to simply ask for help, what I took away from this activity was that we should never be too quick to give up on our dreams. After spending a few minutes watching the students trying to find a way out of the maze, I realized that often times trying to accomplish many our life goals is just as confusing and difficult as trying to run through a maze of string blindfolded. Additionally, just like the students who stopped searching for an exit out of the maze when they were only a couple of feet away from completing the maze, often times people are much closer to accomplishing their dreams than they think. So while it is important to not be afraid to ask for help, I also want to encourage everyone to not give up on their dreams. Just like with the student just a few feet away from exiting the maze, you might be closer to completing your life goals than you think.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Taking Time Out to Reflect

2010-04-19T19:01:00.001-07:00

After the conclusion of this year's CPW (campus preview weekend) I learned a lot from this year's perspective freshmen. In addition to meeting new people, this year's CPW was really memorable because of the fact that this year I was reminded of how important it was for us to routinely reflect on all of our accomplishments and take pride in all of the work that we have done thus far. After hearing one student's excitement for just being here on campus, I began to think about my own “MIT experience” and how excited I was to also be here in this historic campus. While such an experience may seem like an eternity away, the fact is that it wasn't too long ago that I was in the same position as many of these perspective students. I remember walking around campus and thinking how big and monumental everything was. While these reflections didn’t necessarily help me get any closer to completing my p-sets, these reflections were still very important. The reason why reflection is so important is because they remind us of how far we have come. Additionally, meditating on these memories helps us overcome future obstacles that we later face in life (whether it be academic, work related, or personal). So just like how past victories can help motivate sport teams to win games that “experts” have deemed impossible to win, routine reflections can help us reach new potential. As such, when I think about our students in the LTI program, I can't help but be excited for the many great things that I know they will accomplish in life. By looking at the work that these students have put into their projects, I have no doubt in my mind that these projects (and their time here at LTI) will one day serve as a great accomplishment for these students to reflect on.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Limitations

2010-04-05T14:25:00.001-07:00

Last week after returning from spring break, I learned a valuable lesson in limitation. As usual, I spent my spring break doing everything but reviewing my lecture notes from class. While lacking to do any work over the break didn’t have any immediate consequences, I soon found myself paying the price on Wednesday night. That night, I found myself overwhelmed, and I thought that I my life would be over (once I realized that I had about ten hours to write a paper, finish a p-set, and read a chapter). While I can’t exactly recall how I managed to get everything done, I do remember the reflection that I had had on limitations the day after. During that reflection, I realized that often times when people are faced with a difficult obstacle, one of the first things that people do is try to ignore their limitations and then focus on solving the problem head on. While many people are able to solve their problems using this method, I realized that using this method also causes people to be stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated. While stress and frustration may not be obviously dangerous, I realized just how toxic such things were when I read an article in CNN about an increase in suicides at Cornell University. At the end of the article, there was a quote from the University president that said, “if you learn nothing else, learn to ask for help.” Likewise, I feel that many people have difficulty asking for help because often times, asking for help means identifying and accepting one’s limitations before going straight into solving a problem. However, facing one’s limitations not only makes it easier to ask for help, but it also increases one’s chances of receiving help at the right time. Especially now that many of our students are thinking about their futures (from colleges to career choice), I feel that one of the most important things that we can teach our students (in addition to leadership) is not to be ashamed of their limitations, but instead accept them and use them to become bold enough to ask for help.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

The Value of Patience

2010-03-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Last week when I was helping an 8th grade student study for his upcoming math test, I learned the value of being patient. For over a week, this student was having difficulties grasping the concept of exponents and using scientific notation. However, on Friday, problems that were once unsolvable for this student suddenly made sense. While Friday may have seemed like a moment of "Divine Inspiration," I now realize that the reason why this student was able to solve these problems was because of his perseverance and dedication to learn the material. Additionally, this student's success was also dependent upon me being patient with him. While I could have easily have taken the test myself, I realized that my role as a tutor was not to simply get the problems solved. Instead, my job was to show this student how to do something that he couldn't do before, and this required patients, and ultimately good communication. In a past post, I made the statement that “good communication is essential to being a good leader,” and this experience further reinforced that idea. This experience showed me that people learn through different methods, and while we may not intuitively understand another person's way of learning, one way to bridge the gap is through patience. Being patient bridges this gap by forcing us to analyze another person, meet them where they are, and communicate in a way that that person will understand. And while it is true that our LTI students won't all become teachers, the fact is that being a good leader requires the attribute of being able to teach. As a result, I can't stress enough the importance of the communication skill that we teach to our students in each LTI session, because these skills not only help them communicate better, but in the process these skills make them better leaders.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

The Courage of Leadership

2010-03-02T05:42:00.000-08:00

According to the dictionary, leadership is defined as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. After reading this definition of leadership I began to reflect on last Sunday's session (which focused on overcoming obstacles). After this reflection, I gained a better understand of leadership by realizing just how challenging leadership really is. Often times when I think of leadership, the first thing that I think about is the privileges that go along with the title of being a “leader” (like the instant respect, power, and authority). However, just like with great responsibility coming with great power, leadership also has its own obstacles. After reading this definition of leadership, I realized that leaders are not only responsible for their own actions, but for the actions of the people around them as well too. Just like the chief of the surgical department described in Atul Gawande's book Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, often times leaders are held responsible not only for their own mistakes, but for the mistakes of others as well too. However, in addition to serving as an obstacle, I also discovered that this responsibility aspect of leadership also has its own rewards. Specifically, this responsibility factor allows leaders to help the people that they work with grow by helping those people recognize and develop their talents; which ultimately results in a lasting impact on their lives. And as a result of my reflection on what being a leader implies, I have come to the conclusion that being a good leader, in addition to talent and determination, requires courage.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Building a Community.

2010-02-26T13:43:00.001-08:00

Last Wednesday I was watching the snowboarding finals of the Winter Olympics. While the competition was exciting, what really caught my attention was an ad that took place during the commercials. This ad was created by the local boys and girls club that had members from different sport teams (including the Red Sox, the Patriots, and the Celtics) talk about the boys and girls club. In this ad, all of these athletes talked about the impact that the boys and girls club had had on their lives. However, what really caught my attention was when the announcer said that what all of these athletes had in common was that they all had a community that they could go to and grow by develop their talents and learning the value of teamwork. After that commercial, I began to reflect back on the LTI opening ceremony that took place last month. During that ceremony, one of the things that was discussed was creating a strong community. After seeing that commercial, I now have a better understanding of why it is so important for us to create this strong community. This television ad showed me that by focusing on creating a community, LTI would be able to not only impact the Boston community, but also impact the lives of each student that takes part in this organization.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Going Places

2010-02-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, as I was walking from Central Square back to 77 Mass Ave, I saw a limousine that had LTI written on the side of its door. After my initial confusion, I decided to go online and do some research on this other LTI organization. After looking at their website, I was surprised to find out that our organization has a lot in common with LTI limousine (in addition to our acronym). Like us, the Lifestyle Transportation International (LTI) Limousine Company prides itself on exceeding expectation by providing the finest quality service around. After looking at this mission statement from LTI limo, I began to think about the past service projects that our organization has been apart of, and all of the good that they have done for this community. After this reflection, I was reminded that while it is important for us to help our students develop their "leadership skills" and build a strong community of leaders and mentors, in the end, the main goal of LTI is service to the community. As the new spring session is getting started, and as new students are joining the LTI community (both here and around the world), I can't help but be excited for all of the wonderful projects that will help improve communities worldwide.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Inspiring Hope

2010-02-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

As most people already know, on Tuesday January 12, a magnitude 7 earthquake hit the island of Haiti. As expected, the damage done to Haiti by this earthquake was very severe. Over 150,000 people were confirmed dead and 10% of the population instantly found themselves homeless. However, as large as the damage was, I was surprised to see people hopeful for the future, despite losing so much. While there are many possible explanations of this unusual hope, one possible explanation could be the magnitude of the response to help. In addition to all of the advertised ads and fundraisers that are trying to raise money for the Haiti relief, more than 10,000 US citizens have traveled to Haiti to help rebuild the country.

