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At the Baylor University in Texas, two sisters are exercising their passion for community leadership to create social impact. Ruhi and Isha Thapar were selected as part of the 2022 Millennium Fellowship with their joint project, ‘The Collegiate Foundation’ an SDG 4 initiative they co-founded as teenagers with the objective of helping to promote equitable access to higher education. Ruhi Thapar is a pre-medical University Scholars major with a focus on Medical Humanities and Sociology. Isha Thapar, another University Scholars major, minors in Biochemistry, Environmental Studies, and Medical Humanities. They both share a passion for bridging educational disparities and are driven by their commitment to expand access to higher education particularly for children and teenagers in marginalized populations. The Collegiate Foundation’s mission is to empower first-generation, low-income students and provide them with the tools to achieve their higher educational aspirations, removing the barriers that often derail their dreams. “Many students are either not able to go to college or are at risk of dropping out because they lack the essential skills to succeed in college. To promote equity in higher education, it is essential to support high school students before they enter college so that they are better prepared to succeed, thus reducing dropout rates.” At the time of joining the Fellowship, the Collegiate Foundation had already done some work in Houston, Texas and achieved awe-inspiring results. However, Ruhi and Isha recognized that the need for SDG 4 advocacy extended far beyond Houston, so they applied to the Millennium Fellowship hoping to receive a platform that could help them expand their project. Working together with their entire Millennium Fellowship cohort, they set their sights on Baylor University's hometown of Waco, a community where high poverty rates and structural inequalities have made it difficult for locals to access higher education. During the course of the Millennium Fellowship, the Baylor University cohort led by Isha and Ruhi established vital partnerships with local organizations in Waco, galvanized fundraising efforts, and provided much-needed computers to students in need. Their efforts not only helped bridge the gap between needy students and resources, but also help address the so-called "Baylor Bubble," an infamous rhetoric referring to the historic isolation of Baylor students from the community surrounding them. This has hindered the student body to community collaboration that is needed to achieve meaningful social impact in Waco. Millennium Fellows at Baylor championed community relations repair as the cornerstone of their mission, fostering genuine relationships with students, local organizations, and each other. “Our Fellows have learned that community building is about relationships. Relationships with students, organizations in the community, and each other. They have earnestly sought to fundraise and rally around this cause, and have been incredibly creative in coming up with ideas for fundraising and connecting with the community”. Ruhi and Isha have shared that the Millennium Fellowship was also a source of inspiration for them, particularly hearing from and learning about the work of Millennium Fellows past and present, and the range and diversity of their projects across the globe all united by the shared vision of achieving social justice and sustainable impact. "There is no greater privilege than having the opportunity to serve one's community, creating sustainable social impact is a difficult, rewarding, yet incredibly necessary endeavor.” - Ruhi Thapar These resonant words not only encapsulate the sisters' incredible commitment to social change, but also underscore the philosophy guiding the Millennium Fellowship - that young people worldwide are already passionate about, and deeply interested in community development, they only need to be platformed, empowered, and celebrated. The Fellowship allows young leaders to collaborate with other like-minded Fellows who share their passion for social justice and sustainable change. "To future Millennium Fellows, we would like to convey that we have learned so much about our community, each other, and ourselves through this Fellowship. It has been incredibly fruitful for all of us, who are going into a range of careers where social impact may manifest differently. This experience with the Millennium Fellowship has laid the groundwork for our future endeavors in meaningful social impact, and for that we are incredibly grateful and excited for what the future will hold!" Ruhi and Isha Thapar launched their social impact work as sisters, and were able to foster a larger family of social impact champions at Baylor. Their charity began at home and spread throughout the Houston and Waco communities, leaving an indelible mark on vulnerable, underprivileged children. They serve as a powerful reminder that when passion and purpose converge, extraordinary outcomes are possible. About Isha: Isha Thapar is a senior at Baylor University where she is a University Scholars major with minors in Biochemistry, Environmental Studies, and Medical Humanities. She is a strong advocate for equity in healthcare and access to higher education. Her initiatives include forming Collegiate Foundations, a non-profit that provides mentorship and resources for first-generation, low-income college students, as well as Students for Environmental Equity, an organization working to promote environmental health and justice. Isha’s goal is to become a physician working at the intersection of medicine and public health in order to advocate for marginalized populations. Connect on LinkedIn. About Ruhi: Ruhi Thapar is a rising senior at Baylor University, where she pursues pre-medical studies as a University Scholars major with minors in Medical Humanities and Sociology. She is a long-time volunteer with the dropout prevention program Communities in Schools, and is passionate about her non-profit Collegiate Foundations, where she works towards bridging educational disparities. Informed by her work with Collegiate Foundations and her time working in the U.S. Congress, Ruhi hopes to serve patients and communities in the future as a compassionate healthcare provider who informs health policy and advocates for positive change through health journalism. Connect on LinkedIn. Learn more about the Collegiate Foundation here.

Class of 2022 Millennium Fellow Sarosh Nagar is an Emerging Technologist leveraging tech for social benefit. He founded his Millennium Fellowship project "Emerging Technologists Initiative" as a research based, moonshot organisation that helps organisations explore how they can use technology for powerful social ends. Sarosh spoke with us extensively about young people's belief in emerging technologies, the implication of AI, Biotech, and more, and the how the Millennium Fellowship shaped his journey as a technologist. Sarosh thank you for spending time with us today. Could you just begin with the typical interview question; Who is Sarosh Nagar? Where do you go to school? And what things do you care about? "Sure thing. So my name is Sarosh Nagar, a Junior at Harvard University where I double major in chemistry and economics, with a minor in government. I am also a Millennium Fellow from the Class of 2022. I'm deeply passionate about how we leverage emerging technologies, that is things like artificial intelligence, biotechnology and more to solve real-world global problems. I have a particular interest in SDG. 9, which deals with innovation, industry, and infrastructure. I want to explore how those technologies and the broader emerging tech space influences implementation of the SDGs and, how the space can be harnessed to speed up and ensure SDGs are implemented in a more efficient and equitable manner." Amazing! How did you get into the social impact and social leadership space and what does this works mean to you? "There was no one isolated incident that uniquely set me on the path I am on today. Rather, it was a confluence of factors that led me here. First and foremost, my parents, both Indian immigrants, came to America in search of the elusive "American Dream." As a child, I heard countless stories of their upbringing and the difficult conditions they faced. These stories not only grounded me, but also instilled a strong sense of empathy within me for those less fortunate. I often pondered ways in which we could bridge the gaps in wealth, technology, and power distribution to benefit society more effectively. During my younger years, I suffered from frequent bouts of illness, including a severe and prolonged bacterial infection that required me to take strong antibiotics for an extended period of time. This period of my life was challenging, but it also fueled my interest in finding ways to help those who were less fortunate. These experiences have shaped my belief that we must be there for one another, especially those who are struggling. It is this belief that drives my passion for social impact work." Wonderful. I believe there is a pressing need to ensure we harness emerging tech for social benefit. Why did you choose to focus your work on emerging technologists and how important do you think that work is? "Here's a great way to think about it: When we reflect on the history of human civilization, it becomes apparent that technology's primary objective has always been to improve the quality of human life. Take agriculture, for example. In its early days, farming relied on manual labor and basic tools to plow fields and sow seeds. Unfortunately, natural disasters such as droughts and floods posed significant challenges for farmers, often resulting in crop failure and famine. In response, humans developed ingenious solutions, such as dams and aqueducts, to mitigate the risks and improve the efficiency of cultivation. These innovations not only ensured the survival of small-scale farming communities but also contributed to the overall welfare of societies. Today, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to revolutionize education and address some of the greatest obstacles faced by learners worldwide, particularly in developing countries. By effectively automating and improving educational services, millions of students could gain access to quality learning resources that were once out of reach. In this sense, technology continues to be a force for good, offering solutions to longstanding challenges and empowering people to lead better, more fulfilling lives." That's brilliant. Please tell us about your project 'Emerging Technology Initiaitive'. "The Emerging Technology Initiative (ETI) is an organization built on the mantra ‘Let's leverage the emerging technologies for powerful social ends’. We run on a research model, whereby we’re leveraging different SDGs, recruiting students who have different technical familiarities, and bringing them together to handle projects that tackle the SDGs and do socially impactful work, for Governments, nonprofits and other groups. ETI started as a Millennium Fellowship project during my time as a Fellow, and I'm happy to share it has now morphed into a full organisation. Modelled loosely like Google's Project 'X', our mission is to support inventors and innovators in creating groundbreaking solutions to the world's most pressing problems. We operate in a model similar to that of a moonshot factory, bringing together technologists and interdisciplinary teams of students to tackle complex challenges through original research, device building, and invention. One of our current projects is a collaboration with the Instituto da Opportundade Social in Brazil. Our team of young technologists is conducting original research on AI education, seeking to understand the most effective teaching methods and strategies. Through close collaboration with students, professors, and other stakeholders, we are helping design a unique curriculum that will help unlock the potential of AI education in Brazil. We're currently working with seven partners across five continents, including Millennium Fellowship alumnus Jeremiah Thoronka in West Africa who is leveraging tech through his energy startup 'Optim Energy', providing clean power to thousands of Sierra Leonians. We're able to solve relevant social problems uniquely, by leveraging research-driven innovation and giving our partners real-world takeaways." Despite their obvious utilities, there are real concerns about the potential negative implications of emerging technologies. For example, fears that AI may automate away people's jobs or fuel cheating in the classroom. How are you thinking about these challenges at ETI as you leverage emerging tech for good? "It's always worth remembering that technology itself is merely a tool, neither inherently good nor bad. The critical question is how do we choose to wield it? Even as we embrace emerging tech, we must create the societal structures that ensure their ethical, moral, and sustainable use. For ETI we also want to ensure that the consequences of our research and it's human impact are never too far away from us. We constantly meet with partners to share progress and receive feedback. So, importantly, our work is constantly shaped by the insights and lived experiences of those on the frontlines of social change." Awesome. Of course your organisation began as a Millennium Fellowship project and has now grown exponentially. As you think about the future, what does success look like to you in the short, medium and long term? "My personal philosophy is that no problem is insurmountable with the right mix of planning, team, and passion. For me long term success means global reach and impact. We hope to collaborate with more partners, engage a larger pool of students, and undertake more projects that will have a transformative impact on the lives of people worldwide. Central to this will be securing the necessary resources and funding to develop innovative devices, inventions, and solutions, making ETI a true Moonshot organization. In the medium term, we aim to diversify our teams by integrating students with a wide range of technical skills and specific passions for intersectional issues where a multitude of expertise can come together to tackle complex problems. In the short term, we of course hope to deliver valuable and meaningful solutions to our current partners." That's absolutely brilliant. I wish you all the best. What did being part of the Millennium Fellowship mean for you, and how did it contribute to your own personal development? "I have immense, tremendous gratitude to the Fellowship for all it taught me, and for making ETI possible. In addition to introducing me to an incredible cohort of like-minded peers at Harvard, the Millennium Fellowship has opened my life to countless opportunities. I was selected as part of the UN Millennium fellowship delegation to the transforming Education Summit at the United Nations Headquarters. This was deeply transformational for me. I had multiple high-level meetings, interacted with education stakeholders from around the world, and had a chance to pick the brains of other brilliant young leaders. The Millennium Fellowship has also taught me a lot about the best ways to run a social impact-focused project, put me in touch with the right people, and brought me in community with young people who also have good ideas to discuss, debate, collaborate and succeed. Lastly, MCN Executive Director Sam has not only been a dear friend but also a significant mentor to me. His extensive knowledge gained from building MCN and the Millennium Fellowship has been immeasurably valuable. Sam consistently made time to speak, offering meaningful support to me and many other young people. He helped me navigate through important questions like ‘How do we expand here? What do you do to get there? What's the right way to do this?’ I will always be thankful for this community. " Connect with Sarosh on LinkedIn.

