so I didn’t exactly have a typical
childhood every two years or so it would
be a different city a different group of
friends a completely different home the
u.s. England Norway China and eventually
India but as I moved around I came to
realize an underlying truth about my
life I am what people call privileged
but privilege shouldn’t always be talked
about in a negative light in fact
tonight I want to share with all of you
how privileged gave me the power to help
elevate the people around me so to get
started let’s take you back I grew up in
the u.s. England and Norway largely
sheltered from the harsh realities of
the world and I took my comfortable life
for granted in 2011 I moved to Beijing
China where this bubble popped and I saw
a drastically different world in front
of me family shared shacks in severely
underdeveloped communities just minutes
away men cycled tens of kilometres
through the Beijing smog to get to work
and here and there I’d see children
running on the streets barefoot the
situation was even worse in Mumbai India
where millions of people lived in slums
just kilometers away from location
Bonnie’s 27 story home this stark
dichotomy was eye-opening to me it made
me appreciate the privileges I had from
living in decent homes to having loving
parents to attending awesome schools but
more importantly it also bothered me I
began to really consciously understand
that just being born in a certain family
or in a certain place put you on a
drastically different trajectory and
this realization kindled the strong
urging me to help elevate others so I
thought about how I could do that and
the most obvious way to me was through
community service so in Mumbai I started
volunteering at an NGO that helped to
educate underprivileged children so day
one I arrived at this worn down building
with a small sign above the ground floor
entrance reading Asha for education
name of the NGO I got out of the car and
I walked into the building and was
shocked the center was basically the
size of a small apartment no bigger than
a four bedroom suite and Charles Commons
for instance forget watermarks or
chipping paint the walls look like they
had been beaten with a hammer and there
are only two teachers there both of whom
also lived there to teach full-time 50
or so children had been crammed into two
20 by 15 foot and makeshift classrooms
and they sat there on the ground in
their starched school uniforms in the
summer heat they sat on the ground
because there were hardly any chairs and
very few desks for that matter and in
their notebooks many wrote with pencils
that were probably too small to be
sharpened and I couldn’t believe it
I mean just think about it here we are
in the 21st century and in a city like
Mumbai India kids didn’t have pencils
kids didn’t have access to pencils to
write with and it made me sad but when
these kids looked at me that smiles on
their faces and they greeted me with
excitement hi byah byah meaning elder
brother and hindi so when I introduced
myself and told them that I’d be
teaching them English regularly they
were excited they were thrilled there
was this one kid in particular
Rizwan who just he had this sheer
determination to learn as much as he
could I remember every time I would go
to Asha where as Juan would be standing
at the door waiting for me he would come
up to me and shake my hand or give me a
high-five and try greeting me in English
I remember this one time he came up to
me he ran up to me and he told me yoshua
yesterday I watched fast and furious in
English and he was so excited but all I
can remember thinking is this kid is
doing everything in his power to learn
as much as he can
attending a municipal school rose Juan
didn’t have the opportunity to learn
English well and the teachers at Asha
could hardly speak English either when I
came along he suddenly had a chance to
learn and he wanted to get as much out
of me as he possibly could and it dawned
on me that my education and experiences
put me in a position to inspire and
motivate Rizwan and others like him and
support them in achieving their goals
but I also realized that I wasn’t unique
in this capacity so many people from the
other kids at school to my neighbors to
the shop owner of the small stationery
store down the street all had unique
privileges and experiences that could be
leveraged to help these kids privilege
as we know puts us in a position of
power for many of us we were fortunate
to start off with certain privileges
often owing to our parents hard work for
others this power could be gained
through the opportunities offered to
them by the people in their communities
such as teachers and mentors but for all
of us here tonight we have gained
incredible power through our efforts and
perseverance that have led us to where
we are today just think about it we are
here at Hopkins a top 10 global
University now let me ask who cares
about national rankings right so we have
access to so much now let me ask you a
question how many of you are taking
advantage of all the resources that we
have here and how does that translate
into helping the people around you
everything we learn the physical
