It is my educational plan and my hope that I will be able to complete my undergraduate degree and perhaps my grad degree at the University of Kansas. My career plan is to secure a job at an institution that will allow me to use my skills and talents to create positive change and improve the quality of life for all via technology and science. Similar to what I have seen done as an intern at Cerner, Coding KC and Community America Credit Union.
The world can only exist because of local people who understand that works of service can have a global impact. I learned this truth at a very early age as the son of a minister and a member of a local church. While I inherently learn how works of service can impact the world, I came to have a better understanding as I began to take a more active and at times, leadership role in the church Youth Council. What I know now that I didn’t realize then is that we should implement environmentally conscious solutions into everyday decisions that help to impact the world.
As I began to strategize and come up with outreach ideas to help my local community, I know that it was important to find a concept that would empower those we help, with the tools needed to help themselves which in turn, will influence those around them. This way of thinking moved our ideas to a global way of thinking. Thus, the strategic actions that create necessary global change began. So, in order to think globally and then act locally, it’s important to take a step back and realize whether your local actions play into the strategic vision for global impact.
My team of youth council members worked hard to focus on small acts that add up, slowly leading to change, starting with the local neighborhood, then community, city, state, and so on. The idea is to create environmental change and sustainability, but also applies to food consumption, politics, the arts, and much more.
Taking all of that into consideration, we put together a summit that brought in business both large and small from every aspect of life that will help train, employee, educate, house, feed, and provide health/fitness resources and funding/banking/investing to folks in the community. The summit also helped to connect those who are looking for opportunities to help. With this constant give and take, it has the potential to reach far and wide and has a reciprocal and lasting impact. This huge yet simple act of creating jobs, training and teaching and so on, launches a ripple effect in a community.
These summits have resulted in creating new jobs and improving the quality of life, and more. After the creation of jobs, businesses are responsible for a positive workplace environment and policies that support continuing education, and employee’s philanthropic efforts with matching gifts. As a result of these policies, our community will be more educated and our local communities will improve through these philanthropic donations, meaning that our nation and eventually our world will also improve. This is the influence on a global scale.
I have to admit, I wasn’t sure that we had the potential to affect real and meaningful change directly within our community let alone the resources to tackle global change. However, looking at the bigger picture can remind us of the importance of the small steps we can take in our local communities. For us, the best way we could make it happen was to simply look around us and take local action to be the change that we wanted to see.
The more of us who are engaged in efforts to think globally, act locally starting from within our own communities, the more likely we are to collectively transform the larger world. In other words, when you act to support your local community, including your local economy, local ecosystem, local culture, local partners, and local programs, you make important contributions to improvements in living standards, sustainability, and economic fairness globally.
