Building a Community.

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

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

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