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

A Look Back

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

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

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

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