While Haiti may never completely recover from this natural disaster, I too can't help but feel hopeful as I see different organizations trying to raise money and offer whatever support they can to the Haitian people in their time of need. Likewise, I feel that is how LTI's role in the Boston community and around the world should be too. Rather than trying to solve every single problem, the role of LTI should be to help its students create service projects that inspire hope in a community going through a difficult situation.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

A Look Back

2010-01-26T05:45:00.000-08:00

As the new semester is about to start, I just wanted to take time and go over a little bit of LTI's history and assess how far LTI has grown over the past few years.

Last week I got a chance to talk with the founder of LTI (Yeseul Kim). In addition to discovering that Yeseul started LTI in the summer of 2007 in order to help disadvantaged students in the Boston community create community service projects that would improve their community, I learned what motivated Yeseul to start LTI in the first place. During this meeting I discovered that after her plans of traveling abroad on a fellowship scholarship didn't work out, she decided to instead volunteer teaching at a local high school. It was after this experience that she decided to start LTI in order to use the skills that she learned to really make a lasting impact on the Boston community. Through her organization and recruitment of
other likeminded individuals, LTI has become what it is today through all of the hard work and dedication put forth by Yeseul Kim.

According to Yeseul, everyday LTI is getting closer to being the type of organization that she envisioned in 2007. During our interview, Yeseul made it very clear that in addition to wanting LTI to be an organization that mentors students, she also wanted LTI to stand out by being an organization that builds a community were mentees one day become mentors. With all of the expansion and changes that have been made to LTI, I feel that we are getting closer to reaching these goals. And as such, I am confident that LTI will be a legacy that Yeseul will be proud of.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

Making the Journey to New Places

2010-01-17T08:18:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I went to see the movie Avatar. While the movie was very pleasent, the long cold walk back to Next House was unbearable. Once I got home, I went online to see how cold it really was outside (to see if my misery was in fact ligitament). In addition to being astonished by the -4°F on my computer screen, I immediately began to feel envy for all of the LTI staff members that were currently in Brazil. As I began to think about my friends being so warm, I started to reflect on all of the planning organization that went into making this trip to Brazil possible. It still amazes me how quickly LTI is growing and how far across the world it is expanding to. With the spring session almost here, I can’t wait to see all of the new changes that will soon take place.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

End of semester

2009-12-21T04:26:00.001-08:00

As another semester ends and new year is abut to begin, I just want to say how proud I am for all of the outstanding hard work that the LTI staff has shown. From training mentors, to raising funds, and building a tighter LTI community, in one way or another everyone on the LTI staff has demonstrated how much they care about LTI and what they are willing to do to further advance it. As I think about all of the great things that we have accomplished this semester, I am reminded of the what a retired engineer said to me on the train as I was traveling home for the holidays. Essentially, that passenger told me that "life is what you make it, you get out of it what you put into it." After applying this quote to what I have seen so far from the LTI staff, I can tell that 2010 will be a great year for the LTI community.

Happy Holidays from your Public Relations Chair

Walter Anazonwu

Diversity

2009-12-07T06:51:00.001-08:00

As the Expansion Committee is getting closer to making its trip to China and Brazil this IAP, I can't help but be appreciative of the diverse community that makes up MIT's student body. From the international students that come from so many different countries to the different American students that represent different ethnic groups in this country, MIT seems to be a "model UN." However, this diversity isn't found in every college and often I take for granted how beneficial this diversity is and how it has impacted my life. This diversity has not only helped me become appreciative of other cultures, it has also helped me become more appreciative of my own heritage (through the similarities and differences that I find in the cultures of my classmates). Likewise, when I look at the LTI staff and the students that make up each year's class, I can't help but be impressed as to how diverse this organization is. As a result, I feel that the students of each LTI class (in addition to learning about leadership and community service) get to experience some of the benefits of cultural diversity that I have experience here on MIT. Additionally, I am so excited about the upcoming expansion trips to China and Brazil because I know that these trips will not only help expand LTI worldwide, but these trips will also expose these students in China and Brazil to the diverse culture found within the LTI community.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

A quick look at LTI

2009-11-23T02:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-16T04:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T02:36:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

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

A New Year

2009-09-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

As everyone is settling into the new school year, I thought that it would be a good time to reflect on all of the talk about "new beginnings." It seems that with the start of every new school year, people are always talking about starting anew, making changes, and discovering who you are. And this year was no exception, as President Barack Obama addressed students across the country. While President Obama's message had the usual slogans ("stay in school" and "do your best"), his message stood out when he said that "the overall success of this country hinges on the overall success of its students." Essentially, what Obama was saying was that if America was going to overcome the obstacles that we now face, everyone (including students) has to do his or her part. Likewise, now I realize just how important really LTI is. While we may only motivate a handful of students each year, the fact of the matter is that our efforts are making a difference not only in the lives of the students that we work with, but also on the nation as a whole.

Your Public Relations Chair,

Walter Anazonwu

CDI-SLP 13 and Reflections

2009-09-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

August 28, 2009 + Aftermath

Students and Mentors Pose for One More SLP Memory!

My trip to Shenzhen, China this summer as part of the CDI-LTI’s Service Leadership Program was a phenomenal experience. LTI’s mission has always been to promote service by supplying young students with the resources and confidence to implement their own service or development project. In this program, we taught a range of students, from beginning middle school to high school graduates, the essential lessons of leadership, teamwork, and communication. In the scope of the overall project, the students gained the perspective they needed to initiate and develop their own leadership/ service initiative with a local elementary school.

Initially, I thought I was helping the students. In the end, I realized how much I had learned from this experience as well. Because there was a language barrier, I had to be extremely conscious of my communication methods and body language. Beyond more technical lessons, I learned what leadership meant. Sure, I had ideas about leadership before, and even when I was mentoring for LTI, I was certain I got the concept down. However, I was missing an essential ingredient to this mysterious leadership recipe. I failed to believe. My high school education and especially my few years at MIT have taught me to be skeptical. Okay, so I taught the students about leadership, but did I ever truly believe they understood me or would take it to heart and pass this lesson on? Honestly, as much as I would like to believe I did, I did not. I knew as soon as the lesson ended, life would move on to more realistic, concrete things, such as college applications, homework, and family life- certainly not initiating a new service. Not as often as I would like to admit, I was wrong. There were passionate students who truly cared about their community and took the lessons I taught to heart. Unfortunately, I saw those students as rare exceptions to the rule.

I saw something different on my trip to Shenzhen. Every single one of these kids participated in every lesson. The voices and the hands never stopped rising to answer questions and lead discussions. These young adults took the glass and drank every last drop. They excelled at the activities, questioned every statement, and tightly grasped each concept. When we left, I had hopes, but realistically, I knew Chinese education would soon take over their lives, and the lessons and plans for the final service project might fade. BUT, it has not. They still take initiative and contact the SLP coordinators for help. During this trip, I found inspiring, intellectual, amazing students, but most of all, I found my own belief.

Jia

CDI-SLP Day 12

2009-09-15T12:08:00.001-07:00

August 27, 2009

The students journeyed back to the middle school this morning. The day started off with official introductions to the selected middle school students. The finance team led the “Ting” energizer. As shown below, Eddie thoroughly enjoyed leading the students through this fun introduction game.

Elementary School Students “Ting-Off” while Student Mentor Eddie Cheers

The remaining teams focused on an activity with an underlying lesson, such as “Minefield,” shown below.

