Never Give Up: A Six-Week Long Rollercoaster in Boston

I remember how excited I was when I first heard that I’d be a part of the team at the Timothy Smith Network this summer for my Leadership-in-Action project. A non-profit organisation based in Boston, Massachusetts, TSN focuses on technology education, with particular emphasis on supporting high school students from disadvantaged and underrepresented areas. During summer, they launch their Boston Design Academy, for which around ten Scholars come together to provide the teaching that makes this programme possible.
I was excited not only to see a city like Boston (which, to this day, I haven’t heard a bad word said about!), but also with how well my abilities and values aligned with those of TSN. As an Assistant Instructor on the Elevating Agriculture Technology (EAT) module, I had the unique opportunity to call upon years of experience related to my astrophysics degree and interests: teaching coding and microelectronics to a group of six summer school students. This aimed to provide them with the skills to design and engineer their own solutions to agricultural problems, equipping them with a platform from which they could innovate. These innovations led to the development of final 'prototypes', ranging from pest control to composting; from light exposure to irrigation; and the variety of these students’ ideas was truly inspiring to see.
Having never taught before, I began my TSN journey with high hopes and some nerves. I was certainly as prepared as I could have been, having spent most of June structuring and preparing the course I would be teaching, but we all learned fairly quickly that good preparation *does not* always lead to plain sailing. Yes, it helps (and I dread to think of the size of the hole we’d all have been in without our prep work), but it didn’t stop a multitude of problems coming our way. Code that had worked on my laptop didn’t work on the students’ laptops; the code that did work was unable to provide the functionality we needed; and, just to cap it off, almost every single 3D print we attempted ended in failure, due to printing complications.
But this rocky road that we all travelled down together eventually led to success, both for us, and for the students. Being a part of their journey from Day 1 to Day 30, whilst seeing their personal growth – culminating in passionate presentations of their prototypes after battling through weeks of difficulties – will remain one of the fondest and proudest memories of my life. As for the Scholars… the fact that a full-on, 13-hour working day in the final week is a memory filled with joy and laughter is testament to those I was lucky enough to share this experience with. They truly are a special group of people, and it really does feel like all the stars aligned for this project to be the success that it was.
So here’s my main takeaway from my LiA: never give up. In any walk of life, there will always be obstacles in your path; plans change – and have to change – in response. Adaptability and resilience are, however daunting, qualities to be embraced; challenges, however stressful and difficult, almost always have a solution that is within reach.
I am immensely grateful for the help and support of my fellow Laidlaw Scholars on the EAT programme, Nicolas Blondon and Brandon Julio Hadisaputro, and to the rest of the TSN Scholars for all of the laughter and fun they brought throughout the 6 weeks.
I would also like to thank the TSN staff, the Laidlaw team at the University of St Andrews, as well as Lord Laidlaw and the Laidlaw Foundation for supporting me and allowing me this opportunity, for which I will forever be grateful.
Please sign in
If you are a registered user on Laidlaw Scholars Network, please sign in
Well done Callum!
Amazing stuff Callum, I'm glad you had a great time!
Thanks @Supakorn (Nikko) Juengsophonvitavas and @Joel Beckles! And thank you both for your help and support in the lead up to my LiA, it made a big difference and I really appreciated it! :)
Having had the great privilege of watching those presentations, I can attest to the fact that you achieved truly remarkable results. Your takeaways are invaluable life lessons - and fundamental to success in any walk of life. HUGE congrats!