resources we have the experiences we
collect the networks we build all of it
can be leveraged to help others climb up
that’s the key your power can be shared
you just need to offer your hand but I
know all of this is easier said than
done I remember when I got into Hopkins
I thought wow I’m going to be Johns
Hopkins University I was I was ecstatic
I told myself that I’d do everything
from awesome research full disclosure
I’m your typical pre-med to community
service to maybe working on a start-up
because you know why not but probably
three weeks into freshman year I became
lost in the noise of stress work and
other commitments and all the reasons
that had excited me
about coming to Hopkins seem to have
faded away Hopkins no longer seems
special it was just a fact of life and
with this change in attitude came a loss
in perspective I lost sight of what it
is that I had access to and what that
enabled me to do and it’s easy to forget
to look beyond yourself
I was certainly guilty of that and
that’s why it’s necessary to really take
a step back and recalibrate I had to
remind myself take a step back and I
urge you to do the same regard the city
observe the people and consider your
place in all of this get out of the
Hopkins bubble and go speak to someone
you’ve never met before
ask yourself how are you contributing to
something greater than yourself and in
the process how are you enhancing the
lives of others so far tonight I have
talked about my experiences through
community service but the way that I
approached is certainly not the only way
in which you can support others if I
encourage you to find whatever it is
that you are passionate about and pursue
it but in the process elevate others if
you are passionate about computers then
if you are passionate about computers
then go out into your community and help
the unemployed become computer literate
so that they can get jobs if you love
writing go teach kids how to express
themselves so they can have a voice if
you are like my if you’re like my
younger brother and you’re perpetually
hungry and all you can think about is
food then go eat to your heart’s content
but at the same time do work that helps
somebody else have a decent meal too if
I’m going to be completely honest I
probably learned more from Rizwan than
he learned from me he showed me the
power that I have and I hope tonight
I’ve been able to convince you of the
power that you all share too so here’s
my note to self never forget the power
that you have and use it to help the
people around you thank you
childhood every two years or so it would
be a different city a different group of
friends a completely different home the
u.s. England Norway China and eventually
India but as I moved around I came to
realize an underlying truth about my
life I am what people call privileged
but privilege shouldn’t always be talked
about in a negative light in fact
tonight I want to share with all of you
how privileged gave me the power to help
elevate the people around me so to get
started let’s take you back I grew up in
the u.s. England and Norway largely
sheltered from the harsh realities of
the world and I took my comfortable life
for granted in 2011 I moved to Beijing
China where this bubble popped and I saw
a drastically different world in front
of me family shared shacks in severely
underdeveloped communities just minutes
away men cycled tens of kilometres
through the Beijing smog to get to work
and here and there I’d see children
running on the streets barefoot the
situation was even worse in Mumbai India
where millions of people lived in slums
just kilometers away from location
Bonnie’s 27 story home this stark
dichotomy was eye-opening to me it made
me appreciate the privileges I had from
living in decent homes to having loving
parents to attending awesome schools but
more importantly it also bothered me I
began to really consciously understand
that just being born in a certain family
or in a certain place put you on a
drastically different trajectory and
this realization kindled the strong
urging me to help elevate others so I
thought about how I could do that and
the most obvious way to me was through
community service so in Mumbai I started
volunteering at an NGO that helped to
educate underprivileged children so day
one I arrived at this worn down building
with a small sign above the ground floor
entrance reading Asha for education
name of the NGO I got out of the car and
I walked into the building and was
shocked the center was basically the
size of a small apartment no bigger than
a four bedroom suite and Charles Commons
for instance forget watermarks or
chipping paint the walls look like they
had been beaten with a hammer and there
are only two teachers there both of whom
also lived there to teach full-time 50
or so children had been crammed into two
20 by 15 foot and makeshift classrooms
and they sat there on the ground in
their starched school uniforms in the
summer heat they sat on the ground
because there were hardly any chairs and
very few desks for that matter and in
their notebooks many wrote with pencils
that were probably too small to be