Student Mentors Lead “Minefield” with Elementary School Students

Each activity was followed by a discussion, similar to SLP curriculum. Here, Donald and Jay led a discussion on the importance of teamwork and communication in “Minefield.”

Donald and Jay Lead a Discussion

Both the mentors and students had a blast learning the importance of leadership through interactive games and in-depth discussions.

When the students returned to their own classroom, Mark, Ye, and Julian led their real-world entrepreneur scenario, Lemonade Tycoon. Mark programmed an original algorithm to determine the net profit of each entrepreneur group based on their supplies, prices, weather, and even special events, such as a local concert. Ye’s broadcast center and the busy supply store is shown below.

Ye Reports the Weather for “Lemonade Tycoon”

Students Bombard the “General Store” Before Closing Time

In this simulation, students learned the basics of starting a business, such as buying and trading supplies. Negotiation and adaptability were also vital skills. Students faced issues such as a lemon shortage, stimulus package, and even a population burst from a local concert. Teams worked within their team and with other teams to redistribute supplies and make the most profit.

Tomorrow, SLP will hold it’s official closing ceremony for students, parents, and Vanke staff.

Until tomorrow,

Jia

2009-09-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

CDI-SLP Day 11

2009-09-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

August 26, 2009

Today, the SLP group traveled to the original Vanke property. The house featured antique architecture and furnishings. The day started off with a quick teamwork activity, “Floating Stick,” led by Gloria from the Education team. The students must work together to steadily lower a long stick without losing contact with the stick. With this activity, the students must actively communicate, otherwise the stick has a tendency to continually “float” upward. As shown below, Shelby, Freizen, and Victoria’s team have difficultly lowering the stick.

Students Try to Control the “Floating Stick”

After the initial excitement, students split off into two groups to give a five-minute oral presentation. They were previously assigned a public speaking assignment. Each student was required to prepare an oral presentation on a topic of his or her choice. Presentation topics ranged from a how-to salsa dance to the history of the peanut. Students utilized their presentation and projection skills in this speech simulation. Shown below, Roy is presenting the founding and history of the world-famous Haagen Dazs ice cream brand.

Roy Present the History of his Favorite Ice Cream

After the presentations, students gather for team energizer. They must support themselves with one foot in a small square. This tests the students ability to creatively use a small space and persuade others to follow a plan. Below, Simba and Victoria look up from their strategic planning.

Simba and Victoria in the middle of Strategizing

Tomorrow, the students make a second trip to the middle school to practice their leadership curriculum with selected students. Each team is responsible for preparing and teaching one activity to the selected students at tomorrow’s official visit.

Until tomorrow,

Jia

CDI-SLP Day 10

2009-09-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

August 25, 2009

The students kick-off the morning with a blind scavenger hunt lead by the International Relations Team. Three students comprise a scavenger hunt team. One student can only communicate with hand gestures to a second student who can only communicate verbally to a third student who cannot see. As a team, the students retrieve as many objects as possible within a time limit. In this activity, students must work together closely and combine their senses to gather the most “treasure.” As soon below, Doris, Jim, and Reuben are having trouble searching without their vision.

Students in the Hunt

Teamwork becomes the theme of the day as Paula leads the students to their next activity, “Pyramid.” In this activity each student in a group must hold onto a long string attached to a rubber band. Teams must use this device to pick up and stack paper cups into a pyramid. To make this task more difficult, the strings were all varying lengths, and the cups were scattered across the room in locations at all heights. Despite these additional obstacles, Lynn, Reuben, Donald, Rita, Chris, and J had no trouble stacking their pyramid.

Teamwork Pyramid

Teamwork and communication were essential for the final engineering challenge, “Paper Towers.” Students were supplied with limited sheets of paper and given fifteen minutes to build the tallest and most stable tower they could. The imaginative designs ranged from a card house to a space needle, shown below.

A Truly Great Paper Tower

After the morning team-building activities, the students visited the middle school for the first time. They presented their ideas for their leadership and service project to the school officials and several representative students. As seen below, Roy introduces himself and the overall project to the school administration.

SLP Student Leader Group Presenting Final Project to Elementary School Administration

Until tomorrow,

Jia

CDI-SLP Day 9

2009-09-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

August 27, 2009

After learning the techniques of negotiation and working together, Gloria, Dave, and Paula paved the path to teamwork and even some engineering fundamentals. The day started lightheartedly with “Zoo,” a game that tests communication and quick reaction rates.

A Game of “Zoo”

Once students felt comfortable communicating in a group, their skills were tested in “Elevator Pitch,” an activity in which students must sell or “pitch” a random object provided by the mentors to their group. With some imagination and excellent persuasion techniques, students verbally transformed a plain hair bow into an instant makeover machine, a webcam into a monster eater, and a watch into a time warping device. The students were able to practice their public speaking, persuasion techniques, and oral and physical communication methods by this simple activity.

Individual communication became important for the students’ first engineering challenge! Students were required to build a bridge from 4 sheets of newspaper and one feet of tape. Each team member was given a specific hint that would make their bridge more stable. Their task was to communicate this hint to their teammates in order to construct the most stable and creative bridge. Mentors provided various weights, such as books, markers, and even large vitamin bottles to test the weight capacities of each team’s bridge. A fully loaded bridge constructed by Chris, Roy, Charlie, and Jenny is shown below.

Student-Engineered Paper Bridge

From the bridge activity, students discovered that they can listen and persuade each other, but can they persuade potentially troubling students of their own? “Extreme Mentoring” tested each student’s ability to lead a discussion with several problem students. In this activity, three mentors were assigned to lead a discussion about an education topic, while the remaining three students in the group were assigned trouble personalities, such as excessively talking, persistently poking or bothering other students, and simply refusing to participate in the discussion. For the students’ final projects, they must teach a group of middle school students, who might have trouble focusing on topic. This activity taught them the methods and skills to deal with troubling issues and how to refocus an activity when they become the mentors. Although many students had trouble dealing with the troubled personalities, as a group, they were able to control their students and continue on with their assigned discussion.

After a day full of education, “Wind in the Willows” finished a full day. The activity tested the students’ trust for each other with a fun game. Students closed their eyes and fell backward into a circle of their classmates who caught and passed them along. Manie is shown below falling into the arms of her classmates, Lynn and Rita.

Trusting Each Other with “Wind in the Willows”

Tomorrow, the students visit the local middle school to present their project ideas in their teams. Students and mentors spent the remainder of the day finalizing their group and individual ideas and practicing their group presentation. The student leaders group will present a project focused on two ideals.

The first aspect of the service project is a leadership class focused on teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. The second aspect is a community service project developed and initiated directly by the middle school students.

Until tomorrow,

-Jia

CDI-SLP Day 8

2009-09-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

August 26, 2009

After the students’ exciting Journey around the World, the International Relations team, Colin McSwiggen, Cassandra Xi, and Taylor Jay led the students through negotiation, communication, and presentation fundamentals! As the students continue to grow in the program, their parents were invited to view a day of SLP activities and learn a little more about the final project with the partner elementary school.

The Students and Mentors pose in front of a Vanke Property

The day began with a game of International Relation themed charades. This exercised introduced the students to key vocabulary and expression techniques necessary in not only international negotiations, but also in common disagreements. Since, charades is not a common game in China, the game was an exercise solely in body language and clear non-verbal communication.

After the brief charade introduction, the students shifted to verbal communication exercises. Students presented several lines of recited text to small groups. Passages ranged from Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, performed by Jordan, to lines from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, performed by Michaela. Students focused on different methods of presentation context, such as persuasion, entertainment, and emotional connection. Many students who previously shied away from group discussion came out of their shell and showed their potential in this activity. Eye contact, speech fluency, and body gestures were key points in suggested improvements.

