Opinion: Student Led Change Is the Best Thing Ever

We're human. And as a human, we experience sensations, feel emotions, display unique individuality. Also as a human, we're exposed to the wide spectrum of life – the ups and downs, the twists and knots of it all. As humans, we have the distinctive opportunity to adventure into the world, confront the biggest challenges, and then critically analyze them to propose valid, feasible solutions.
Arguably, the world's biggest present day challenge is COVID-19. Six months ago, on March 11th, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, posing unprecedented challenges for a variety of sectors of life. As humans, we are now given the opportunity to illicit change – a positive one to benefit the situation at hand.
Now we aren't just humans, rather, leaders of unique sorts. We all have the capacity to be the reason for change, especially as students. Several of us were given the opportunity to embody our inner leader, unite under a common cause, and proactively suggest solutions to educational demographics impacted as a symptom of the current global pandemic. This was literally "leadership-in-action" at the Reaction for Education Program hosted by MakeSense.
The Reaction for Education Program
June to July 2020 was the home to my six-week internship at MakeSense under their Re_Action for Education program. Myself, joined with over 30 other Laidlaw Scholars from Canada, India, the USA, Mexico, the UK, and Rwanda, embarked on this journey united by a common goal – to eradicate the disparities throughout education.
With daily calls and several actionable tasks with my North American cohort, I was able to obtain a comprehensive summary of the educational circumstances in Canada and the USA – ultimately leading to the accelerated development of my startup iAscend within Canada, but also into the UK and USA. Furthermore, I had the privilege of implementing my suggested revisions into the existing program and co-leading a team of students from USA and Canada to propose solutions to an even wider array of affected learners and educators.
If you're interested in what I've been up to at Reaction for Education, check out this report!
The Impact of Student Led Change
Inspired. Hopeful. Excited.
Those are the words that come to mind when reflecting upon my time at Reaction for Education. Being fully involved in a movement build on the foundation of passion, united by a common goal, and supported by the incredible participants was transformational to say the least. Over 30 of us assessed the needs of a wide variety of educational demographics, subsequently providing them with creative solutions to fill the holes created by COVID-19.
My opinion, one that I firmly believe in, is that student led change is the most powerful asset to today's world. This was continuously demonstrated by the members of Reaction for Education – comprised of students dealing with so much, yet still fuelling their passion into action for something they care about. Student led change is powerful simply because of that – because it stems from a heart of passion and commitment. And when change comes from a mentality like that, it's unstoppable.
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