Class of 2022 Millennium Fellow Yoal Damai Dar was named a 2022 Moonshot Prize Award Winner in the 'Borderless category'. This award is given to leaders running initiatives that serve minority communities on a “for the people, by the people” principle. He speaks with us about his project, living as a refugee in Kenya, and his time as a Millennium Fellow. Thank you for joining us today Yoal. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Thank you for having me. My name is Yoal Domai Dar, currently a University of Nairobi student majoring in Planning and Management. I'm originally from South Sudan but have been living in Kenya for the past 12 years as a refugee. This country has played a significant role in my life, both personally and professionally, and I have a strong desire to give back and contribute to issues in the region and beyond. I’ve been heavily involved in the student leadership space, participating in multiple fellowships including the Young African Leaders Initiative, a program launched by Barack Obama as a signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders. I am also a Class of 2022 Millennium Fellow. I co-founded Gezira Young People Agribusiness Trust Company in 2018, and most recently was named a Moonshot Platform Award winner, in the borderless category. Congratulations on being named an inagural Moonshot award winner. Can you tell us a little bit about Moonshot, the project that made you an awardee, and why it matters The Moonshot Platform is a movement generating opportunities for emerging leaders to inspire ideas and social impact action. Its mission is to 'create a world where young ambitious citizens not only see impact and real change as an achievable goal to strive for, but are also empowered and have access to all the support they require to turn their ideas into action.' As a Milllennium Fellow, I learnt that only 12 per cent of young people across the world have access to psychosocial support. Worse still, less than 1 per cent of refugees have access to any form of psychosocial support. This was a very worrying statistic for me, particularly because I know first-hand how traumatic it can be to live life as a refugee. This is why I founded “The Spear of African Peace” (SoAP) project. SoAP proposes the use of art and storytelling as therapeutic tools to help communities, particularly refugees, deal with trauma. We utilize the art of storytelling as a catalyst for change through productive discourse. Our main activity is a yearly therapeutic essay contest that not only acts as a soul-mending safe space for sharing the - often traumatic - personal experiences of the East African youth but also draws upon these unique stories, amplifies them, and - by connecting the winners with key partnered governmental institutions - provides a platform for the youth's opinions, viewpoints, and ideas. Through economic avenues, art and storytelling via online channels, SoAP aims at transforming the livelihood of refugees both in urban and rural settings across the East Africa region. Only 12 per cent of young people across the world have access to psychosocial support This is wonderful to hear, how did you learn about the Moonshot awards and what does this recognition mean to you? I learnt about Moonshot through the Millennium fellowship - MCN was working in partnership with Moonshot to identify promising youth leaders. When I received the email I immediately applied. Winning this coveted Moonshot award has gone a long way in validating our work, and gives us much-needed visibility and credibility. The entire team is extremely happy that their efforts have finally been noticed. The prize fund is very important as it will enable us to carry out our work plan, implement our projects in Kenya, and also hopefully open many other doors. With the help of this prize, we will be able to present our first six essay winners and air up to 100 refugee stories on our online YouTube channel. Thank you for sharing your story with us Yoal and congratulations on your success as a Moonshot awardee. Is there any last word you’d like to share with us? Thank you so much for having me. I just want to stress the importance of youth leadership in community advancement, and challenge other young people to continue playing whatever role they can in bringing about positive change. It is essential for young people to be actively involved in their communities and to use their voices to advocate for the issues that matter to them. Thank you to the MIllennium fellowship for providing a platform for young people to do that. Connect with Yoal on LinkedIn. Follow SoAP on LinkedIn Connect with Yoal on Facebook Learn more about Moonshot

"The past five years of my life have been dedicated to the fight against malaria, a cause I am very passionate about. The decision to venture fully into malaria research and advocacy was made during my time as a Millennium Fellow in 2019. After a friend of mine lost two of her unborn babies to malaria parasitaemia in 2018, I took the decision to help my community fight the disease, and the Millennium Fellowship provided me with the opportunity to not only implement my idea but to also understand how to scale it into a sustainable project. Going through the Millennium fellowship, I learnt a lot about leadership, empathy, inclusiveness and humility. I also got a clear understanding of the SDGs, community development as well as social impact. These experiences led me to start my Millennium Fellowship project, Block Malaria Africa Initiative. Today, Block Malaria Africa Initiative is a registered malaria Intervention Initiative supporting most at-risk communities to build resilience against malaria across Nigeria. My experience as a Millennium Fellow in 2019 also served as a preparatory ground for my advocacy journey. In the course of the Fellowship sessions, we discussed what role young people can play in the realization and actualization of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This began my SDG 3 advocacy, specifically pushing for the inclusion of young people in the fight against malaria at all levels. This work led to my appointment as West African lead of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), a youth advisory council advising leaders on how to ensure youth participation in advocacy for malaria at continental, regional and country levels. I am also a member of the RBM Youth Workstream and a malaria champion with MalariaNoMoreUK advocating for zero malaria on both the continental and the global scenes while building a career in the Public health space. I can boldly say that the Millennium Fellowship experience was the genesis of my strides in the advocacy and community development space. In the course of my work over the past few years, I have encouraged hundreds of young undergraduates interested in social impact, leadership and community development to apply to the Millennium Fellowship and start their social impact journey from the opportunities the programme presents. It’s another application season and I encourage you to apply for the Millennium Fellowship Class of 2023." About the Author Odinaka Kingsley is a Medical Laboratory Scientist and a Public Health Enthusiast with interest in Malaria Programming, Health Communications, and Policy & Advocacy in Global health. He is the Executive Director of Block Malaria Africa Initiative, a malaria intervention initiative he founded during his time as a Millennium Fellow in 2019. He currently serves as West African Lead at the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) Youth Advisory Council, under the leadership of H.E President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau. He is also a member of the RBM Digital Youth Workstream on Malaria and a Malaria Youth Champion with MalariaNoMoreUK where he advocates for #ZeroMalaria across the African continent. In 2021, he was featured by the WHO and RBM Partnership on the occasion of the World Malaria Day Virtual Forum to share about his contribution as a youth in the fight against malaria. Odinaka is a recipient of the Ambassador of Medical Laboratory Sciences Award by AMLSN Plateau, and the Social Worker of the year 2019 award by Youth Art Initiative. He was one of the 60 Nigerian health workers celebrated as #HealthHeroes by the Nigerian Health Watch on Nigeria's 60th anniversary, for their contribution to strengthening the health care system in Nigeria. Odinaka recently became the first African recipient of the maiden 25Under25 Global Legacy award by Common Purpose. He is an alumnus of the Millennium fellowship, Global Health Mentorship and the West African Institute of Public Health and enjoys volunteering, cooking, hiking and travelling during his leisure. Connect with Kingsley on Twitter and LinkedIn. Millennium Fellowship alumni, share your story with the community here.

This year we asked Millennium Fellowship alumni to share what SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals) means to them. Over the coming weeks, Alumni will unpack what partnerships they leveraged to make their Social Impact work successful. They'll explore partnerships with their schools, peers, and communities, then share recommendations on how young people can create and navigate meaningful partnerships to power social change in their communities. "It is noteworthy to mention that when we started this, most of us had little to no experience in running social impact projects, but here we were, drafting concept notes and proposals, pitching our ideas to leaders and titans of industries." - Vincent Muhoro, Moi University Partnership with Peers: The Dunia Bora Initiative, which began as a collective project of the Millennium Fellows at Moi University has been a journey and story inspired by the desire for transformation, a collective desire that weighs heavily on our generation. Dunia Bora is a Swahili phrase, loosely translated to 'a better world for all'. When we embarked on the journey to creating social impact, we all had different and unique project ideas. We committed to do our best to leverage the platform, knowledge and mentorship that the Millennium Fellowship was offering. We also merged our project ideas to collectively create Dunia Bora. By harnessing our collective synergies and unique passions, we managed to create an initiative we were all excited to get behind. Our cohort was united by the same challenges and strengthened by the desire to find meaningful solutions. We noted that one of the greatest challenges in our was in the education sector. Partnership with donors and supporters: We tried our hand in community partnerships by reaching out to different public and private sector stakeholders. Even as we made requests to institutions and potential donors, we ensured to offer value by suggesting to tackle specific challenges they faced internally. At Chepkoiyo Secondary School and Mkombozi Secondary School in Kenya's Uasin Gishu County, there was an acute shortage of learning materials, textbooks and toothpastes. The schools are both located along the Rift Valley region, where most water is saline with high salt levels concentration, so students' teeth were consistently browning. Anohter challenge was related to insecurity. Within local communities, residents informed us that during the electioneering period, politicians would often offer hand-outs to young high-school students to propagate violence. We partnered with the local Unilever branch to help provide toothpaste and freshwater tanks, and Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to donate civic and electoral learning materials, and offer training on the electoral process. The university also worked with us to ensure Millennium Fellows were offered consistent meeting spaces to facilitate our training sessions. The above-mentioned are just but a few of the partnerships that we leveraged in our project building. Reflections: In the spirit of honesty and truthfulness, when we started Dunia Bora, we had less wins than losses. We reached out to 20 potential partners, only 6 were eventually willing to work with us. Most potential leads turned us down with some promising to support us during their next financial year, while others didn't respond to our persistent outreach. We never expected a yes from everybody, but the rejections hit us harder than we expected. Sometimes we had to make difficult decisions because great potential partners would ask for more than we could give. An organization was willing to donate urgently needed school supplies, but only under the condition that they could take pictures of the kids we supported to use on their websites. Our values and principles couldn't let us accept these conditions, so we turned down their offer. In establishing our partnership with Unilever, we were directed to partner with their Heroes for Change group which was running a hand-wash and "brush brush" campaign. Heroes for Change donated over 30,000 pieces of toothpaste, valued at up to 2 Million Kenya Shillings. This small win was one of our greatest highlights in the course of this journey. We then held conversations with several officers of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission( IEBC), eventually meeting with Jane Kingori who was the County Elections Manager, Uasin Gishu County. Jane was amazing in helping power our partnership. As a University student, she had dreamt of running social impact initiatives but said she didn't have a platform like the Millennium Fellowship which could nurture her dreams. She was therefore extremely eager to support us. Because of her endorsement, the commission donated a huge load of books and tree seedlings which we planted at local schools. It is noteworthy to mention that when we started this, most of us had little to no experience in running social impact projects, but here we were drafting concept notes and proposals, pitching our ideas to leaders and titans of industries. At first, all rejections hit us hard, and all our losses felt like failure. However the more we grew the more we began to appreciate the ups and downs of this process, understanding that in the world of social leadership there's no such thing as losing. Sometimes you win, other times you learn. As we continue scaling our initiative, we wish to extend special thanks to the students we served, they made us understand the world and our role in it much better. Thanks to all institutions that came on board to work with us, and special thanks to those that didn't - they taught us important lessons in tenacity and perseverance. Lastly, very special thanks to the Millennium Fellowship team, the lessons we received as Fellows made us better leaders. Author: Vincent Muhoro. Vincent is a Class of 2021 Millennium Fellowship alumnus and student at Moi University in Kenya. Connect with Vincent on LinkedIN.