Students Simulating the Prisoner's Dilemma

Despite a day of communication exercises, a fundamental International Relations exercise relied on no communication at all. The students were presented with their own Prisoner’s Dilemma, (shown above) in which they must choose to act in the interest of themselves or each other. After rounds of resolved dilemmas, students, including partners Charlie and Francica, realized the maximum amount of reward came with cooperation, when they both acted in the interest of each other- a vital aspect of successful international relations.

The final International Relations activity focused on a student skit designed to feature and demonstrate one of seven persuasion techniques, including bandwagon, emotional appeal, and hyperbole. Student skits were absolutely phenomenal! Not only did they focus on their assigned technique, they produced intricate plot lines filled with surprises, humor, and artistic performances. They featured a karaoke performance, moonwalk, and even a hip hop rap. Most importantly, the students presented memorable and entertaining methods of remembering and using persuasion techniques in presentation and debate.

SLP with Prospective International MIT Students

After an exciting day with the students, SLP met the Shenzhen alumni network and prospective MIT students over signature hot pot (shown above). MIT alum, entrepreneur, and CEO of his own software company, Mike Freedman, shared his views on opening his own business in foreign countries, managing multiple branches, and potential expansion into developing countries.

Until tomorrow,

Jia

CDI-SLP Day 7

2009-09-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

August 22, 2009

On the second official day of our program, I feel as though we have already gotten more comfortable as a program. The main activity of the day was a sort of world tour foreign cultures lead by our Cultural Differences team: Jia, Michaela, and Julia.

The day started with a very fun name game that we call, “Ting!” The students and mentors then had a chance to get to know each other better through a game called “Walk About, Talk About.” Another notable game included “Chaos and Change” where our students had to complete a task, but we gave the students certain disabilities and restraints. For example, some students were no longer allow to use their hands, while other students could not talk, and still others were blindfolded and not allowed to see. Through this game our students learned to deal with adversity and change while still obtaining their goals.

Lined up during Walk About, Talk About:
Meeting and Greeting, Walking and Talking

During our break and lunch time, we happened upon an open basketball court and started a pick-up game. This was a great impromptu bonding activity for both the students, both with each other and with the mentors. Spectators and competitors alike cheered when Eddy, one of our shortest students, scored the first basket of the game.

An exciting game: Doris with ball

We ended the day with a five staged cultural fair, “Journey Around the World.” Students were spilt into four teams and we asked them to each construct a team passport. We had some very creative passports ideas, including the toilet displayed below.

A passport for all your traveling needs

At each station of “Journey Around the World,” mentors shared their knowledge and experience about a different country. The countries included USA, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Kenya. At the USA stations, Jia taught us all a hip-hop dance. In Mexico, I taught our students to salsa. In Brazil, Julia shared some typical Brazilian drinks and snacks. Colin and Wesley taught Japanese and had sushi. Finally, Julian spoke some Swahili and shared his experience in Kenya with us. This activity and this day was a complete success. Big thanks to the SLP Cultural Difference team for two fantastic opening days.

Julia welcoming us to Brazil

~Dave

CDI-SLP Day 6

2009-09-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

August 21, 2009

Today was a very exciting day- the beginning of our program! Jia, Michaela, and Julia had organized the curriculum for the day and were leading the activities. They did a fantastic job.

It was really interesting to see how some of the old classic activities, Anatomy of a Leader, worked differently with students from the Chinese culture. In the activity, students first trace the body of one of their group members and then draw things on the outline which represent different qualities a leader needs. For example, one group drew big ears because leaders need to listen to the people they represent, while another drew a liver because leaders need to be able to take a difficult situation with someone and prevent bad blood from ruining their relationship. The students started out with very literal suggestions, but I was really impressed with their creativity in the end.

Students presenting their leader

Later in the day, we told the students that they were the audience of a game show. We had a four of our mentors stand at the front of the room and sets of three facts were listed off that belonged to one of the mentors. The students then had to guess which facts belonged to which mentors. Most of them used assumptions and stereotypes to guide their choices and because many of the facts defied what one would assume from first impressions, most of them misidentified at least half. Jia lead a great discussion for the students about first impressions and how to avoid making wrong assumptions. Our group of students is extremely insightful and most are also very willing to participate.

Another classic activity: Chocolate River
(Careful: DON’T TOUCH THE FLOOR!)

It's a great combination and it made for a wonderful day full of many more fun, didactic activities. The students were also split into their final project groups. In order to provide aid to the migratory-worker elementary school we hope to help through this program, we created 4 groups: finance, internal relations, external relations and implementation to work on different aspects of creating a mentorship program for high school and the elementary school students there as well as completing a project to improve the school. In their groups, the students used brainstorming skills they learned during the day to come up with a lot of possible projects they could work on. Many commonly shared ideas included creating a leadership program similar to the one we're doing here, teaching the students other skills like English, how to study effectively and prepare for their futures, and music or art classes.

Mentors and students engaged in a brainstorming exercise

We also got our mentor / mentee pairings today and everyone is so excited about the students they're working with. We had half an hour to discuss the day, but I was having such a good time talking with my mentees that we only got through the first few activities. After session, some of the mentors went to one of our student's homes to bake in preparation for a cultural "Journey Around the World" activity tomorrow, and the rest of us went to a conference room (with a beautiful, distracting view) to debrief about the day. Everyone felt it went really well and we were also able to offer some suggestions for improvement for the rest of the week. After that, we had some free time for dinner and preparing for the rest of the week. More exciting adventures tomorrow!

-Taylor

CDI-SLP 4+5

2009-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

August 19, 2009 to August 20, 2009

Greetings!

The moment is finally here! Yesterday, LTI + SLP journeyed to the Vanke headquarters in Shenzhen, China’s largest Real Estate firm to greet the final twenty-eight students for the first time. The session started off with an introduction to China Development Initiative’s purpose and motivation for the 2009 Summer Service Leadership Program. This year’s students include Roy, an upcoming biomedical entrepreneur and Amy, a passionate upcoming mathematician and professor. One student, Roben, even expressed his professional dream of becoming the next International Diplomat for China. The students and mentors proceeded to introduce themselves and mingle before initial icebreakers started.
The activities commenced with a simple name and fact game called Big Wind Blows. One student stands in the center and relays an interesting fact about himself or herself. Throughout the course of this initial icebreaker, the students and the mentors bonded over many commonalities.

Students Rising from “Back-to Back” Icebreaker

As the students became more comfortable around each other and the mentors, Elephant was introduced. In this activity, a student in the middle of a circle calls out another student’s name and a noun. The selected student as well as the students directly surrounding him or her must act out a specific task within an allotted amount of time. Elephant not only extended the name game, but it also taught the students to let loose and have fun.

Sandra, David, and Jia demonstrating “Elephant” Ice Breaker

The Human Knot completed the activities as students worked closely together, both physically and mentally, to untangle themselves from each other. The Knot cleverly and subtly introduced fundamental themes for LTI, communication and teamwork.
The day concluded with a tour of Vanke. We learned about their extensive program to engineer facilities specifically for the ease and comfort of senior citizens, as well as the average Chinese family. The company is hosting the project and donating a total of $10,000 yuan to aid in the students’ final project, a service initiative for a local elementary school, composed primarily of migrant workers’ children.
Although the day may be over, SLP was not! The first group, Cultural Differences, continued to run through the activities to prepare for the first official day of the program August 21st, 2009. More to come about the class then!

For the last day before the festivities begin, we journeyed to Hong Kong for a day of sightseeing and meeting with the MIT Hong Kong Alumni Club. We toured the famous Street Market, visited the Hong Kong History Museum, and strolled through the Walk of the Stars Harbor. We concluded the day with a ferry ride to Hong Kong’s financial district to meet with the Alumni in the Hong Kong area over drinks and snacks. Martin Tang, the president of the MIT Hong Kong Alumni Club and grandson of the famous Jack C. Tang, whom the Tang Center/ Wong Auditorium is named after, also made an appearance.

