Earlier this year, the opportunity to apply for the Watson Institute Accelerator Program was posted in the Post School Success(PSS) Google Classroom by Misco (Post School Success Manager). At the same time being in the Ashoka network, it was shared in a WhatsApp group that we have.
The Watson Semester Accelerator is a program for college students, recent graduates, and gap-year students with an early-stage social venture/project and a passion for social impact.
Bringing SMILES to the world
I have a strong passion for social entrepreneurship and I saw this as the best space to take my venture, Smiles, to the next level. It seemed like the perfect thing to do after high school as I waited to join university and so I was so excited and dove right into drafting my essays. Little did I know that COVID-19 had other plans.
My social venture, smiles focuses on reusing and recycling clothes. Through identifying this need, I began collecting old uniforms and clothes from peers and converting them into other garments or simply donating them to the needy. Last year, I collected a total of 600 kilograms of clothes and shoes from peers.
Applying for the Watson Accelerator Program
I shared my essays with some of my closest friends for feedback and later gave them to Misco from PSS and Bryan from Ashoka for further review. It was very constructive feedback however I realized that I was not ready to apply so in April I decided to shelf my application. Also given that we had a pandemic it discouraged me to continue.
I, therefore, took the pandemic as an opportunity to build Smiles and as I continued, the more I fell in love with the idea of learning skills to take really take it to the next level. Literally, on the date of the deadline, I polished up the drafts I had with the feedback I had received. The only reason I sent in my application was so that I would not regret and have the constant thought of ‘what if’.
Receiving the good news
On the same day I sent in my application, I received my acceptance email. I could not believe my eyes because it was literally five hours since I had pressed submit on that application! After telling my family they were so excited but my mind still could not comprehend it, to add on that I received a very generous scholarship and I felt as though things were moving so fast. Less than a week later, it finally dawned on me when we had our first orientation session.
Building Connections
It is a fully virtual program but that still has not stopped us from building really strong connections with fellow scholars from around the world. We have sessions every day that run from 8 am – 10 am MT which is 5 pm to 7 pm for me.
In addition to this, we have asynchronous content that is sent before the lesson which really cultivated self-discipline because you are the one in charge of your learning. Every Friday we have Master courses where someone experienced in the field of social entrepreneurship shares words of wisdom on how their journey has been. My favourite thing is that we have all been assigned two mentors who advise you and walk with you on your journey which is so amazing because no man is an island.
There is so much I have learnt but the most outstanding is that how much I grow and learn from life is fully dependent on the effort that I put in it. Nothing comes easy, you really have to get your hands and get dirty. It has been particularly interesting feeding off the wisdom of my fellow scholars because I am the youngest one.
I hope to come out of this having formed a strong network of people who I can learn from and even learn from each other. In addition to this, I desire to have the skills to start other social impact projects as I move through life and lead a life of impact.
Written by Jeanne Sere (Form Four student at Nova Pioneer Girls’ High School, Tatu City)