By: Suzzel Alberto “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” -Malala Yousafzai When you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, there are some common answers; a doctor, rockstar, or astronaut. Along with becoming a doctor, I had two other very specific goals by the time I was eight years old, to become a mermaid and attend a United Nations Summit. So far I’ve accomplished one, working on another, and have learned to accept swimming as a human is as close as I’m going to get. When I received an email informing me of an opportunity to apply to attend the United Nations Transforming Education Summit 2022, I literally stopped everything I was doing and sent in my application. The days ahead felt like they dragged on and my emails went through a drought. The application process got extended, as did the acceptance process, prolonging the wait even more. Finally, the day the acceptances were sent out came and went. I thought to myself “I didn’t get it”. Then, three days later on Monday, 12 September, I received an email from the UN informing me that I was accepted. The emotions I felt were overwhelming, tears welled up in my eyes, and I was shaking with excitement. I, the daughter of political refugees, was chosen to attend a United Nations Summit on education! The reality set in and I realized I had three days to book a flight, book a hotel, and pack. As I looked at flights, they were disappearing by the time I would scroll through to the next page. As it turned out, not only was there a UN Summit followed by the UN general assembly, it was also New York Fashion Week. Needless to say, New York was in high demand. Despite the chaos, I was able to get everything taken care of. The following day, I checked my itinerary to discover that everything I had booked was a day off! A clear sign that I had to slow down and take my time in my actions. The day came, by eleven pm I would be on a redeye flight to New York. The next morning, this California girl woke up on the opposite American Coast. Once settled in, I decided to get ahead of the game by walking from my hotel to the United Nations Headquarters to map out how much time to allot to it the day of the Summit. I was able to pick up my entry badge and took a proud photo in front of the universal flags while representing my university as well, Arizona State. As a California native, you grow up hearing “West Coast is the best coast” and about this unspoken rivalry with the East Coast. Within a few hours of being in New York, I realized that this rivalry couldn’t be more wrong. I fell in love with the city! I couldn’t wait to explore and eat all the amazing food. I was standing in the Strawberry Fields Memorial when it hit me, I was going to be attending an actual UN Summit the next day. I don’t know if it was the nerves or the adrenaline of being in New York for the first time AND for a Summit but I had the best sleep. I got a wonderful start to my day by meeting up with another Millennium Fellow, who also happened to be from ASU as well. It was a great start to the many amazing connections and friendships I would encounter on this journey. The morning arrived for day one of the Transforming Education Summit: Mobilization Day. This day was unlike any other UN Summit because they opened their doors to youth from around the world to speak from the source of the topic at hand, education. It was a youth-led and youth-designed experience. The Deputy Secretary General, Amina J. Mohammed, said this was the most detailed summit she had ever attended and commended the passion of the youth in addressing SDG 4. The youth were joined by stakeholders and high-level government representatives from around the world. While in the first security line questions began to run through my head; What if I wasn’t ready? What if I didn’t make the most of my experience? Will I make an impact? It’s only natural that my first time at the United Nations would be filled with such an array of emotions. Once passing the security clearance, we were welcomed by art installations and interactive art. A vivid and inviting entrance took away most of those thoughts I had while in line. The colours, the messages, and the crowd were all deeply inspiring. The Summit opened with a musical performance by Sara Marley and Brenda Vongova. As the day progressed I was enthralled by the power of the youth. They knew what they wanted to say and demanded to be heard and respected. The words of a population that is often spoken for but never heard from. It was a beautiful display of genuine urgency to transform education worldwide. There were speeches, Q&A panels, and networking opportunities. It was as if the art we were welcomed with transcended into live performances filled with emotions and compassion to make a difference. As the day progressed I had opportunities to meet with high-level government officials, alumni of the Millennium Fellowship, and social entrepreneurs advancing the SDGs. Each meeting was different from the last and all were amazing. Along the way, I got to meet current fellows from different cohorts and the co-founder of the Millennium Fellowship, Sam Vaghar. Getting to experience the UN with Sam and the other Millennium Fellows made my time there more memorable than I could have imagined. The end of day one rounded off with successful networking, passion-filled energy for change, and lots of blisters. Who knew you’d be walking so much at a Summit? Not me! I wore sandals the next day. I figured I could represent my state of California while catering to my sore feet. Rule #1 of New York: comfortable shoes. Day two: Solutions Day provided a space for Member States and partners to convene on key issues emerging from the five Thematic Action Tracks of the Summit and to mobilize support for action that will deliver transformative change at the country level. Main room conferences and 48 different breakout sessions throughout the day. This was my opportunity to attend sessions in areas that targeted my interests. It was kicked off by the legendary Amina J. Mohammed, followed by the unpredictable and bold words of Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and SDG Advocate. He called upon leaders in the room to “do the math”, the funds are there but we aren’t allotting them correctly towards global education. Day two was enlightening, it was a reflection of the voices heard the day before. Mentions of the youth’s words the day before were reiterated by excellencies and delegates. The Secretary General of the United Nations assured young people that “He was not here to speak, but to listen.” A statement that set the tone for all leaders to listen keenly and pledge to keep their word. This day was filled with innovation and resilience. Diverse panels with captivating ideas for progress in education. Plans for education equity, inclusion, quality and relevance across all platforms. Conversations on how the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented times but also led to fast-paced necessary growth. The pandemic pushed us all into the digital age faster than any of us could have dreamt, a transition that was long overdue. This can be an opportunity to provide education in areas that may not have access or resources. There were moments of humour. A digital presentation on artificial intelligence having technical difficulties, the Deputy Secretary General of the U.N. saying “I know, her again” in her fourth speech, laughs exchanged in the hallways. Constant reminders that we were all there to not just to suggest much-needed changes in education, but to interact as humans. The passion for a positive change in the world’s education and overall well-being was awe-inspiring. Truly an experience I will never forget. I plan to continue acting on making the world a better place with the same energy I put forth at the United Nations. When it comes to the SDG spotlighted at this Summit, I believe that education should not be a privilege but a basic human right. We can all be a part of moving the world forward in this regard. If you ever get the chance to attend a United Nations Summit, I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend boldly advocating for what you believe in. We are all important, all our voices matter, and all our dreams can come true. What we do in our todays will always affect our tomorrows. I am honored to have been able to attend this event and look forward to seeing the change we all are a part of. Thanks to the Millennium Fellowship, MCN, the United Nations Academic Impact, and every person I’ve met along the journey; I am more confident in myself and my hope for the world is strong. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” -Mahatma Ghandi Suzzel Alberto is a Class of 2022 Millennium Fellow from the Arizona State University. She serves as ASU Chapter President of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Thanks for connecting with us Aarushi. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your passion for mental health advocacy. "My name is Aarushi Kataria, a 21-year-old Mental Health Advocate from India and an alumnus of the Millennium Fellowship. I recently graduated from Ashoka University with 2 majors in economics and political science and will be heading to the University of Chicago this fall to pursue my master’s in public policy. As a Millennium Fellow, I ran ‘Letters to strangers, India chapter’ an initiative aiming to increase access to Mental health support and resources for young people. I am passionate about mental health advocacy because I have personally struggled with generalised anxiety disorder for many years. As a child, the fact that I overworked and over-exerted myself was glorified as hard work, when in truth it was just a coping mechanism, because every time I was not working, anxiety took over my life. Things got particularly bad for me shortly after I started college and had to adjust to a new life in a new city with new people. The transition was very overwhelming, and I'd find myself constantly feeling like I didn’t belong in that new world. This was the first time in my life grappling with strange feelings of aloneness and impostor syndrome. I felt worthless and out of place among my peers, even though everyone at Ashoka had joined on merit and was fully deserving of their spot. One day as I was going through my belongings I found a tiny package containing secret letters from my family and friends with reminders that they loved and cared for me, that they were proud of me, and that they’d always be a call away when I needed them. They shared their unwavering belief in my potential and expressed how proud I'd made them. I remember breaking down in my room, taking in that outpouring of love, realising many people saw the world in me, remembering that they existed and that they could see my worth even when I couldn't see it in myself. In moments of extreme anxiety, it's easy to forget these things. Those unexpected words of reassurance carried me through the most difficult days that semester, and I realised that I wanted to do this for other people too. That was the beginning of my mental health advocacy. In 2019 together with a friend, I started the Bombay chapter of Letters to strangers. We organized physical events in Mumbai for young people to connect and open up, then the pandemic happened, the world shut down, and our work became even more important. We wanted to be the medium of exchanging letters with anonymous people digitally, offering our presence and support. Every week we sent out letters, and every week we were reminded of just powerful words were. Our L2S chapter became a support system for many strangers whose lives had become unlivable in the wake of Covid-19, some coming to terms with the sudden loss of loved ones, others struggling with the difficulty of self-isolation. Our goal was to ensure that every day at least one stranger felt a little seen, a little heard, a little loved, and a little less alone." Powerful! Thank you so much for sharing. Why do you think these conversations around mental health are important, particularly among young people? "In 2019, a shocking report found at least 1 in every 4 Indians faced some kind of mental health disorder, meaning that 25% of India’s 1.3 billion people were silently suffering. In my own home, where 4 people lived, that one person happened to be me." Why are you focused primarily on offering support to strangers? Are there any particular reasons for this? "The power behind opening up to a stranger or someone you don’t completely know is the understanding that there'll be no preconceived notions. When someone knows you they'll naturally have their own biases, but strangers take what you say at complete face value. 'You're not doing okay' is 'simply you’re not doing okay,' it's never ‘but you have such a loving family, you have such loving friends, how can you be unhappy?’ I think there's a powerful intimacy in knowing you can express yourself with no fear of being judged, gaslit or invalidated. There’s also a certain reassurance in writing words and throwing them into the void, not knowing who will read them or at what season of life it will find them, but hoping that they will feel touched nonetheless. The writing process is therapy in itself. Many times we're overwhelmed because the feelings in our heads are completely shapeless, but when we put them on paper, they become concrete, making them a lot easier to process." We want to create spaces where we’re fostering vulnerability and empathy, and where people know that if they come and tell us something, it is never going to be used against them. Speaking about the Millenium Fellowship in particular. What led you to apply, and what part do you think it played in your journey? I applied to the Millennium Fellowship after my friend told me about the project she was working on, and how the Fellowship had helped shaped her trajectory. learn how to network effectively, create and manage a project, and understand what it means to create impact. While we’d already achieved some highs with our project, I felt we’d reached a point of stagnancy, but joining the Fellowship helped re-inject energy and inspiration. It gave me a network to collaborate with therefore helping us spread the work we were doing. I also learned the tried and tested ways of creating social impact, and how to become a better organiser and leader overall from the thousands of other young Fellows running incredible projects. Speaking with my cohort at Ashoka and others around the world, understanding how they were building their projects, balancing their challenges, and effectively collaborating, were pivotal to me being able to scale my project. The curriculum also stressed the importance of ensuring your work stays true to its roots and emphasised the need for values-driven leadership. Overall I think it gave me a very technical understanding of the social impact space. Using these lessons I was able to exponentially grow my team, from just 3 people, now L2S is driven by an incredible group of 80 members. Lastly, do you have any final words of advice for Millennium Fellows and other young leaders in the community? "Something that has been taught to me and that I want to share - have a list of things that matter, and don’t forget to put yourself on it. When you’re working in social impact, particularly mental health advocacy, you always want to be there for other people, to put other people first - don’t be that person. Pour into your own cup first. Connect with Aarushi on LinkedIn. Check out the Letters to Strangers India chapter website here.