SLP at the Hong Kong History Museum

Well, the time has finally come. In less than six hours, the project will commence, and new leaders will emerge!

-Jia

CDI- SLP Day 3

2009-09-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

August 18, 2009

Hey guys, this is Dave Zou and I’m the last member to round off the LTI blogging triumvirate (although we are hoping to have guest bloggers throughout the week). I just noticed we have yet to mentioned all the members of SLP, so besides myself, Taylor, and Jia; the SLP crew in China includes: Wesley, Sandra, Cassandra, Michaela, Julia, Gloria, Julian, Mark, Colin, Paula, and Ye.

The day’s been both relaxing and productive. Today, each team met to really hammer out the details of each day they will be responsible for during the program. But after a rigorous morning of preparation and nice lunch together, we all indulged in an hour of professional Chinese massages. Authentic and oodles more inexpensive than its America counterparts, this massage were just what my knotting back needed (although Julia did mention some rather painful sounding chiropractic moments).

We even got these really cool matching pajamas

(In picture from left: Dave, Michaela, and Julia)

Rejuvenated; Wesley, Gloria, Sandra, Michaela, Julian, and Cassandra set out to purchase and collect necessary materials for our program activities, while the rest of us remained at the hotel to work on additional program planning.

After a logistics meeting and some quality team bonding through a game called “Spotlight On” (a nightly ritual), we dispersed for bed. Tomorrow, we will finally meet our mentees for the first time. We’re all so excited—I’ve been giddy butterflies ever since I heard we would have to doing introductory activities with them. So here’s to a successful tomorrow!

Cheers,
~Dave

CDI-SLP Day 2

2009-09-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

August 17, 2009

We began the morning as we begin every morning here, with a delicious Chinese breakfast. Dave and I ate at the hotel, and Jia ventured out into the world in search of bubble tea. After everyone ate, we boarded the bus for a fieldtrip to "Splendid China," a theme park featuring miniatures of all the great sights of China and different shows by a variety of Chinese minority groups. So, we got pictures with us conquering the Great Wall, traipsing through the Forbidden City and having a dance party with some ancient Chinese warriors.

LTI crew with a miniature pagoda

Jia also braved a horse-ride on one of the war horses involved in a reenactment show and Dave danced with the Uyghers during their cultural dance performance. We also had fun, and got soaking wet right before our journey home, at a water splash show, an event whose only goal was to get everyone involved as wet as possible.

Fellow SLP member, Julian, mimicking a statue

On our way home, we took a short tour through the financial district of Shenzhen and took a stroll through the largest park in the city. The park was beautiful and also full of people exercising in whatever way came naturally to them. Some were swinging umbrellas as they paced back and forth in the shade, others exercised their minds through Chinese chess and yet others played a hacky sack / badminton combination sport. It was the coolest sport I've seen in a long time and Dave was so inspired that he bought the equipment to take home with him.

We grabbed some Congee for dinner, from what I understand, the Chinese version of IHOP at midnight, and then had a team meeting in which teams planned out more specific plans for their assigned days of SLP and everyone had a chance to reflect on the purpose of the activities and the flow of the week. I was concerned when I heard that we'd be having one less day than expected, because of a trip to the migratory school for which the students are preparing their final service projects, and that we'd have about an hour more than expected each day. But after everyone presented their plans and the teams worked together to redistribute the activities, we came up with what I think will be a fantastic curriculum that fits into the time we have and hopefully with the needs of our group of students as well. All of the planning got me really excited for the program, so while I greatly look forward to these next 3 days of seeing the sights of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, I'm also looking forward to meeting our students day after tomorrow and beginning the actual program on Friday.

-Taylor

CDI- SLP Day 1

2009-09-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

August 16, 2009

Approximately 36 hours ago, the LTI crew, David Zou, Taylor Jay, and Jia Zhu arrived at Hong Kong International Airport ready for the adventure ahead of us. After 5 hours of miscellaneous travel, we finally arrived at our Inn, ready for LTI’s partnership with MIT’s China Development Initiative (CDI) to commence as the 2009 Service Leadership Program in Shenzhen, China.

Members of SLP at Their First Dinner Together

The first night and day centered on mentor and SLP coordinator bonding. We got to know the main coordinators, Wesley Koo, Jack Chen, and Naisi Gao all the other SLP members over our first Chinese meal. David Zou even ventured to ingest a silk worm pupa, which was certainly an acquired taste. Taylor and Jia abstained.

A Bowl of Deep Fried Silk Pupas... Mmmm

After meals and a brief introduction to Chinese karaoke, the groups got down to business. The Service Leadership Program is composed of 4 teams based on four emphasized themes of leadership and service, Cultural Differences, International Relations, Education, and Technology and Entrepreneurship. Each team is responsible for leading icebreakers and other activities adapted from LTI’s spring student curriculum for 2 out of the 8 total days of the program. Today’s meetings focused on generating a schedule for intense course preparation and program logistics.

The Karaoke Lounge

In the following couple of days, the SLP group plans to venture to Vanke, the largest real estate development firm in China. Vanke’s student selection process was held three days ago. Seventy-five finalists from around the Shenzhen area competed in a final selection process that consisted of a written English application, English speech, and a talent competition recorded and broadcast by the local media. Twenty-five finalists were selected by a panel of judges, who included CDI’s Naisi Gao and Jack Chen.

Tomorrow, the SLP team will embark on a local Shenzhen cultural adventure followed by intense curriculum revision and presentation. More to come!

-Jia

Reflections

2009-08-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

As the summer draws closer to the end, I think that now is a great time to reflect on all of the wonderful things that LTI has managed to do so far this year. In addition to having a very great spring session, LTI has also managed to be very influential in the community this summer. In the beginning of July, LTI has successfully expanded its curriculum to the HSSP program at MIT. All five HSSP sessions have been successful, and I can tell that all of these students are really learning a lot about great leadership.

In addition to HSSP, I am also proud to announce that the plans for the IAP trip to Shanghai are almost finalized. After talking with some high school students on the Fenway T-stop, I can see how important it is for a program like LTI to be expanded to other schools. Often I take for granted how important it is for high school students to be apart of a program like LTI and have mentors in their lives that encourage them to become better leaders. After talking with these students at the T-stop about politics, college plans, and sports, I could see how important a program like LTI is to very motivated high school students. After that experience, I realized that in addition to showing our mentees qualities of good leadership, LTI also shows them how to develop their own natural gifts and become outstanding leaders in their own communities. It's like what President Obama said "we can transform this country one community at a time."

Helping other reach new heights

2009-07-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

On June 12, 2009 the second session of HSSP took place. The structure of the meeting consisted of: icebreakers, a major activity, and a discussion of leadership characteristics.

After the students finished filling out administrative forms, the group took the students outside to play "Big Wind Blows" in Killian Court. In the game one person would stand in the middle and the rest of the students would form a circle around that person. The student in the middle of the circle would then announce their name and then say something about themselves. Then, people who have that same thing in common would then move to the middle of the circle and find a new position in the circle. The cycle would then repeat with a new person in the middle of the circle.

In addition to getting to know each other, that session also helped students reflect and start planning out what they hoped to learn this summer. Students were given 15 minutes to write a letter to themselves stating what skill they wanted to develop, things that they wanted to learn, their plans for high school, and where they wanted to be by the end of the program.

After the letter, we split the students into groups five groups. Each group had a discussion on what leadership was, why leadership was important, and what they could do to be more affective leaders in their communities. While the discussion was informative, I thought that the students really learned the most about leadership when the groups competed against each other in a tower building contest. In the contest each group had 15 minutes to use 25 sheets of paper to build a tower. While it was impressive to see the students apply the leadership skills that they had just talked about into the tower building project (communicating clearly, setting out a plan, and utilizing everyone’s talents), I was touched when one girl said "I'm no structural engineer, but I will make sure to fold as many papers into triangles as I can." While simple, these words were powerful because it showed that being a good leader doesn't necessarily mean being extremely talented, rather it means using the gifts that you have to help the people around you.