sharpened and I couldn’t believe it
I mean just think about it here we are
in the 21st century and in a city like
Mumbai India kids didn’t have pencils
kids didn’t have access to pencils to
write with and it made me sad but when
these kids looked at me that smiles on
their faces and they greeted me with
excitement hi byah byah meaning elder
brother and hindi so when I introduced
myself and told them that I’d be
teaching them English regularly they
were excited they were thrilled there
was this one kid in particular
Rizwan who just he had this sheer
determination to learn as much as he
could I remember every time I would go
to Asha where as Juan would be standing
at the door waiting for me he would come
up to me and shake my hand or give me a
high-five and try greeting me in English
I remember this one time he came up to
me he ran up to me and he told me yoshua
yesterday I watched fast and furious in
English and he was so excited but all I
can remember thinking is this kid is
doing everything in his power to learn
as much as he can
attending a municipal school rose Juan
didn’t have the opportunity to learn
English well and the teachers at Asha
could hardly speak English either when I
came along he suddenly had a chance to
learn and he wanted to get as much out
of me as he possibly could and it dawned
on me that my education and experiences
put me in a position to inspire and
motivate Rizwan and others like him and
support them in achieving their goals
but I also realized that I wasn’t unique
in this capacity so many people from the
other kids at school to my neighbors to
the shop owner of the small stationery
store down the street all had unique
privileges and experiences that could be
leveraged to help these kids privilege
as we know puts us in a position of
power for many of us we were fortunate
to start off with certain privileges
often owing to our parents hard work for
others this power could be gained
through the opportunities offered to
them by the people in their communities
such as teachers and mentors but for all
of us here tonight we have gained
incredible power through our efforts and
perseverance that have led us to where
we are today just think about it we are
here at Hopkins a top 10 global
University now let me ask who cares
about national rankings right so we have
access to so much now let me ask you a
question how many of you are taking
advantage of all the resources that we
have here and how does that translate
into helping the people around you
everything we learn the physical
resources we have the experiences we
collect the networks we build all of it
can be leveraged to help others climb up
that’s the key your power can be shared
you just need to offer your hand but I
know all of this is easier said than
done I remember when I got into Hopkins
I thought wow I’m going to be Johns
Hopkins University I was I was ecstatic
I told myself that I’d do everything
from awesome research full disclosure
I’m your typical pre-med to community
service to maybe working on a start-up
because you know why not but probably
three weeks into freshman year I became
lost in the noise of stress work and
other commitments and all the reasons
that had excited me
about coming to Hopkins seem to have
faded away Hopkins no longer seems
special it was just a fact of life and
with this change in attitude came a loss
in perspective I lost sight of what it
is that I had access to and what that
enabled me to do and it’s easy to forget
to look beyond yourself
I was certainly guilty of that and
that’s why it’s necessary to really take
a step back and recalibrate I had to
remind myself take a step back and I
urge you to do the same regard the city
observe the people and consider your
place in all of this get out of the
Hopkins bubble and go speak to someone
you’ve never met before
ask yourself how are you contributing to
something greater than yourself and in
the process how are you enhancing the
lives of others so far tonight I have
talked about my experiences through
community service but the way that I
approached is certainly not the only way
in which you can support others if I
encourage you to find whatever it is
that you are passionate about and pursue
it but in the process elevate others if
you are passionate about computers then
if you are passionate about computers
then go out into your community and help
the unemployed become computer literate
so that they can get jobs if you love
writing go teach kids how to express
themselves so they can have a voice if
you are like my if you’re like my
younger brother and you’re perpetually
hungry and all you can think about is
food then go eat to your heart’s content
but at the same time do work that helps
somebody else have a decent meal too if
I’m going to be completely honest I
probably learned more from Rizwan than
he learned from me he showed me the
power that I have and I hope tonight
I’ve been able to convince you of the
power that you all share too so here’s
my note to self never forget the power
that you have and use it to help the
people around you thank you
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