We connected with Pawan and Pooja, two Class of 2021 Millennium Fellowship alumni from the CHRIST University (Central Campus) in India. Pawan and Pooja also served as Campus Directors for their cohort, helping deliver the Millennium Fellowship and coordinate Fellowship activities on-campus. They shared their experiences, learnings, and advice to prospective Class of 2022 Millennium Fellows: It is a pleasure to connect with both of you today. Please tell us a little bit about yourselves POOJA: "My name is Pooja Anbu, a Final year student at the CHRIST University, Central Campus in India taking a triple major in Psychology, Sociology and Economics. I was a Class of 2021 Millennium Fellow and Campus director for my University's Millennium Fellowship cohort." PAWAN: "I’m Pawan, also a final year student Studying LLB honors at the CHRIST University, Central Campus. I’m excited connect and share my experiences, learnings and takeaways serving as Co-campus Director during the Millennium Fellowship" Coming off the back of what must have been a difficult year in 2020, what inspired you to apply and become a Class of '21 Millennium Fellow? POOJA: "Candidly, when the pandemic started it gave me this sense of existential panic. I was wondering what the future would look like, unsure how my academic life would be affected, questioning whether I'd be able to do anything meaningful with my life. Around that time is when I came across the Millennium Fellowship, and it immediately resonated mainly because I felt it gave young people the opportunity to create impact amidst the gloomy global situation we were in. It all provides this huge platform and resources to help make social impact possible. Looking back now, applying to the Millennium Fellowship was one of the best decisions I made both for my personal and professional life." PAWAN: "I think when you love to do something, you'll always find a way to do it. That is how I felt when I came across the Fellowship. I’ve always had a passion for social impact and for offering support to my community - so when the Fellowship application opened, I promised myself I wouldn't let Covid get in the way of my social impact plans. I was lucky to be connected with many of our prospective applicants before the application, including Pooja, with whom we decided to serve as campus directors. We've always been very like minded people with the same level of ambition and similar professional dreams - to become civil servants. So we offered each other much needed support and motivation to complete the Fellowship application." "Getting myself out there was very helpful, being active, being seen and believing in myself made such a big difference in building my confidence and tackling my self-doubt" The campus Director role is pivotal in the Millennium Fellowship as you’re tasked with ensuring the experience is delivered seamlessly to your campus peers. Is there anything in particular that made you want to take this leadership? POOJA: "Applying to become a Campus Director was very intuitive. Reading about what a campus director does - one thing I liked was you get to interact with Fellows and Campus Directors from around the world, and that is something I deeply enjoy doing. Being within this network allowed me to interact with other young people passionate about youth leadership and opened up even more opportunities to learn and nurture relationships. I also knew a Campus Director helps coordinate and deliver the Fellowship, which is a challenge I wanted to take, having been involved in leadership and organising before. The fact that I knew who my co-director would be and knew a number of the applicants from school made the experience even better and more enjoyable. Those four months were an incredible journey of improvement and all-round growth." PAWAN: "Applying for the Campus Director role was an internal challenge to myself. I wanted to consciously work on my leadership, which is an aspect of my life I always thought needed some improvement. The Millennium Fellowship was a wonderful platform for that. The prospect of getting connected to more people and serving my peers was also very enticing. I’d already been involved in lots of social impact work before but that was always centred around me, I never got the chance to work in community, where I could give and receive support as we embark on our social leadership. In my cohort, I found a truly inspiration and brilliant team that was also committed to personal improvement and social impact. I think I learnt something new everyday interacting with them, and whenever we made mistakes we would all consciously reflect and correct to ensure they weren't repeated. All the impact we created over those four months filled me with optimism and a genuine belief that whenever young people come together, they can make a difference." "Do not underestimate the power you hold. No matter what anyone says, you can do anything you set your mind to. So go for it. Don’t second guess yourself. Be the change you wish to see in this world" You both mentioned being very compatible in your leadership styles and mutually supportive during the Fellowship. How important was that collaboration and chemistry in doing your work? POOJA: "It's vital! As I mentioned, Pawan and I knew each other well, and that understanding played a pivotal role in how we managed our projects and the cohort. Collaboration and mutual support were paramount for us. There’s times for example when one of us couldn’t be present, both physically and mentally, other times you have a lot going on at school and in your personal life and it's hard to keep up. A good partnership allows you to navigate these situations and ensure the fellowship is delivered seamlessly. There's also a lot of accountability involved - taking responsibility when you can, being honest when you can’t." PAWAN: "We all need support in our lives and our work. This is something I found in plenty from my cohort, our faculty advisor, and my co-director. When I did something right they'd congratulate me, when I did something wrong they'd say let's fix it. If I’m able to lead any team going forward, it’s because of the wonderful example they set for me." You all led wonderfully for 4 months, sacrificing a lot of time and energy to make your leadership a success. Are there any important learnings you picked up during this time serving your cohort? PAWAN: "It is impossible to answer this question because there's so much I learnt through this period. To name a few, one would be the power and importance of planning. When organising our first event, a meditation session for students, we'd hoped 100+ students would attend, but we didn't take enough steps to ensure this. In the end only around 30 turned up. Although the session was still successful and additive for attendees, this made us reflect on how we planned our events and who we invited. We realised how vital it was to seek advice, ask questions, and make space for failure whenever we were planning a project. The next lesson was getting rid of self doubt, something I'd struggled with for a long time. Getting myself out there was very helpful, being active, being seen and believing in myself made such a big difference." POOJA: "I learnt how to accommodate and manage diversity. We had a large cohort of students all with very brilliant ideas and project plans they were passionate about. But we were able to find a way to accommodate everyone and create a group project that respect their visions. I also learnt the importance of servant leadership. Being campus director does not create a hierarchy in the work you do - it’s just a role created for administrative convenience. In the end you’re all Millennium Fellows trying to bring about positive change. In your work, you must set aside all points of differences. Here it doesn’t matter e.g that you’re someone’s senior at school. You’re all in a cohort together to achieve a certain objective. Let people take initiative, let people lead the things they’re good at, and create a culture of support." Any advice for the incoming class of 2022 cohort and for prospective 2022 campus directors? POOJA: "All I can say is, do not underestimate the power you hold. No matter what anyone says, you can do anything you set your mind to. So go for it. Don’t second guess yourself. Be the change you wish to see in this world" Thank you Pawan and Pooja for sharing your Fellowship experiences with us. Do you have a story you think our community deserves to hear? Get in touch here. Connect with Pawan on LinkedIn. Connect with Pooja on LinkedIn.

As a Class of 2019 Millennium Fellow, Kami founded Elio, a company that's now on the mission to bridge the communication gap between academia and decision-makers in companies and governments through a climate data research platform. He spoke with us about his climate work, childhood, the Millennium Fellowship and being named one of twenty 776 Fellows. Thank you for making time to connect Kami. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Kami and why does he care about the things he cares about? "My name is Kami Krista and my educational background is in Bio-Engineering, but I have spent over a decade in climate, which is a roundabout way of saying I started this work very young. When I was 8 I wrote a letter to the President of Brazil explaining why it was wrong to destroy the Amazon, and this seemingly naive action kickstarted a 15-year journey in climate activism. My early childhood interest in nature developed into a deep passion for the climate. In primary school, I created a small organization to educate my peers about the dangers of global warming, and at 11 I did a TEDx talk on sustainable transportation, sharing my thoughts on what a future without pollution could look like. In my teen years, a deep intellectual curiosity took me to academia, and I spent years doing research while studying bioengineering at Harvard. I was feeling a little jaded with the state of climate action and wasn't particularly interested in working on small-scale changes anymore. I wanted to figure out what the key levers were that if pulled could lead to widespread systemic change in the way we approach climate action. Then in 2018, I read IPCC’s 1.5-degree report, and it brought me 2 sobering conclusions: First that we are all going to die. Second, even in the face of this existential threat, humanity is still unable to answer the most important question, ‘what's our plan?' We say ‘we'll be carbon neutral by 2050’, and ‘we'll drastically reduce global emissions,' but without a plan these goals are useless. According to the International Energy Agency, close to 50% of the emissions that need to be reduced by 2050 depend upon technology that is still under significant development. It's clear therefore that we need to bridge the gap between what's going on in research and development and what’s happening in climate action." Why are you so passionate about climate and as young people what part do we have to play in averting whatever disaster might be waiting for us in the near future? "To truly articulate my love for the planet and its climate, I must go back to the beginning. When you grow up in a 'developed' western country, Austria in my case, it is easy to be disconnected from the natural world and natural spaces because everything is modern and urbanised. As a child, however, I had a uniquely intimate relationship with nature. It may sound odd, but I connected with trees and plants in interesting ways, and I understood that intrinsically they were just as valuable as humans - there is no hierarchical structure of value in the ordering of nature. This is partly why I wrote that letter to the President of Brazil. Even now, I believe climate change is just a symptom of all the various disharmonious relationships we have with our planet. Climate action for me has always been inherently non-anthropogenic. It is less about purely human survival for me, and more about the moral obligation we have towards all living things, particularly those that bear no responsibility for climate change - yet severely suffer its consequences. It’s about saying ‘let's live better with this world, both with other people, as well as with other living things. It is less about human survival, and more about the moral obligation we have towards all living things, particularly those that bear no responsibility for climate change - yet severely suffer its consequences. It’s also recognizing that though we messed up significantly, things don’t need to be all doom and gloom. If we get the next few years right, we could have more liveable cities across the world, countries could be energy sovereign, we could avoid resource-related wars, and ensure we create a world with climate justice for all." Tell us a little bit about Elio. How did it start, what work are you leading in, and why is this work important? "As I stated earlier, in 2018 I realised that we did not have a good enough climate plan. Think about the moon landing. We had a strategy, put in years of meticulous planning, there was a mission control and constant data flow. Even though climate action is a more complex and bigger-scale challenge, we are not even nearly as prepared for it. This is the real moonshot, yet we have no mission control. That is the problem I wanted to solve with Elio. I applied to the Millennium Fellowship in 2019, and over that fall and the following spring I conducted over 100 interviews with climate stakeholders, activists, companies, and more to try and structure my thoughts and answer the question ‘what can this mission control look like?’ I realised that the decarbonisation strategies most companies employ are built on an outdated understanding of available innovation pipelines, and that the communication gap between R&D and decision-makers that allocate financial Capital is the biggest for companies that operate in sectors where it's harder to reduce emissions. This is because they depend heavily on technologies that are still under development. It was then that the image of Elio as a startup aiming to enable companies in technologically complicated industries to develop effective decarbonisation plans, based on state-of-the-art science, crystallised. The product we’re developing will at the first level be a data foundation and research engine that services companies, enabling them to have a common operating picture of R&D related to specific materials and the problem and solution landscape. Ultimately the vision is to build out a digital infrastructure that enables every company to have a digitised, granular, evidence-based decarbonisation strategy that updates at the pace of better understanding." How did becoming a Millennium Fellow benefit you, and how has it shaped your trajectory since graduating? "The Millennium Fellowship helped shape my trajectory in two ways. First, the community and network I was exposed to were vital in helping me access people I’d otherwise never reach. This allowed us to find our path quicker, and it brought more buy-in early on for what we were creating. The Fellowship also brought a certain level of accountability to my project building. When you’re a college student, it’s easy to push away project ideas because you’re thinking ‘I have this paper', or 'I have an exam to prepare for.’ The Fellowship gives you a certain amount of structure, and you have other members of your cohort also motivating and pushing you forward. Because of this, the wheels started turning relatively quickly for Elio. I brought it to the Harvard Startup Bootcamp accelerator in 2020, and then I decided to take a break from school and dedicate myself to this vision. The Millennium Fellowship is a fantastic opportunity, even more so for students in underserved communities or at universities where resources aren't as abundant as at Harvard where you're already privileged to have a robust social impact curriculum, and access to professors who’ve developed some of the frameworks and theories of change taught in leadership development." Lastly, tell us about the 776 Fellowship! Congratulations on being named a 2022 fellow, receiving a $100,000 grant and joining a community of climate champions! How did you find out about 776, what does this opportunity mean for you and what are you most looking forward to? "I am more than thrilled to be named a 776 Fellow. I found out about the opportunity from MCN’s Sam Vaghar who thought I was a great fit. It was exciting to learn that 776 was backed by Alexis Ohanian who has done important things for the global tech industry so getting to work with and learn from him is more than inspiring. The $100K grant will obviously be very useful for our work, but I'm even more excited about growing with the other 19 brilliant and super impressive fellows. I was absolutely blown away by each one when we met, and I am very excited about the potential synergies - especially as we’re all working in and passionate about climate. The 776 Team is also putting together amazing resources and programming, and since it's the first year I'm also glad that we'll be paying forward by helping develop the curriculum together." Thank you Kami for sharing your story with the community! Connect with Kami on LinkedIn.