LTI Summer Session

2009-07-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

On June 29, 2009 members of the LTI family made preparations for HSSP (a condensed version of the spring curriculum for middle school students for the summer). As usual, the meeting consisted of icebreakers, a major activity, and a discussion in the end on how to be a good leader.

The overall focus for this meeting was to highlight the qualities of a good mentor. In our icebreaker, the group split into teams of two. Each team then made an outline a one of their team-members body on the chalkboard. Then everyone drew physical feature to symbolize qualities for a good leader. So for example, one group drew a big head to represent open-mindedness in a good leader.

In addition to showing what skills a good mentor should have, the mentors were put to the test in "extreme mentor." In this activity, each mentor pretended to give a lesson while the rest of the LTI staff pretended to be disruptive students. While this was an extreme case scenario, I felt that this was a very informative. This activity showed each mentor how important it was to get everyone involved, what resources they had available to them, and how important it was to never give up.

After Extreme mentor, we had a discussion to further illustrate how important being a good mentor was. I felt that the discussion was very useful in that it showed how the skill that we highlighted in the icebreaker and the lessons that we learned in extreme mentor were all necessary to becoming not only good leaders, but mentors that can really make a difference.

An Overview of LTI Closing Ceremony 2009:

2009-05-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

On May 10, 2009 LTI had its annual closing ceremony, with the featured event being the student’s presentations on their final projects. However, before the students presented on their projects, family, friends and LTI staff first got acquainted with one another over lunch at the Stata Center. Additionally, alumni from last year's LTI program also participated in the ceremony.

After lunch, the presentations took place in room 123 of the Stata center. Each student had about ten minutes to present their service project to the entire LTI community. The projects presented on included: helping immigrants learn English, removing graffiti, improving communication between parents and teens, increasing bottle recycling, raising alcohol awareness, and helping to raise awareness of poverty stricken children in Uganda. While each student used their projects to tackle challenging problems, what struck me was how practical each project was. Each student showed how he or she could achieve their goals either by improving already existing programs (such as Invisible children for the raising of awareness of poverty stricken children in Rwanda), or by asking for small donations (under $500). Additionally, I was also impressed by how quickly the students planned on completing their projects. For example, the student who wanted to create a play to raise alcohol awareness was well on his way to completing his goal. Already he has written out the script of the play, talked with the drama teacher of the school, set a date for the play to take place, and now he is helping to caste the actors.

In addition to the presentations, another event featured was a brief reflection by the mentors. This reflection included the mentors presenting each student with a certificate and making a brief speech that acknowledged how much each of the students had grown over the year.

LTI Closing Ceremony 2009:

2009-05-05T02:54:00.000-07:00

All family and friends, faculty, LTI community and past alumni are welcome to attend the final LTI gathering of the 2009 Spring Session!

Leadership Training Institute Closing Ceremony
Sunday May 10th
12:00 noon to 2:00 pm
MIT Room 32-123

The importance of letting others lead:

2009-05-05T02:45:00.000-07:00

This week's session of LTI highlighted a not too known part of leadership. This week's session showed the importance of being a good follower.

One featured event of this session was an activity in trust. In this activity, the students were blindfolded and led across a maze by some of the mentors. After the activity, the students returned and had a brief discussion on why leadership was important. While people made it clear that leadership was important in order to make sure that things got done, the question was brought up whether bad leadership was better than no leadership. In my opinion, the group came to a good conclusion when they decided that bad leadership was better than no leadership, because bad leadership eventually leads to changes, which ultimately leads to good leadership.

In addition to discussing the importance of leadership, the students also listed qualities of leaders by examining the leaders that impact their lives on a daily basis (such as parents, teachers, and coaches). While I was impressed that the students stated that one characteristic of being a leader is to motivate people, I was blown away when the group made the discovery that good leaders also have to be good followers.

Finally, after the discussion, the students used the rest of the time to prepare for their final project presentations for the Closing Ceremony.

April General Body Meeting and the election to end all elections

2009-04-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

On April 22nd, LTI had its monthly General Body Meeting (GBM). This month's meeting consisted of the usual icebreaker, delicious snacks, and an overview of upcoming events for LTI. In addition to these things, this month's GBM stood out from past GBMs in that the focus of this meeting was to assemble next year's LTI executive board.

This month's icebreaker was a game of cherades. Everyone was split into two groups. Within each group every person was given a minute to act out a word or phrase. While no points were recorded, this game was still very competitive.

In addition to the icebreaker, final plans were made for the weekend retreat. The plan for the retreat was to fly kites at Boston Commons and then have an early dinner. Additionally, the group also made plans for the closing ceremony and summer plans (with some traveling, and others staying behind to teach a class with HSSP).

Finally, a large part of the GBM was spent assembling next year's LTI executive board. Elections of each position were used to assemble next year’s executive board. While some positions were not filled, after a brief discussion, we decided to leave those positions alone and instead let them be filled by next year’s new members.

Overall, I was pleased with this month's GBM.

April 5 session

2009-04-08T12:00:00.001-07:00

In this week's session of LTI the focus was on improving interviewing skills and raising awareness of world hunger.

The first featured event of this session was a mock interview where students got a chance to practice their interviewing skills. Afterwards, students participated in an activity that demonstrated poverty and world hunger. In this activity, the classroom was divided in two, and half of the students were placed into the "upper class" side of the classroom, while the other students were placed into the "lower class" side of the classroom. Waiters at a fancy restaurant served the students placed into the "upper class" side, while the students in the "lower class" side had to share a bowl of rice. In the end, the students of the "upper class" tried to persuade the guard to let the students from the "lower class" migrate the "upper class" side of the classroom. After the activity, a discussion about poverty and world hunger took place.

Finally, after the lunch break, the students ended the day by comparing and contrasting masculine interviewing skills with feminine interviewing skills. In addition to a discussion, this activity required the students to demonstrating their interviewing style to the entire group.

The Session after Spring Break

2009-03-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

The first session of LTI after the spring break can best be described as a “session of inspiration.”

One featured event of this session was the presentations on inspirational leaders by each of the students. Each student gave a short presentation on leaders that either inspired them, or displayed the characteristics of an effective leader. The people presented on ranged from political figures like Barack Obama, to historic figures like Malcolm X, to family members and famous public figures. Overall the theme of the presentations was to show that effective leaders are those who stand up for what they believe in, take action for their beliefs, and inspire other people to be just as passionate for those beliefs as well. After the presentations were finished suggestions were made for improvements.

In addition to the presentations, this session included a discussion on service by a service panel. The service panel included representatives from Alternative Spring Break (an organization that uses its spring break to do community service around the country), Camp Kesem (an organization that works with the children of cancer patients), and Mobility Lab (an organization that builds wheel chairs from bicycle parts and donates them to needy people in Africa). After the three representatives finished talking about their various organizations, they later answered questions and gave advice to the students for their final projects.

After the service panel’s discussion on service, the meeting ended with a group discussion on student projects, and a variety of games.

Sessions + LTI Final Project Proposals + New Members!

2009-03-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been quite eventful!

One featured event at an LTI session was a blind-folded scavenger hunt. In this event, students split into teams of 3. One served as the blind-folded mover, another as the vocal director, and the final student as the silent direction giver. The silent direction giver would motion with his or her body to the vocal director, who vocalized the first student's commands to the blind-folded mover. Whichever team worked best as a team and collected the most items won the activity!

