An Amazing Journey

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

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

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