In 2018, Richard Ling was instrumental in launching the Millennium Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. With just four days until the final deadline, Richard grew the Penn applicant pool from four to 28 applicants! Learn what motivated Richard and how he helped build such a robust cohort on campus. Richard, it is wonderful to catch up with you. Take us back to the beginning. How did you first hear about the Millennium Fellowship? “I actually found out about it on my own. I was working on hosting a competition at Penn called Sustainable Solutions that invited college students in the Philadelphia area to submit a project that addressed the SDGs. The Millennium Fellowship was the perfect way to advance the project.” What motivated you to help build a Millennium Fellowship cohort at Penn? “I applied four days before the final deadline. When I learned that we didn’t have the 8+ required applicants (and far less than more competitive cohorts), I realized I would not be a Millennium Fellow if I didn’t get other classmates to engage. I also found that the application process wasn’t too lengthy, that it could be completed in a day, and knew that there were other classmates who had an interest in the SDGs. Throughout any university, I can guarantee, there are students who are passionate about the SDGs and would want to do the Millennium Fellowship.” How did you recruit classmates to apply? “For me it was contacting the right departments and the right listservs that would blow the horn. I didn’t actually know all the specific listservs, just that departments existed. So I focused on high level departments - like the electrical engineering department and the biology department. Next, I focused on specific research centers. At Penn, for example, we have the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Institute for Urban Research. And then I focused on individual classes. I also tried one or two student organizations - including EcoReps - and one other focused on sustainability. I took the draft content and compiled the information in an email to spread the application. I put what I hoped they would share directly in the body of my email so that it was all right there and they wouldn’t have to do that work. Making it convenient to share was paramount. I emailed the departments, centers, and classes asking them to share the opportunity. What happened as a result? “Some people said, ‘We will send this out tomorrow.’ Others called me to ask for more information about the Fellowship to make sure that it’s something worth sharing. After fielding several calls and explaining more about the Fellowship, I was able to get most, if not all, of the listservs that I contacted to spread the word. This took some work, but once they get it out there, that is all that matters. The applicant pool grew from four to 28 applicants in the final four days! I didn’t know most of these students and I was completely shocked and ecstatic that so many of my peers also wanted to do the Millennium Fellowship. ” How did being a Millennium Fellow benefit you? The Millennium Fellowship broadens your horizons. You learn about others’ passions and initiatives, and these lessons will tie into your future projects. It has a snowball effect. For example, I didn’t know much about cybersecurity or the challenges with menstrual equity before I joined the Fellowship. I was in a silo, as every college student is within their major or department. In the Fellowship, I learned from my remarkable peers. Claire Sliney was Executive Producer of what became an Oscar-winning documentary short. Carissa Shah with CyberSensibility. I keep in touch with some of the alumni still running these amazing initiatives. You have this cohort now that are passionate about the SDGs just as you are. That is the coolest part about the Fellowship. What are you working on today? Are there lessons from the Millennium Fellowship that you apply to your life now? “My primary job today is focused on renewable energy. It is a huge issue related to the SDGs. I work on solar energy, microgrids, and energy efficiency. After graduation, I also created a platform called SolveOpen, which open sources innovation problems from cities for anyone to tackle. Most recently I’m also launching Benefact. This was inspired in part by a Fellowship project that was consulting for non-profits. Seeing my peer doing this work during the Fellowship, I realized I could also positively impact non-profits. It inspired the work I am doing now. Through Benefact, I’m striving to help nonprofits raise money through peer-to-peer fundraising. My biggest lesson from the Millennium Fellowship: Leadership really matters. Good ideas don’t happen just because you think of the idea. Executing the idea is a whole different ball game. At every step of the Millennium Fellowship, I was challenged to make something happen. It is all about leadership, and that first mobilization is the most important. If you take the first step, then you can take the next steps. Taking that first step is what the Millennium Fellowship teaches you about, and with that, the sky's the limit with the work you can do.” What would you share with someone still weighing whether to apply? "If students are planning to try sharing the opportunity with classmates, it seems daunting, but all it is an email that you send out. All it takes is those emails to the right people and they can help find future Millennium Fellows. If students have more questions on how to draft and send out those emails, please email me at richling@sas.upenn.edu and I can help. In 30 minutes to an hour of outreach, you might inspire the next cohort of Millennium Fellows who wouldn’t be there without you." Thank you Richard for sharing your story! Student leaders: If you are inviting undergraduates on your campus to apply to the Millennium Fellowship, here is the draft content to share the opportunity - which can be shared over email, text, and social media. Final application deadline is March 31st.

It's such a pleasure to be connected today Angela! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? “Thank you. I am Angela Zhong, a Millennium Fellow, and a sophomore at the Harvard college studying Economics and Environmental policy with a language citation in Mandarin. I was born in Arizona, but I live in Houston, Texas. Living here has informed a lot of my opinions about climate change, because I can very viscerally see it happening in front of my eyes, with lots of hurricanes devastating the community, electric grid failures, flash floods and more. All of these are happening in a place that people think of as probably the energy capital of the world. And so that really gets me thinking about how fossil fuels play a role in the devastation we're facing. That's why I got involved with organizations such as MCN, the UNSSC, as well as general climate and sustainability initiatives on campus and off campus. I think climate change is one of the biggest problems our generation will have to face and so I’m committed to doing whatever I can to combat it.” That is amazing to hear! How has the Millennium Fellowship experience been for you? “The Millennium Fellowship has been a great resource! It was a very safe and enriching environment where I gained access to an amazing cohort of people who are passionate about the SDGs and local action. I appreciated the community aspect on campus where you can easily bounce ideas off of schoolmates, and this international community where you can learn from different perspectives and lived experiences. It’s been helpful for me as I tried to figure out; First what exactly I wanted to tackle, which ended up being the area of food systems and food waste; And second, how I can make a bigger impact with the resources I currently have.” Thank you for sharing! You were one of a number of Millennium Fellows at COP 26. Given your passion for Climate activism, I'm sure this was an incredible moment for you? “COP26 was sensational. It came at a perfect time as I was already in Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY), which is a pre-summit event for young people. (I highly recommend Millennium Fellows check that one out.) It's less prominent publicly, but has just as big of an impact - particularly in getting youth involved within the climate space to brainstorm and collaborate. I spoke there on the problems with the social cost of carbon and what we can do to fix that. Then an organisation allowed me to join its delegation of servers at COP. Being there was life changing! You get immersed in impactful climate activism 24/7 and that is all you think about. Seeing all of humanity join hands even just for a few days to think about how we save the planet is so refreshing. Maybe in some ways it might get a little exhausting because there's always more people to talk to, and there's packed schedules from 9am to 9pm - but at the same time, we never get the opportunity to think exclusively about climate change and what we can do to address it. That for me was the beauty of COP. The energy was really uplifting. I remember feeling a little bit jaded before, wondering ‘what can I really do?’, curious about what part I could play, seeing so many people doing amazing things and thinking 'how come i'm not one of them?' But COP allowed me to erase a lot of that negativity and focus on our collective duty to make a difference. I loved how they kept all stakeholders involved. There was a blue zone where a lot of the High Level negotiations happened, and a green zone which was a lot more public facing, giving communities living in and around Glasgow the opportunity to stay engaged and interact with the climate technological innovations that companies are working on. If any young climate activist has the ability to go to COP - please do! There's nothing like it, and maybe there are a number of problems with it, but I don't think that deters from the kind of impact created” That's powerful! Sometimes conferences are criticised for creating only temporary impact- where people are connected to a cause because they're together, but then that excitement dies down after they separate, and status quo is restored. Did you feel this at COP? "Good question, I think it's split depending on the stakeholders. With government entities, maybe there are many other problems to address, so for them COP is just a few weeks to focus on climate change, then delegate negotiations to other people as they proceed to focus on other things. But I don't think that means governments should suddenly stop doing anything or taking steps to actualize the COP agreements. Real power, I think, is in the youth stakeholders. A lot of young people invited are those who devote their lives to these causes, and typically you find they're the ones pushing a more ambitious agenda for longer lasting change. So having that interplay between these two stakeholders is really important - youth activists with their idealism and energy, governments with the tools to make things happen." "We are inheriting the planet and will have to be stewards of it in the future, and so we should do whatever we can to make sure it's a safe and habitable place for us and the next generation" Speaking about youth involvement, why do you think it's important that young people are included in global discussions around climate change? "We are inheriting the planet and will have to be stewards of it in the future, and so we must do whatever it takes to make it safe and habitable, for us and the next generation. I also think it's important to have these multi-stakeholder voices when discussing climate, because it impacts different regions and different people differently. For example in Houston there's a lot of flooding and hurricanes, but for other areas, many of the problems have to do with industrial pollutants. All of these are important under the climate sustainability umbrella, and having many stakeholders from different backgrounds is the only way to make sure they're all covered. You need to have as many diverse perspectives as you can, and I liked that about COP because not only did it include the youth, but also indigenous communities, gender minorities, people with disabilities and more. It was cool seeing many young people speaking on public stages, but I think it would be even better to see more youth in board positions within corporations, NGOs, and more. Speaking engagements are only one time events so you finish and it's over, whereas if you're part of a board and you have voting power, that makes a difference, because people need to sway your vote, so they listen to your concerns and try to resolve them. I don’t think we see that enough. Some organisations have an entirely youth counsel, which I think is a great step. But I would love it to be integrated so we see the interplay between older people who've been in the industry longer versus young people who have a lot of energy and ideas." So powerful! There's naturally been Criticisms around COP, e.g the last minute pledge to 'phase down' rather than 'phase out' coal production. A minor change that obviously makes a big difference. What did you feel about these claims? "I think part of my view is skewed by the looming climate anxiety I have, particularly about whether anything we do will ever be enough. Even if we do get a universally agreed, ambitious policy, its impact will not be felt until a couple of years or even decades later - just because of the way that carbon capture works. More importantly, I don't think that COP alone is ever enough. One of my professors who is also part of the Harvard delegation talked about this in one of his blogs. Each COP passes a baton to the next COP, so we have a certain amount of things that we should get done. Therefore as long as that baseline level is met, it should be considered a success, because a lot of change is incremental, and it should be. As much as we naturally want ambitious and aggressive policies, sometimes a slow phase into that makes more sense especially so communities can have time to adapt. For developing countries, changes like these are even harder. Events like COP should acknowledge the history of colonialism that impacts what current developing states can really do about their energy infrastructure, while still accommodating the needs of their people. Since ultimately a lot of industrial pollution was originally from more developed countries and then offloaded to developing countries to shift blame, which is really unfortunate. Change for them must therefore be slow and measured." "Events like COP should acknowledge the history of colonialism that impacts what current developing states can really do about their energy infrastructure, while still accommodating the needs of their people." Thank you for that great answer and for taking the time to connect! Do you have any Final Remarks to share? "Certainly. For the graduating class - congratulations on a semester well spent. I hope everyone has had a rewarding and engaging journey through the Millennium Fellowship and in interacting with the sustainable development goals. I think two calls of action for all of us, including myself, to think about as we graduate are; how can we make big, lasting impact with the least amount of resources? And the second is something I see a lot within the climate movement - where there’s a lot of weight placed on being the ‘face of a movement'. Whenever you think of climate change, protests, activism, etc, you can think of certain individuals who you would associate with that. This process of clamouring to be one of the 'big faces', creates a lot of internal competition within the movement. Therefore it's important to interrogate why you want to do social impact work, and what your role is or should be. There's a big enough tent for all of us to fit in. Grassroots advocacy is important, protesting is important, and so is institutional change. We need people who are willing to do this work, even when it's less glamorous than being a high level activist." Thank you Angela for sharing your story with us! Want to share yours? Get in touch here Connect with Angela on LinkedIn.