This past Sunday, March 8th, students presented their final project proposals to the LTI Board of Directors. The final project is a vital part of the LTI curriculum, in which students have the opportunity to give back to their own community in the form of an LTI-funded service project. Proposals included projects aimed at removing graffiti from public areas, implementing an invisible children awareness program, and an education play on alcohol abuse. After initial feedback, students will edit proposals and presentations in time for approved funding and the final presentations at the closing ceremony in May.

Finally, this upcoming Wednesday, March 11th is the monthly LTI General Body Meeting. At this meeting, we are welcoming our five newest executive board members! Three of our newest LTI family will be starting our Expansion committee, which aims at implementing and extending our program and connections to locations in Mexico, China, Brazil, El Salvador, and South Africa. Many updates on LTI's summer program plans to come!

2009-02-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

SPRING 2009 LTI FIRST SESSION
A Blip from the Session

This past Sunday, February 8th, was LTI's first session. Groups of students visited the famous chalkboards in MIT's Stata Center to illustrate leaders.

In this activity, "Anatomy of a Leader," Students were asked to illustrate what characteristics, physical, mental, and personal, would make a great leaders. Our students used their creativity to the fullest.

Stata center's chalkboards are still adorned with a diverse collection of 2 dimensional leaders with interesting accessories, such as cell phones, wild hair styles, mysterious creatures, and even an open heart.

The Anatomy of a Leader allows students to brainstorm what leaders typically look like and what characteristics many of today's prominent leaders possess. The group work allows for creative brainstorming, discussion, and compromise.

Look forward to next session's program!

Note: There is no session this upcoming Sunday, February 15th due to MIT and Boston and Cambridge area school schedules.

Reflections from our trip to Mexico

2009-02-10T08:43:00.001-08:00

Here is an excerpt from Taylor Jay, our Associate Director, who traveled down to Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico in the state of Chiapas. Chiapas is actually the poorest state in Mexico, plagued with armed conflicts and poverty, but it is also the most beautiful. Taylor shares her experiences...

We do this activity in every LTI program. You’re asked to list some number of turning points in your life; decisions you made that changed the course of your life afterward. Choosing to go on this trip was without a doubt one of those decisions.I didn’t know what to expect from Mexican culture. I learned a bit of Mayan history in my high school Spanish classes, but we certainly never made it into the present day. I quickly adjusted, however, to friendly kisses on the cheek to greet in the morning, to strangers prepared to help with excellent restaurant suggestions, and to the adventures that stemmed from no one needing to ask why anything was happening, just content that it would all settle out.The staff of Casa Telmex was no exception. They were some of the nicest, most welcoming and encouraging people I’ve ever met. Each of them had a different personality, a different teaching style, but each of them shared a common passion for helping those around them and bettering themselves as well. Working there was the best experience I could have asked for and I would love to go back in the future.LTI also took on a different hue at Casa Telmex. It was unlike the spring program, of course, because we had ages ranging from 13-41 and ability levels just as broadly distributed, because we didn’t see the participants every session, but also because of the different culture. In the US, the most common problem in a group is that no one wants the responsibility of the leader; everyone is reticent to share their ideas lest they be the “wrong” answers. Here, however, almost everyone wanted to share and lead vocally. It led to some fantastic discussions and is certainly indicative of the natural leadership inclinations of those participating in the program. But, it is also something that can impede effective teamwork. So, it was really interesting to see how the activities worked with different participants. They suddenly taught different lessons than they did at home, many of which I hadn’t seen or realized before myself. It also makes me realize how much different LTI must be to serve a diverse range of communities, certainly a challenge, but one I believe now more than ever is one worth taking on. I think this program fills an even more unique niche in other parts of the world.While I certainly grew as a leader and a member of a team during the month, I think I grew more personally than in these other capacities. I had never left the country before and had a wide range of trepidations, many of implausible events like being stuck somewhere with no available bottled water or loosing a shoe on a combi. I also feared sticking out because of my appearance, not something I’ve ever experienced growing up as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Midwesterner. It was something I began to no longer notice by the end of the trip, but certainly not something I’ll take for granted in the US again. I feared not being able to communicate effectively with those around me. This fear was realized many a time, whether it was in discussion with students (my worst fear) or just hanging out with the facilitators outside of work. I came up with many creative ways to express myself other than words, realizing the importance of body language, asking the right questions and preparing in advance what I wanted to say. Now that I’m back in a country full of English-speakers, I’ve been much more confident in talking with others, whether it is in front of an audience or scheduling the ever-difficult doctor’s appointment by phone. I feared not knowing what was going to happen at each moment which I was certainly forced to face. I gave up trying to have mental control over situations and just let things happen as they were going to happen. The luggage isn’t going to arrive for how long? This combi is going where? Why exactly are we in this vehicle? Why is the bus stopping by the side of the road and luggage is being extracted from the under-seat storage? All questions that I would have sought the answers to in the US, but all questions that don’t seem to need answers in Mexico. I learned to just be calm and let those in charge of the things take care of them as they need to, hopefully a lesson I can carry through life with me as well. Of course, my stomach also learned its fair share of lessons. Over the course of the 3 and a half weeks it learned to deal with ice, lettuce, grease, more spice than I knew existed and a wide variety of unknown, but delicious, foods. This was perhaps the hardest learned lesson on the trip, but it now certainly misses all those things it once was quite uneasy about.And I was so blessed to share this experience with 3.25 (since YeSeul left about a week into the trip) other MIT students. It was really interesting to get to know these remarkable people better and share with them some of the most memorable experiences of my college career. So thank you to each of you for this amazing trip.

LTI Opening Ceremony

2009-02-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, February 1st 2009 was the second annual Leadership Training Institute Opening Ceremony!

We had 10 attending students and many family and friends!
The ceremony started with opening remarks by LTI Director Amanda Mok and followed by a brief introduction of the curriculum by LTI Associate director Taylor Jay.
Socializing and lunch followed.

LTI students and their guests then split for separate activities. While the students teams raced in a leadership scavenger hunt, their family and friends got to know each other with a game of splat and paper tower building.

The ceremony closed with reflections.

From the LTI staff community, we are excited to get to know the students and their families even better as the semester continues. See you soon!

*Reminder: The first LTI session will be this upcoming Sunday February 8th from 12:oo noon to 4:00 pm in MIT room 4-149. Lunch is provided for every session.
Please arrive 15 minutes before start time, as the MIT campus is difficult to navigate.

Get Ready for the Time of Your Life!

2009-01-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

Hey LTI Community!

The count down to the LTI Opening Ceremony has begun! One week and 1 day left until the Spring 2009 session starts.

LTI Exec. and Mentors are putting the finishing touches on the renovated 2009 curriculum. Look for new activities, reflection exercises, and ice breakers!

Mentors are wrapping up the LTI IAP program in Mexico this upcoming week. The program was a huge success this year! Read more about their everyday experiences in the LTI Mexico blog.

Next Up for LTI Blog:

Interviews with the Exec. and Reflections from the Mentors

Opening Ceremony Reminders!

2009-01-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

IAP is nearing an end at MIT, which means the start of classes and the Spring 2009 LTI Session!

Reminder: LTI Opening Ceremony
When: Sunday February 1st, 2009
What time: 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm
Where: MIT Room 32-141

Reminder: LTI Spring Schedule
When: Sundays February 8th--May 10th
What time: 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm
Where: MIT Room 4-149
*Note: Due to MIT and local high school holidays, there will be no LTI session Feb. 15, Mar. 22, and Apr. 19.

Welcoming Packets have been sent out. Please complete the forms and have them ready at the opening ceremony!

Be sure to RSVP the number of guests for the ceremony ASAP to lti-directors@mit.edu.

IAP!

2009-01-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

I'm Jia Zhu, LTI's Director of Public Relations. I'm taking over for Lily Xu for the time being.
Right now is MIT's IAP or Independent Activities Period when students have the option of taking classes, participating in undergraduate research, traveling the world, or simply pursuing a hobby.

