Paso a Paso. – Vintage Blue Originals 006
Life in Chapel Hill is in full swing. Over the course of the past month or so, conversations about our summer breaks have dominated nearly every social circle – forcing us to assess what we actually accomplished during that time.
Reflecting back on our childhoods, summer was always perceived as a time for fun – it was a time for imagination, for little projects in our backyards and bedrooms, for getting lost in books, for self-discovery, for friendship, for family, for us. Now, summer is viewed as a necessary tool to progress our careers, to make money, to add something to our resume, to prepare ourselves for a future that often times feels predetermined. While there is value in these experiences, it’s easy to lose sense of that youthful excitement… we become a part of this machine that incites us to pursue prestige over passion.
In this Original we spoke with three UNC students that spent their summers pursuing their happiness. From Kenya, to Colombia and onto our nation’s capital, we seek to highlight something a bit more abstract in this piece – something that will hopefully inspire a new conversation regarding what we do with our time off from school.
Philip Smart spent his summer in Nairobi, Kenya, working with BRCK – a communications hardware company that has sought to “connect Africa to the Internet” since 2013. Philip is currently a junior majoring in computer science and product management and innovation – a self-made interdisciplinary studies major consisting of courses in business, social psychology and entrepreneurship.
When Philip began his search for a summer internship, he wanted an experience abroad at a high-tech social enterprise. With these factors guiding him, Philip eventually stumbled upon National Geographic’s Grant Program. Through this program, the National Geographic Society funds and sponsors “explorers,” or individuals pursuing bold, transformative projects. Their extensive database, yielded various results that aligned with his interests. Shortly after discovering this new world of innovative changemakers, he began to send out cold emails hoping that his passion would resonate with these individuals.
“Technology has the capacity to solve really important issues, but a lot of the time you don’t see technology being used in the US to solve those… I was fascinated by the ways many [African] startups were using technology to solve the most crucial issues in their society.”
Philip reached out to about 30 explorers who are using technology to better our world, and he was eventually put into contact with Eric Hersman, the founder of BRCK. BRCK’s main product is the SupaBRCK, a router that can be put on the bottom of Matatus, an eclectic fleet of busses that serve as Nairobi’s main form of public transportation. Their vision was to provide free WiFi connectivity for all Matatu users by installing these. Through the SupaBRCK, people been able to gain access to the internet during the time spent commuting to, from and around Nairobi. In providing this service, BRCK has allowed these users to connect with the world during a time that had previously been spent in boredom.
At BRCK, Philip spent time working on projects to standardize the installation of SupaBRCK’s, research the user experience of the Moja app, the free WiFi network created by SupaBRCK’s, and analyze the onboarding experience.
Philip’s biggest takeaway from the summer came in the form of personal growth.
“BRCK’s slogan is ‘you can do hard things’ I found that this definitely resonated with my summer. It was very difficult to go live in a foreign country, by myself, and not have any idea what I was getting into, but I was able to make the best of it and tackle some hard problems.”
Gaby Aleman spent her summer interning at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) in Washington DC, researching and advocating for US-Cuba policy. Gaby is a senior pursuing a double major major in Public Policy and Latin American studies and has dedicated much of her time at UNC to the Latinx community.
Gaby learned about WOLA, a human-rights advocacy think tank that specializes in US-Latin American relations, as a first year through UNC’s Great Decisions Program. This course is sponsored by the UNC Foreign Policy Association and features weekly guest speakers. One of the speakers, Geoff Thale, spoke about his work on US-Cuban policy with this organization. Gaby immediately felt compelled to pursue an internship at WOLA – but only when she felt ready.
After spending the spring semester of her sophomore year abroad in Cuba, Gaby returned to take summer classes in Chapel Hill and further develop her passion for policy work. This break gave her the opportunity to decompress and find herself again in the greater UNC community. When it was time to make a decision for this past summer, she felt it was time to actively pursue her initial dream to work for WOLA.
“Taking junior year to take more policy classes and make more connections with the people that helped me believe that this was an internship that I truly wanted to do, helped me feel more secure in my own abilities to be a strong candidate for that position... It depends where you are and how you feel about the opportunities that you have. I decided to put [applying to WOLA] in my pocket a little bit longer and I’m happy that I did.”
Gaby ended up choosing WOLA because they do a lot of influential research, lobbying and on-the-ground work in Latin American nations. She found that WOLA could “bridge connections between the people on the ground in countries where US money is being funneled, and the actual politicians who are giving that money.”
This summer, Gaby worked on a number of projects relating to Cuban and US politics. She compiled a list of all the competitive races for the upcoming midterm elections and researched the candidates’ stances on Cuba policy. Additionally, in a time of much political strife and change, Gaby was also tasked with analyzing the most crucial events concerning the US and Cuba since the 2016 presidential election. Finally, she spent time tracking and studying the recent changes to Cuba’s constitution with regards to same-sex marriage, employment rights, and the economy. While completing these projects, Gaby was able to understand more thoroughly how changes both in the US and abroad will ultimately affect the future of this island-nation.
Gaby’s summer experience reaffirmed her desire to return to Cuba after graduation and work towards the bright future she knows Cuba will have.
Abbey Cmiel spent her summer working on farms in Colombia. Abbey is a senior majoring in Global Studies, and after spending her previous summer in Bogota, she was eager to go back.
“I went into this summer thinking well I have the time and money to just go, it was such a huge blessing because it was so unstructured. I had this stipend from the Burch Fellowship where they just told me to go do what I was interested in.”
For Abbey, this meant living simply. Going into the summer, she had plans to work on a farm for a week. After that, she would have to find new places to spend the days and nights that followed. This unstructured way of living gave Abbey an entirely new perspective which resulted a fresh philosophy and vigor for life.
“I would just live and things would happen. One time, these two Sikh men, who were leaders at the Golden Temple in India, asked me to translate yoga classes from Spanish to English. I realized that every day there is an opportunity that may arrive, and there’s absolutely no way to know what those are going to be. It helped me realize how little we need to survive. I would show up to all of these random farms and would just see how I could help them and they would take care of me. It was really beautiful… I had the most amazing conversations and ate the best food. There’s beauty in just filling up and not having an agenda.”
Indulging in simplicity helped Abbey realize that much of her life was filled with activities that served the sole purpose of keeping her busy. As a result, she decided to drop many of her extracurriculars for the first few weeks back in Chapel Hill. With more time for friends and genuine interests, like working at a chocolate shop, Abbey has never felt more fulfilled.
“A lot of times I would be with people and tell them my aspirations and the farmers would often chuckle and just say ‘paso a paso,’ or step-by-step. They were so right, there’s no hurry in life, there’s no need to rush to the next thing. Right now I have what I need to be happy. In the future I will have what I need to be happy. You don’t need to jump into some career or path or identity, just try things on, one step at a time.”
Graphic by Jessi Zhou