Jasmine Amoako Agyei is a Class of 2020 Millennium Fellowship Alumni from the Arizona State University working on SDG 12: (Responsible Consumption and production). Born in the USA a first Generation American and daughter to Ghanian immigrants, she grew up a third culture kid who was keenly aware of--and frustrated by the social and environmental challenges of the world “When you are raised within the cultural context of an entirely different country - it can lead to a lot of identity confusion - and every time I was caught in this trap of helplessness and hopelessness I would wonder, what can I do to change the world?” She only fully internalized her "Americanness" as a teenager. But these feelings of attachment to her Ghanaian roots and her family history stuck with her. By embracing her own identity as that of a Global Citizen, she recognized the interconnectivity of all of our struggles across the world. When you create impact in one area, it can cause a ripple effect in several others. It was this search for meaning and a deep hunger for a better world that led her to start exploring and questioning what role she had to play in the global fight for a more just, more sustainable, and more equitable world. "Without Significant action - there may be more plastic than fish by weight in our oceans before 2050" “I came across a scary statistic - that without significant action, there may be more plastic than fish by weight in our oceans before 2050. This was very moving to me - and it brought on the sad realization that recycling as presently conceptualized simply wasn't working. Global communities have long relied on a Linear Economy model of waste management that involves collecting raw materials, transforming them into products that are then used until they are finally discarded as waste - eventually causing pollution. I noted then that the world needed better waste management ideas.” So she started her Millennium Fellowship Project ‘Countdown CES’ , a technology social enterprise aiming to create a means of transition from the Linear economy model to a Circular Economy (Make - Use - Reuse - Remake - Recycle). Starting in Ghana, the large scale vision is to make this model a reality, and at a more focused scale it is to help fight plastic pollution in Accra - first by reducing the amount of abundant plastic waste through beach and metropolitan cleanups; second by up-cycling and 3D printing eco- friendly, innovative child safety gear and furniture; third by providing skills training and creating jobs in the world of sustainable technology for young Ghanaians; and finally by hosting workshops to educate the greater public about sustainability and effective recycling practices - particularly in their work and home environment. The end goal for Countdown CES is to change the way people look at waste - give it utility and make it valuable again. In Ghana for example, only 2% of potentially recyclable waste is eventuall recycled. 73 Million kilos of PET plastic waste enters the environment annually. “We investigated what was going wrong with respect to waste management - first in Ghana and then around the world, and noted the three critical challenges faced by Global Communities in handling waste were; A lack of infrastructure to support a circular economy and healthy waste disposal practices, A lack of awareness in sustainable waste management, and A lack of access to waste management services and facilities. We therefore sought to offer a Community centered solutions approach to waste management - starting with Project Design (Upcycling) that is directed at global and local markets, creating a waste management system with incorporated technology, and offering community workshops and volunteer initiatives to raise awareness on proper waste management.” Since graduating from the Millennium Fellowship, Countdown CES has collaborated with like-minded partners to help make their sustainability model a reality - including EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service Program) - an award winning social entrepreneurship program at Arizona State University - working together to design recycled products that enhance learning and play. She’s also collaborated with the Luminosity Lab - an interdisciplinary research and development lab driven by a team of highly driven students, and is also working in collaboration with students at the Kwame Nkrumah University in Ghana. Countdown has recently won two grants of 1,000$ and 1,500$ to help in their work. "As you become more informed, you become more passionate about the causes you care about. That is the birth of activism." Jasmine believes in the power and potential of young people to make a difference. She has been awarded the Rising Star Award at ASU for her leadership this year and continues to work for a better world and a cleaner Ghana . She was highlighted as the Student Spotlight on Innovation at ASU through her work with Countdown - and was invited to speak to the new Arizona State University Class of 2025, an audience of 13,000 people. But though Jasmine believes in activism, she says she doesn't consider herself a youth activist. “Am I an activist? Not really. I’m a person who cares - a lot. A nerdy, artsy go getter with a really big heart. Simply put - I believe in better. Her advice to Millennium Fellows looking to get their projects off the grounds is to focus on their 'Why!' - Why they care about their projects and why they care about the Fellowship. As you become more informed, you become more passionate about the causes you care about. That is the birth of activism Connect with Jasmine on LinkedIn. Visit the Countdown CES website Millennium Fellowship Alumni, share your social impact work with us: fellowship@mcnpartners.org

Mr Kinyua Ireri, Dean of students at the University of Nairobi. He has shown keen interest in helping graduates transition into social impact and is passionate about leadership development. He shared the Millennium Fellowship application opportunity with the entire University of Nairobi student community, and continues to show support to young leaders in Kenya. We spoke with him about his passion for social change and belief in student empowerment. We are so honored to connect with you today Dean Kinyua! Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Thank you very much. My name is Johnson Ireri Kinyua and I serve as Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi. I have worked at the university for many years, starting as Head of Alumni in 2012 where I was a liaison between the school and our alumni community, charged with student mentorship and nurturing, before I joined the Directorate of University Advancements as a director in 2015 to help mobilize resources and advance the University's mission. In 2018 I became the school’s Career officer, where I mainly helped graduates navigate careers and tried find opportunities for them, both within the national and global markets. In 2020 I accepted this new challenge as Dean of Students. Outside of work I am a proud father to 3 handsome sons and husband to my beautiful wife Mary. Thank you so much for sharing that! How does your work as Dean and at the Career Office help position students for impactful careers? At the careers office, we offer guidance to students and graduates with regard to career choices. We are therefore a link between the school and the employment industry. We try to open up employment and internship opportunities for our student body, offer career testing and placement, and keep tabs on important opportunities and potential openings. We also organize career fairs for soon to be graduates. As dean of students, I try to make the lives of our students as fulfilling as possible. We offer support to needy students and those with disabilities, both financially through scholarships and mentally through counselling and guidance sessions. An important goal for us is also to help students nurture their skills and develop their talents, so they can develop holistically as well-rounded leaders. In this modern age, it is vital that schools produce well rounded students. We also nurture political organizations and support political expression as we try to prepare students to take leadership within their communities and beyond. I’m happy that this university has historically produced the most legislators and policy makers in the country and we want to continue like this. If we are to shape the future of our country, we must first teach young leaders how to be politically conscious, and how to avoid the lure of bad politics and its immoral corruptions. We also offer spiritual mentorship and emotional assistance to the university community. How did you hear about the Millennium Fellowship and why did you think it was an important opportunity for the University of Nairobi student fraternity? As a university we are always on the lookout for platforms that enrich potential. But we know there are many many programs, some not too good, so we only want to share the best of the best. We found out about the Millennium Fellowship right around the time when the Hult Prize was running in school. Hult has been one of our favorite programs due to its focus on social issues, and so when we realized that interest for the Millennium Fellowship within our student community was as high as that for Hult Prize, we knew there was something there. The Vice Chancellor asked me to look into it and we did some background checks. I was awed by how special this fellowship was. A program that asks students to assess their communities, find social problems, create projects that answer these questions, and receive guidance through every step of the process, is something we had rarely ever seen before. I thought this Fellowship would give our students skills for the future, particularly those that weren’t taught in our classrooms. "We see potential here to stretch students’ imaginations, expand their minds beyond classroom theory and abstract knowledge, and truly turn them into leaders of the 21st century." That interaction with other students both within school and around the world can also help them become global citizens and in future, scale global heights. We also noted from MCN'S 2020 Impact Report, how much important work past cohorts from our university had done. So I took the step and shared this opportunity out to our entire student community. I also supported applicants by offering references and advice, and we remain committed to helping more students join the fellowship. I was thrilled when Sam shared that our University produced the highest number of applications this year, and we want to make sure this remains the same even in 2022 and beyond. Judging from your responses, it seems you hold student leadership development in very high regard. Why is this, and how can more universities around the world create conducive conditions for leadership development? Universities must realize that the world has changed. Now more than ever, the world needs more than just ‘professionals’. It needs people with humility, love and compassion. While schools must of course continue to offer the best classroom education, they must also focus on inculcating these character building values. So first create platforms for students to engage with each other and express themselves. Let students learn how to interact with divergent opinions with grace. Offer regular mentorship. Ask students to do the things they love most, because at the end of the day that's the point of the human experience; seeking self-fulfillment. Don’t limit them or try to fit them within a box - because then they finish their degrees but leave school lost and frustrated. Nurture them, inspire them, and mentor them. Also create spaces for political expression and intellectual fulfillment. Thank you so much Dean Kinyua. Finally, what advice do you have for young students in Africa and around the world who want to grow, learn and become impactful community champions in future? Everybody is born with something. A unique talent or a gift - you just need to find what yours is and then work on developing and perfecting it. I love giving my students the example of Dubai. It is a city built on an unforgiving desert with a vicious climate. Until the 50s, it was a poor place, dependent only on fishing and an unsustainable pearl industry - then they discovered oil. Now it's a global powerhouse! That simple discovery changed the whole course of Dubai's history. So take steps to Discover who you are, Develop that inner you, and then try to Demonstrate that to the world. These are what I like to call the 3D’s of leadership development. Remember also that potential is nothing if it isn't put into practice. Another example here is the egg, which only has the potential to breed life, but must first be incubated or else it will never hatch. Leadership potential therefore is an egg not yet incubated.. This is why it is so important for students to chase opportunities such as these ones, those that sharpen their character, add value and teach hard skills. "Leadership potential is nothing if it is not put into practice" Lastly, and most importantly, remember that character is what defines you. The saying goes, that if you lose money you’ve lost nothing, if you lose health you’ve lost something, but lose character and you’ve lost everything! If the 3D’s (Discover-Develop-Demonstrate) are the ‘hardware’ of leadership development, then the 3C’s (Character-Competence-Commitment) are the software. Competence refers to the skills one needs in their leadership journey, and Commitment refers to their hard work, their discipline and perseverance. Merge the 3D's and the 3C's, and you have the perfect, well rounded young leader. Ice this 'cake' with real passion and you should be ready to conquer the world. Wonderful! Any last thoughts? I'd just like to urge Sam Vaghar and Team MCN to help us set up a Leadership Academy within the university, where outstanding Millennium Fellowship alumni from the University will come back to mentor and inspire younger students. We've seen some incredible fellows with some wonderful projects, and the knowledge and skills they've gained would be invaluable for the younger generation. Thank you Dean Kinyua for sharing your story with us! Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Every year, Shaastra, the annual technical festival of Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Madras, strives to play its part in giving back to society. She Can is a Shaastra initiative, led by a team of 14 students sharing a common goal, that is, to make our country a better place to live in. We believe that education and mentorship have the power to push young people in the right direction, especially in India where many young people still remain uneducated. This has always been our north star. There’s an empowering quote by Maya Angelou which says “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” This quote perfectly sums up our situation in the beginning of last year. We wanted to start a social campaign for our fellowship project as part of the annual technical festival of IIT Madras, but the Covid-19 outbreak uprooted the lives we knew, and in the process totally spoiled our Millennium Fellowship project plans. But, in Maya Angelou’s words, we could not let these events reduce us. And so all 14 of us brainstormed about how we could make the most of this situation, and that is how "She Can", came to life. An SDG 4, (Quality Education) and SDG 5, (Gender Equality) project, She Can is a movement centered around women empowerment through education and upskilling by giving them access to information about the many opportunities available to them. We hope to motivate women and girls in India to explore, to figure out their dreams, then create ideal conditions to enable them make these dreams a reality. The point is to show the world that woman is not limited. That She is not less than a man. That whatever “She Can” dream, she can become. "The point is to show the world that woman is not limited. That She is not less than a man. That whatever “She Can” dream, she can become." The spirit of the sustainable goals is to create a world with equality of opportunity to all people regardless of background. For far too long, women and girls have been marginalized and sidelined by our societies. This must change. We believe that every girl should know about all opportunities available at her disposal and not consider her gender as a disqualification or a hindrance. So we implemented career counselling sessions for young school girls to give them exposure to various career options and, more importantly, to hear from trailblazing women; those who are shaking up the corporate status quo by conquering previously male dominated spaces, and those that took up jobs considered ‘unconventional’. We also noticed the wide gap between the number of men and women entrepreneurs in India, and therefore decided to initiate entrepreneurship enlightenment sessions for college girls to motivate them to start their own ventures. On top of this we also conducted financial literacy sessions for working women to make them understand the importance of proper financial management. So far, we’ve impacted the lives of 600+ women through career counseling sessions, entrepreneurship talks and financial literacy sessions. Since its founding, ‘She Can’ has been featured on various national media platforms such as the Hindu, Times Now and NDTV. We’ve also been recognized by the Indian Ministry of Education and the Hon. Education Minister, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal. While we remain proud of the progress we’ve made and the goals we’ve achieved, we realize that there’s still a long way to go. This is true especially in developing countries, where women are still marginalized and underrepresented. In places like these, where patriarchy and its systems have taken root, young people must go above and beyond to empower women through education and upskilling. "In places like these, where patriarchy and its systems have taken root, young people must go above and beyond to empower women through education and upskilling." Even in India, this war is far from won. Statistics say that only 13% of Indian women have gone past primary education. We are laying concrete plans for the project and hope to expand it across various age groups and social strata. Still, for how far we’ve come, we owe deep gratitude to the Millennium Campus Network! Our project being accepted into the Millennium Fellowship strengthened our belief and hardened our resolve. The continuous guidance and assessment of the project throughout those 4 months laid the groundwork for us. The skills and values taught provided the springboard upon which we built this movement. "The continuous guidance and assessment of the project throughout those 4 months laid the groundwork for us. The skills and values taught provided the springboard upon which we built this movement" Thank you for believing in this vision, and for helping us mold it to respond to the needs of our communities. Thank you also for providing the platform, the transformative curriculum, and the connections that allowed us to get in touch with like-minded fellows from all over the world who are also passionate about the SDGs. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for making all this possible. She Can Website, She Can Campaign Video Thank you "She Can" for sharing your inspiring story. Millennium Fellows, if you have a story you feel our community should hear, please reach us here: fellowship@mcnpartners.org Connect with Aditi Waykode on Linked In. Connect with Nitish Gupta on Linked In.