Many LTI members are currently implementing the LTI Program Curriculum for middle school students in Mexico! LTI members currently on campus are wrapping up the student recruitment for the upcoming spring semester.

Applicants, please check your emails! Notifications of applicant status have been emailed out, but we have received only a very limited amount of responses. We are currently calling applicants in hopes of receiving a quicker response.
We will also be sending out welcome packets to accepted students next week. Please fill out the forms and bring them with you to the LTI opening ceremony!

We are all extremely excited about the upcoming spring program! We look forward to meeting you!

Jia Zhu
Director of Public Relations

LTI staff in Mexico

2009-01-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

My name is YeSeul Kim and I am the founder of LTI. Last summer I was in Mexico working for Telmex, a telecommunications firm. Telmex established Casa Telmex, YMCA-type centers that provide free computer training and access to internet for poor children throughout Mexico. This IAP (MIT's school-free January period), I gathered a group of LTI mentors and an executive member to join me in implementing a leadership curriculum (based on our very own spring curriculum) that I developed and translated last summer.

We are in Tuxtla-Gutierrez now, the capital of Chiapas. Chiapas is the southern most state in Mexico; it is also the poorest. We are here to train the facilitators of Casa Telmex Tuxtla the pedagogy of leadership while also running a 3 week pilot leaderhsip program for Mexican students ages 13-16. For more information about our adventures, please visit our blog at lti-mexico.blogspot.com

Training for Mexico

2008-12-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

A couple thoughts from mentors Kyle Knoblock and David Zou after training sessions before the big trip to Mexico*:

"The Media Lab training was a lot of fun. The discussions with Andres about Scartch and PicoCrickets was interesting, but I really enjoyed when we had the oportunity to write a program in Scratch and build something with PicoCrickets. I am a computer science student, and for me seeing a method of programming like that was surprusing. It was quite easy to learn and very fun to do. I believe that the Mexican kids will like Scratch and PicoCrickets a lot, and I'm happy that they will have such an oportunity to learn about technology."
- Kyle Knoblock

"I think PicoCrickets and Scratch are a great way for students to use technology and become comfortable using it. The Scratch website and the ability for students, from all over the world who don't necessarily even speak same languages, to share their project with each other is an especially exciting feature of Scratch. The training got me very excited about introducing Scratch and PicoCrickets to the students and I really look forward to seeing the different projects the students will make with them."
- David Zou

* Scratch and PicoCrickets are two examples of technology we are implementing into the new curriculum. Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) allows users to use basic programming tools to convey a message that can be shared on the web. PicoCrickets (picocricket.com) combines a small computer and an assortment of sensors to create different works of art with which you can interact.

Student Applications

2008-12-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

We have received your student applications and recommendations! We are currently in the process of reviewing them now. However, due to Thanksgiving break, we have decided to extend the application deadline to December 20th. Please continue sending them in! We are very excited about all the new potential students we will have in the spring.

We are finishing up mentor training and preparing for the upcoming spring session. Curriculum innovation is coming to completion as well. This year, the curriculum will include a concentration in technology. We are also reaching out to other service and leadership groups in hopes of creating a network of support and collaboration of ideals and programs.

Mentor Training

2008-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the new exec and directors! LTI recently restructured its exec board:

Shion An ’12 Secretary,
Sandra Chen ’12 Recruitment Chair,
Nicholas Dou ’12 Technology Chair,
Liane Fang ’11 Curriculum Chair,
Janice Jang ’10 Finance,
Taylor Jay ’11 Associate Director,
Amanda Mok ’11 Director,
Chris Ohlmacher ’11 Mentor Trainer,
Elli Pula ’11 Human Resources,
Lauren Rodda ’11 Programming Chair,
Lily Xu ’12 Marketing Chair,
Jia Zhou ’11 Publicity/Relations Director.

November 23rd Mentor Training finished. Chris Ohlmacher finished leading the last training session, so congratulations to all of our new mentors!

LTI is currently trying to get the word out about its curriculum. We will be on the Student Services Leadership Opportunities webpage soon.

Hello.

2008-11-21T16:52:00.001-08:00

I forgot to introduce myself.

My name is Lily Xu, and I'm a freshman majoring in Environmental Engineering. I was born and raised in Alabama and remained in the deep South until I finally escaped to MIT. I like eating sushi, singing, making crafts and playing with water nymphs.

I'm the marketing chair this year, which means I get to meet with people to explore advertising and expansion tactics, create newsletters, and blog! Assuming everything goes according to plan, this blog will be updated weekly.

Enjoy!

LTI Retreat!

2008-11-20T20:52:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, LTI took its exec board and new mentors to Camp Cody for a weekend of leadership training fun and bonding time! The retreat took place the weekend of November 15-16 from noon on Saturday until noon on Sunday. After we arrived at our destination, LTI enthusiasts embarked on the CODY Leadership Course guided by Jenny.

Despite the cold weather, we were all able to muster up enough warmth to mingle, indulge, and enjoy ourselves amongst our new LTI-teammates. The following are a few magical moments that Amanda Mok so graciously captured for us:

After having a delicious dinner composed of hot food, we all huddled around the fireplace, nibbling on s'mores, opening our hearts, and sharing to our new friends the turning points of our life.

Eventually we split into respective mentor and exec groups. The mentors followed Chris and engaged in mentor-like leadership activities whereas the exec board began visualizing the future and restructuring the hierarchy.

Congratulations to Amanda Mok for being our new director!

Then we went to sleep. Or at least, the bottom half of the cabin went to sleep while the other half sat around until 4 am screaming "BANG ME."

Sunday morning we are treated to another meal of delicious hot food, a game of jig-a-low, and a ride back to MIT.

Hooray for LTI!

Class 7 of HSSP LTI

2008-08-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hi again. This past Sunday was our 7^th class in the summer session and our theme for the week was obstacles. Obstacles are present in all our lives and can take many forms: physical, social, and mental to name a few. Dealing with these obstacles can often redirect our lives in unpredictable ways. We started the session off with the Disabilities activity. Using tape and splints the four mentors and I gave each student a physical disability. Students became blind, deaf and mute as well as “losing” arms, legs, hands, and fingers. The students worked together to move down the hallway and stairs to get to Lobby 13 where each of the 5 groups came up with a cheer for LTI. We heard some pretty good poetry and enthusiasm. In our discussion afterwards students spoke about how they developed different senses to take the place of ones they had lost. Other students said they were bothered by people who had stared at them as they fumbled down the hallway. Disablities make us diverge from the accepted norm, but not always as obstacles. They make us look at the world differently and just might help solve some of the world’s problems. As we discussed at the end of class, many leaders such as FDR, Beethoven, Steven Hawking, and Christopher Reeve seem to have overcome their physical disabilities to make great changes in their fields, from governing the US to describing elusive black holes. Could it be, however, that having a disability was essential to their ability to provide a fresh view of the world and its potential?

We spent the rest of our session talking about how we as students, ranging from junior high to college, can be agents of change. Our four mentors, all alumnus from the Spring Session of LTI, gave speeches on the progress of the projects they proposed in the spring. Then we discussed with the students projects they may want to do and how they can be successful. To learn more about the Spring Session projects, check out our website: www.mitlti.org.

Summer Session of LTI

2008-08-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hi, I’m Lauren Rodda and I am a co-teacher with Amanda Mok of the 2008 Summer Session of Leadership Training Institute. This is our second year collaborating with the MIT High School Summer Program to make LTI available in the summer. We are really excited to work with our new students!

A bit about us:

We are both upcoming sophomores that worked with LTI during the inaugural Spring Session. Besides LTI I rowed for the Open-Weight Women’s Crew team in the fall and played on the Women’s Lacrosse team in the spring. I am currently majoring in biology and am working in a MIT Biology lab this summer.