Leading and Inspiring Through Passion: A Reflection of an Unforgettable 6-week Journey alongside The Timothy Smith Network

As the euphoria from finishing this LiA with a blast, and the influx of emotions from bidding multiple farewells started to subside, I was allowed to reflect upon what could have possibly been the most significant 6-weeks of my life. 

It was a period that felt like forever, yet went by so quickly at the same time, where I went through a chain of emotions from being panicked and anxious about being halfway across the world for the first time, to feeling frustration and stress from the pressure of my duties, to feeling completely satisfied by the end of the program after seeing everything wrap up so beautifully. To the point where I felt that I had found my calling and knew for sure what I wanted to do and achieve in life. 

So, for context, In this LiA project, I am participating as an agriculture instructor in the Timothy Smith Network, and my purpose was to spread knowledge and awareness regarding food insecurity issues occurring in the greater Boston area to Boston’s young inventors to inspire them to invent solutions to tackle these issues using technology and prepare them for a tech-oriented career path which is in high demand in this 21st-century. 

I initially applied to this LiA project as it truly aligned with my passion for agriculture and food. However, this journey of self-discovery for me started way back before this LiA started. My interest in the field had been nurtured long ago, starting from my simple love for coffee and botany, leading me to a deep rabbit hole of exploring the production, harvesting, and all agricultural processes of the plant. I continued to pursue this passion through research and networking with the industry’s professionals. In this pursuit, I had been discouraged several times, having been suggested to pursue more “stable” career options by my peers and even a few mentors, and I’m sure these suggestions come from good intentions. Regardless, I decided to stick to my interests and explored this opportunity. Seeing it as my first stage to share my passion to empower others in a supportive environment.

The beginning of this LiA was slightly rough for me, as I found out that initial engagement for the subject I am instructing was low, due to agriculture being a niche subject, which was understandable, but equally frustrating for me. Luckily, in these moments of distraught, I had the support of my fellow Laidlaw Scholars in the same program Nicolas Blondon & Callum Murison, two incredibly brilliant individuals who instructed the coding, technology, and 3D-modelling part of the module, and James Tukpah, who supervised and guided our instruction. They encouraged me and gave suggestions on how I could gain engagement and student’s interest in the subject. 

I ended up tackling this issue by gaining their empathy and sharing current issues and my own concerns in the field. Starting from bringing up local news about food insecurity and sharing anecdotes of agricultural issues which I’ve heard beforehand from an Indonesian coffee farmer and processor and fellow agriculture enthusiasts with whom I connected through my past exploration of my passion. This finally got them interested and shared my concerns, leading to a smoother teaching process. 

The next few weeks of this program went smoothly as my fellow scholars had prepared a structured curriculum and were equally passionate in their fields. Further challenges showed up when reaching the end of the program when the students started prototype development of their agricultural solutions. We had to ensure that all our students were inspired enough and had a clear imagination of their product, alongside having the necessary skills and resources to make it a reality within realistically 10 working days left.

However, despite constraints of time, resources and the occurrences of technical issues. We managed to sail through these waves and made it to the climax of the program, a 2-day presentation day for our students to pitch their prototypes. This was not without effort though, as in the last few days a few scholars had to work 14-hour days to finalize and troubleshoot each of our students' prototypes for the presentation. 

By the end of all our struggles, we finally made it to said climax. In those days, most of us were already exhausted after being stretched too thin and we were just hoping everything would run smoothly in the presentation days, as the stakes were high, having our students present in front of guests and the charity’s sponsors. Fortunately, everything went beyond our hopes and expectations, our students presented amazingly, pitching their products as young entrepreneurs, and managing to inspire even the guests. 

As their instructor, I was overjoyed and overproud, seeing how my fellow scholars and I had suddenly concluded this 6-week LiA program and seeing how much our students, which at that point we were proud to call our friends have grown throughout this period. Seeing a few who were initially very shelled and shy being able to present in such a big crowd, confidently sharing their inventions. 

However, for me personally, I experienced one heartfelt moment which was the biggest wake-up call in my life. Seeing one of our students present on stage, he mentioned how his prototype design was inspired by me and the aforementioned anecdotes I shared and concerns in the field, and with the help of my mentioned brilliant partners, he was able to make it a reality. 

Hearing that as I operated his presentation slides, I came to an instant pause, it sent shivers down my spine, and suddenly I found myself holding back tears of joy. It was such a full-circle moment for me, seeing how my continuous pursuit and belief in my passion for years has finally made an impact and inspired someone else. For me, this felt greater than any past accolades I have ever acquired. It made me solidify my decision to continue pursuing the field and stop being distraught every time other career options are brought up. I now know what I want to do with my life. I want to make an impact by doing what I love. 

As I look back, it is unreal to see such an impact from this one small stage I had been provided by the Laidlaw Foundation and Timothy Smith Network. I am truly excited to see what else I can achieve in bigger stages in the future and the impact I can make.

I am forever grateful to everyone who has supported me in this unforgettable journey, especially the TSN Staff, my fellow Laidlaw Scholars, and also to Susanna Kempe of the Laidlaw Foundation, whose kind words and actions have supported me in this self-discovery journey. No words can express how thankful and lucky I am to have gone through this journey with such an amazing team of leaders. I am equally excited to see how much this experience has impacted my fellow scholars, and what they will achieve ahead as brilliant leaders of the future.