Hello Lara! So happy to meet with you, please tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Lara Starck and I was a 2020 Millennium Fellow at the University College London. I just graduated with a bachelors in International Relations and will soon be starting a Masters Degree in Management at ESSEC. I chose to go there because, as you may know, it has a strong focus on social impact. I’m currently pursuing a summer internship program here in Paris, and will soon be starting a new challenge as a 180 degrees consultancy branch founder. I have been involved in Social work since I was little. It always came automatically for me, trying to find solutions for social problems around my community. But I never really considered it as a potential career path, until I got really serious with it during my bachelor's degree. I worked at an Incubator affiliated with the University of Bologna called Almacube, where I learnt about Social enterprise & initiative. But I found my north star when I volunteered to help mentor refugees at an NGO called Salusbury World in London. My time there really opened my eyes to the plight many refugees in England and around Europe face, particularly on the question of access to education. you find that many aren’t able to apply to higher education institutions because they don’t have access to the right resources, like someone helping them write a personal statement, and so are unable to improve their situations. I then had this vision to bring university students together to help refugees in London access higher education and learn English, but I did not know where to start or how to proceed with the idea. That is when I applied to the Millennium Fellowship to learn how to actualize this social impact vision. "I applied to the millennium fellowship to learn how to actualize my social impact vision" Amazing! Could you please share how you came to learn about the fellowship, why you chose to apply, and how it has impacted you? Honestly, I just saw the fellowship and immediately applied! I thought it was a wonderful concept, and turns out it was also wonderfully executed. I really appreciate how fellows are guided and accompanied through every step of their project building and social impact planning, because personally I really needed it. Sometimes you just need someone to believe in your vision, to assure you that it makes sense, and to hold your hand through every step of the way. But the most amazing part for me was the community and networking! I know you get this a lot, but the idea of meeting like-minded people, creating a positive community and forming a common bond that is held together by shared ideas of social impact is so powerful. I’d finally found people with whom I could interact, ask questions, share insecurities, and sometimes even speak endlessly about my dreams without feeling like I was a bore. It’s so important for young people to have such spaces. It also allows space for people to draw inspiration from each other and to create potentially lifelong bonds. I remember one thing that really inspired me was watching how people were able to adapt their projects to conform to a Covid-19 world, even though most were actually created in non-covid realities. My schoolmate Alex, for example, adapted quickly and created a beautiful project where he interviewed local shopkeepers in London, asking how the pandemic had affected their lives. It was all just really awesome. You're taught not only to create projects, but also to focus on responding to concrete community needs. I also deeply appreciated the focus on values. I can't stress enough just how important it is to stay humble, especially for young people who are just about to start their careers. This world needs empathy, kindness and inclusion and the fellowship curriculum stressed this a lot. Awesome! Tell us about your new challenge at 180 Degrees. Yes! I’ll be starting a 180 Degrees consultancy branch at my school! 180 provides consultancy services for nonprofits and social organizations by leveraging young people’s social impact knowledge, training them in consultancy, then sending them out to assist social organizations and NGOs within their communities. It felt natural to take on this challenge so soon after the millennium fellowship, because they are two very complimentary programs. Imagine how impactful it would be if Millennium Fellows were able to get assistance on areas such as feasibility development for projects, sharpening their strategic missions, capabilities development and impact measurement during or after the fellowship? I've made it my long term goal to try to make this possible. External help is always so useful, and I know many young changemakers need it. I would love to create an optional service for fellows who are stuck with their projects to get consulting services. Thank you so much Lara! Having gained all these lessons, how do you plan to use them at 180 Degrees and in your future social impact work? Learning the power of a network was lifechanging for me! There’s a lot of good ideas out there - so many projects, but not enough collaboration. But I think we can only achieve the Sustainable Goals if we work together. In London for example, there’s over 100 education oriented refugee projects, so imagine how overwhelming it must be for refugees trying to find information. "Learning the power of a network was lifechanging for me!" I realized that if there was a way to connect NGOs working in near-similar areas, helping redirect innovative projects to work with organizations with similar objectives, would hugely benefit people in need easily find organizations or projects that work best for them. That idea of a reference in social impact is what the fellowship does for young undergrad projects. I then realized that though my passion remains in social impact, my next logical step should be consulting. I’d like to use this “behind the scenes” knowledge to help NGOs find solutions. Lastly, what advice do you have for any young undergrad looking to go into social impact? The first thing is don’t be afraid to get started! When I started my fellowship project, I honestly didn’t know what in the world I was doing! (we were laughing about this with my friends). But you try this, you try that, and suddenly you are on the right path. Also just surround yourself with the right people - those that nourish you and get the best out of you. Our organization has only 10-12 people and they're all so great! Without them we’d be nowhere. Lastly, please reach out! Look for people you could learn from and contact them-ask lots of questions, even when they seem obvious. It’s scary at first but it builds you exponentially. I remember after starting my project, I was messaging 3 people everyday on LinkedIn. Many didn’t reply, and that’s fine. But the ones that did gave me the most priceless guidance/advice. So stay curious, because you’ll always have something to learn! Thank you Lara for sharing your story with us! Alumni, tell us how your post fellowship impact work is going: fellowship@mcnpartners.org Connect with Lara on LinkedIn Follow her Impact Initiative Project on Instagram.

We had a chat with Millennium Fellowship alumni Toluwalashe Soyemi from Nigeria and Kendi Juma from Kenya, who have both been selected to be among the fifteen-member Born This Way Foundation Advisory Board. Born This Way is a foundation co-founded by Lady Gaga and led by her mother Cynthia Germonatta that is aimed at demonstrating the power of kindness to impact well-being, validating the emotions of young people everywhere, and eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health. The advisory board plays a pivotal role in the planning and execution of programs, campaigns, and projects core to the foundation’s mission. Kendi and Tolu are 2020 and 2018 Millennium Fellowship alumni respectively. We asked them a few questions about their time during the Fellowship, their experiences since graduation, and their new adventure at Born This Way: Tolu and Kendi, so great to connect with both of you! Please tell us a little bit about yourselves. KENDI: “Thank you. My name is Kendi Juma, a 2020 Millennium Fellow and a final year law student at the University of Nairobi. My Fellowship project was a campaign titled "Heights and Depths", which started partly in response to the increasing numbers of mental health issues caused by the pandemic, and partly from the need to provide necessary pandemic essentials to struggling families within my community. First, we organized online fundraisers that enabled us to donate face masks to over 100 poor school going children, then we initiated physical and online conversations centered around mental health, creating safe spaces for young people to open up, be heard, and find community.” TOLU: “My name is Soyemi Toluwalashe, a 5th year medical student from the Lagos State University, and a 2018 Millennium Fellow and Campus Director. I am a Mental health advocate with particular interest in the wellbeing of young people in Nigeria. I have made it a personal mission to try and fight the stigma and discrimination associated with mental unwellness in Nigeria. I am also passionate about personal development, having been in the development space for 6 years now. My goal is to help young leaders bridge the gap between potential and performance by providing them with training and access to opportunities and resources.” "The Millennium Fellowship helped me discover my passion for change." Kendi Awesome! How has life been for both of you since you graduated from the Millennium Fellowship? KENDI: "The Millennium Fellowship helped me discover my passion for change, and gave me the realization that social impact has always been my calling. Since I graduated I’ve been able to navigate the social entrepreneurship space better. I’m also glad to share that I have discovered my passion for climate action. Before the Fellowship, I did not fully understand the issue of climate change, because you never hear much about that in Africa, but after interacting with the community of Fellows from around the world, and attending SDG conversation hours, Goal 13 piqued my interest! I realized how important and urgent climate action is and have not turned back since. I’ve since been selected as a Global Champion for Climate action, and just recently won a $1,000 grant from BYLC to assist my climate work. I’ve also joined the Foundation for Climate Restoration where I get to learn more about what we can do as the young generation to save our planet.” TOLU: “Life has been an adventure! The Millennium Fellowship was by far the best organized and most impactful program I have ever been involved in. It gave me the right opportunities and resources to jump into my next phase of leadership. Since I graduated, I have gone through a long journey of learning. I’ve enjoyed many successes and I’ve faced many failures. But the transformative Fellowship curriculum prepared me for all this and more. I have recently won the Diana Award, and continue to walk into more opening doors.” Congratulations on your appointment to the Born This Way Advisory Board! Can you both tell us a little bit about the foundation an why this is so important to you? KENDI: “Thank you! Born This Way was co-founded by Lady Gaga as a mental health platform that tries to spread love, warmth and kindness to all people around the world. It also teaches the need to appreciate diversity and embrace differences. I learnt about this opportunity through the Millennium Fellowship and thought it resonated so I applied. Honestly, when the response came I was totally surprised, in a good way of course, because I simply didn’t think I was going to make it. But I took the leap of faith and now here I am! I guess there’s a lesson there, on self confidence and self belief! I’m just completely honored and humbled to be representing the African girl and to be able to voice her cry.” TOLU: “Thank you very much. Born this way is aligned with my personal vision of a warmer, happier continent. It promotes bravery and supports kindness and these are what Nigeria and the rest of Africa need the most right now. I thought it was a very unique opportunity that would help me help my community and so applying was a no-brainer. Now I want to use this opportunity to reach out to my peers across Nigeria, to scale my work and lay foundations for a long impactful career. Thank you Team MCN for the recommendation and for helping alumni find these doors.” How did the training, connections and credentials gained during the Fellowship help you as you went into these new challenges and adventures? KENDI: "I have always been a shy girl, and though it's not necessarily a bad trait, sometimes this timidity made me miss out on opportunities. But after the Millennium Fellowship I have been able to approach openings and opportunities with courage and self belief. In terms of practical skills, the lessons on pitching and approaching donors have helped me win grants to implement my projects. I also learnt from my cohort the value in teams, and the beauty in working together to chase goals bigger than each of us. Also just having the Millennium Fellowship credential on my CV has given me an upper hand I believe. So I’m now more equipped for a long leadership journey and hopefully a fruitful career in social impact. TOLU: The Millennium Fellowship gave me great self confidence. But more importantly, it gave me the relevant knowledge to back that up. The curriculum is very insightful, it builds you and sharpens you. It helped me narrow my interests, find my voice and identify my passion. Sometimes as a young leader you can be clouded by the idealism of change without taking time to figure out what exactly you are best equipped to change, so the Fellowship definitely helped me with that. I have also found friendship and support in my cohort mates, and have opened up new networks that I otherwise would never have found. I also appreciated the willingness by Sam and the team to write recommendations for promising former Fellows. The recommendation provided by him helped me secure the Born this way foundation opportunity.” "The Fellowship helped me narrow my interests, find my voice and identify my passion." Toluwalashe Anything you'd like to share with prospective fellows, alumni and young leaders around Africa? KENDI: “I would encourage them to think beyond borders and their countries and start considering themselves global citizens, because Africa can be one big beautiful community if we all just pull together. I want young Africans to embrace this world and realize that it can be theirs. They should believe in themselves, never sell themselves short and aggressively chase opportunities for growth. For 2021 Fellows, make sure to value this platform! Your cohort mates might end up being lifelong friends and partners, so learn teamwork! Improve your organizing and leadership, and remember in everything you do you cannot separate compassion from impact, so let love guide everything you do. Most importantly, take good care of your mental health. It is easy for young social activists to get overwhelmed, isolated and end up disappearing into dark places. So spread love and ensure you stay around people that share theirs with you” TOLU: “I know this will sound cliché, but I'd just tell them to never give up! Embrace the frustration, learn from the fear, but never stop moving. I’d tell them to find ways to motivate themselves, even in the face of failure, even in the face of defeat. Realize the importance of community. Create support groups with friends and colleagues. Share your pain and celebrate your success. Find mentors who have been there and done that, because it is important to stand on the shoulders of giants. Above all, I’d urge all of them to be mindful of their mental health. At a time when a mental health crisis is ravaging African youth, we must all learn to care for ourselves and for the people around us.” Thank you Kendi and Tolu for sharing your story with us! Alumni, if you have a story that you think our community needs to hear, email us: fellowship@mcnpartners.org Connect with Kendi on Linkedin. Connect with Tolu on LinkedIn.

Millennium Fellows at National Institute of Technology Karnataka Surathkal share their Millennium Fellowship project, Nurture, a project that aims to provide mother-child kits to provide antenatal care for mothers and to inculcate the importance of education and immunization for children. “If the poor cannot come to Education, Education must go to him.” - Swami Vivekananda What makes a sustainable system of development? Is it a system that enables the complete eradication of oppressiveness of marginalized communities? Or is it the idea of striving towards the end goal of empowerment and creating a long term self-sustaining system? Our cohort consists of 8 diverse students, joining together with one motive, that was to create a change in any way that we can. For our cause to be recognized to be a part of the Millennium Fellowship Program only strengthened our need and passion for making a difference. As part of advancing towards SDG-3, ‘Good Health and Well-being’, our team initiated a project named ‘Nurture’. The focus of this initiative pivots around the holistic development of women and children by focusing on the grassroots of their various issues. Financial barriers and a lack of awareness can deter children from pursuing their goals and can likewise prevent women from the work they wish to do or even taking care of their well-being. We want to nurture the community that nurtures us and work towards a more wholesome future for all. From tackling issues such as Menstrual Health and Financial Literacy, we aim to empower women through education and also support underprivileged children’s learning endeavors. This led us to organize our first on-ground operation: a​ sanitary kit drive.​ Located in Bangalore, Periyar Nagar in Devarajeevana Halli is an area with many underprivileged communities residing there. Unfortunately, proper sanitation and personal hygiene are not easily accessible to women in that area, and there is a lack of awareness regarding the same. This being our first self-funded project, we learned a lot of important lessons. We supplied the women with 4000 oxo-Biodegradable pads, 100 Dettol bottles and 100 tissue packs, all distributed in eco-friendly cloth bags, ensuring 100 kits in total. Reflecting upon our goals and progress in this initiative so far, our focus is now directed towards our various upcoming projects. As one of our projects, we aim to emphasize ​Mother-Child care​ by raising awareness regarding antenatal care for mothers and instilling the significance of immunisation of the child after birth. The percentage of Mothers in India implementing proper antenatal care is on a low, and women in rural communities are unaware of the same. We seek to provide Mother-Child kits, consisting of books, sanitary napkins, the essential information in regional languages regarding immunisation of the child and guidance in the various stages of pregnancy for the Mother. We are working towards forming a more definite structure for this project and towards hopefully widening our social impact outreach. Educating Children and helping in providing them with a better future and more opportunities in their lives is a goal that is close to all of our hearts in Nurture. For most underprivileged families, education is not a priority as compared to different aspects of their life and is also not easily accessible. Our goal is to encourage education as well as providing them clear guidance on the next step in their life, in accordance with their needs and financial situation. Researching in-depth about educational schemes and Scholarship programs, we aim to provide more affordable, accessible alternatives to underprivileged students that they can avail and utilise for further opportunities and Higher Studies. We also aim to implement a ​peer-mentoring program w​ here students educate other students through regular peer-to-peer engagement. The Millennium Fellowship has provided us with the nudge to bring our goals and dreams to action. We made new friends, connected globally, learned what it means to be inclusive, compassionate and the importance of education and the lasting impact it has. Having the necessary tools and getting educated on the leadership traits we have to acquire to accomplish what we wish to achieve through the project was a valuable addition, something that we will carry forward in both our personal and professional journeys. “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” - Helen Keller. Partcipating Millennium Fellows: Adithya Lhs, Liz George, Nishchith Sriram, Prajna Hebbar, Supritha Harishankar Suraj Jagannath, Vageesha Mishra, Yash Gupta

Millennium Fellow Simran Gulati and Muskan Shah from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University walk us through how they launched their Millennium Fellowship project, Rethinking Fashion to promote sustainable fashion.

Millennium Fellow Lunanga Michel Ushindi and Mkilania Esther Isack partnered to launch their Millennium Fellowship project, Life Through Arts. This initiative encourages and advocates for creative cultural activity in all its forms. In this article, Michel and Esther share what inspired them to start this project and how Life Through Arts became a resource for children to cope with traumatic events and learn that they are not alone. Walking Through Untold Stories Written by: Michel Lunanga & Esther Mkilania Esther interviewed Kataliko Jean, an eleven year old boy in Mbezi town in Dar Es Salaam Tanzania. His positive attitude and contagious smile towards everything stood out more than his ragged clothes. He always saw the good even when things went wrong. With intense curiosity, Esther asked him how he does it? How does he always stay positive even when things fall apart? He said, "I don't allow myself to be victimized by bad thoughts. If it ever gets too much, then I take a deep breath and thank God. After that, I always feel better." This stands out to us because we also experienced traumatic events. Michel was born in conflict due to the ongoing strife in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He grew up with uncertainties of whether he will go back home safely or lose his family due to the chaos. This led to physical, financial and emotional trauma. On the other hand, Esther is a rape survivor. The single night has affected Esther in all aspects of her life - often leading her to feel nervous and discouraged. The continuous struggle and mental trauma made recovery a battle. For us both, art and creative work helped us slowly recover and cope with the daily post-traumatic stress and struggles we experienced. Through writing and blogging, Esther was able to reach and connect with people who shared similar stories which helped her realize that she is not alone. For Michel, media and photography helped him take his struggles and use it to empower other at-risk young people. In addition to being International Business Administration students at the United States International University in Kenya, our passion for art and shared vision brought us together to launch the initiative, Life through Arts, promoting pertinent issues such as human rights protection, gender equality, and supporting disadvantaged and marginalized groups of people by reviving arts in all its forms. Our goal is to support children and young people in rural communities in Congo and Tanzania through arts and encourage them to use art as a medium for self-expression. Throughout the Millennium Fellowship program, we learned the power of having a vision, which supports our core values of empowerment, integrity and passion. We believe in a world that embraces all forms of art and highlights the local or international challenges such as poverty, unemployment or human right violations. Art provides a sense of hope to people when they're lost and struggling by seeing the world through a different angle and exploring different perspectives in life. As leaders, we need to understand that we are not protagonists, but we are sidekicks. Kataliko Jean was one of the twenty kids we supported over the past few months. Each child we met was unique in their own way. Michel recently met a young girl, Laura Ntumba, who was going through psychological disorder after witnessing the slaughtering of her family in the Beni region in Congo. After spending time with her, Michel learned that she enjoyed drawing and painting using imagery. Through Life through Arts, we provided Laura with the tools to help her continue drawing. For Laura, drawing helps her deal with anxiety and think about something else other than memories of war. Through painting and drawing, she was able to dream of a new world - different from the one she witnessed. A world where she feels loved and protected. We are confident that by time, art will be able to heal her and allow her to look at the world positively. We have just concluded our Millennium Fellowship program, but our journey is not over. We are excited to continue our work and support more children. As we reflect on our experience through the Fellowship, one advice we would like to give other Millennium Fellows and young leaders working towards social change to be be honest and passionate. Make sure you put yourself out there, build connections with others, and keep impacting the world most of all. As the late Nelson Mandela said “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. ... It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” About our Millennium Fellowship project: Life Through Arts is an organization that encourages and advocates for creative cultural activity in all its forms by joining everything from traditional amateur arts and crafts to digital format. This project was carried out by Lunanga Michel Ushindi and Mkilania Esther Isack, powered by Millennium Fellowship Class of 2020.

“Sometimes as a leader you have to be willing to take a step back in order for the team to move forward” Serving as Campus Directors at Griffith University has been an invaluable learning journey for us both. This opportunity has allowed us to better recognise our strengths and understand how we can put these values into practice. Every meeting we start by asking ourselves “What can we do to make this a rich and engaging experience for our Millennium Fellowship cohort?” This has forced us (in the best possible way) to get creative with our training sessions by going beyond to offer our Millennium Fellows unique experiences, such as professional networking with industry mentors and emerging youth leaders. From the beginning we both shared what we hoped to achieve as Campus Directors and the different skillsets we possess. For example, Rachel is an absolute powerhouse with using our communications platform on Teams (including troubleshooting which is no small feat) and Kimberley enjoys putting together graphic design content for our announcements. It has been great to learn from one another during this process and setting aside time for us to build a shared vision as Campus Directors has made this experience all the more rewarding. Tips that we have for other Campus Directors include setting up a regular meeting time to prepare content and communications with the team. Once we fell into our rhythm, we were able to utilise this time to plan ahead and get more creative. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to look to your university networks to see if you can find additional support through professional mentorship. We were extremely grateful to Griffith University for allowing us to collaborate with Faculty Advisors through our Griffith Honours College and our Sustainability Office. One of the biggest challenges we faced, yet were able to work through together, was adapting to different learning styles. As avid students of psychology, we utilised visual, auditory, and reading/writing exercises to accommodate for different preferences. Transforming content into interactive activities was also a great way for everyone to participate in thought- provoking discussion. Keeping everyone engaged and finding a time that worked for everyone was also challenging in the beginning. Our advice is to try and keep an open mind and be willing to be flexible. Sometimes this means checking in more frequently, being receptive to feedback and revising your plan to better suit the needs of the team. As Campus Directors we realised that when we took a step back from our schedule and listened to the concerns of our team, we were able to move forward together. The Millennium Fellowship has sparked in us, as Campus Directors and Millennium Fellows, the ability to lead and find courage in turning our ideas into action. It really is a privilege to work alongside a group of amazing like-minded youth from around the world as we step into the role as facilitators with a dream to support and empower others.

In December of 2004, Ganesh Dileep was woken up in the dead of the night and forced to flee his home in Kerala, India, with nothing but the clothes on his back to escape the notorious Indian Ocean Tsunami. In the days following the tsunami, the effects and destruction on his hometown were palpable. Not only did Ganesh suffer massive losses to his home but also several of his friends, neighbors, and relatives did not survive the tsunami. Years later, he once again saw the effects of climate change first hand when he moved to Chennai for his education, another Indian city that is constantly seeing cataclysmic events. “Just last year Chennai ran out of groundwater. The drought reached a level of emergency where lower and lower-middle-class struggled to buy or get access to drinking water.” It is these events that Ganesh says have continued to “haunt him” and became his reason to build climate resilience in India. "I know how it feels to be woken up from sleep one night and spend days unsure of whether your home exists or not. I know how it feels to lose it; to watch others lose their homes, belongings, and lives. I know that it is too late now to entirely right the wrongs of those we have inherited this world from. The least I can do is help the world be better prepared.” In order to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change, Ganesh and his team of student leaders have joined forces to work on their project, Campus Climate Collective. These students at IIT Madras are trying to create India’s first university-based integrated Climate Study Center on their campus. According to Ganesh, his university already has a lot of people working in climate action technology and invention. Despite the abundance of innovation, a lot of work needs to be done to create lasting impact . He had to ask himself why  the best engineering school in India had been unable to achieve large-scale impact in this area and he soon realized that the key challenge was that there was no overarching framework that facilitates interdisciplinary research, collaboration, or funding in the field of climate action. “There is no one channel for climate action research and innovation; it is all spread out between professors and disciplines and it is very confusing for people to collaborate or work with each other. Right now, it is a messy situation.” When structuring the Climate Study center, Ganesh drew inspiration from the climate centers that he had seen during his exchange semester at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He and his team used cluster mapping to look at the research domains that are prioritized by his university and came up with core research areas for the study center: fuel cells/battery capabilities, air quality, electric vehicles and clean fuel, sustainable cities and built environment, clean water, and green enterprise marketing. This will allow the study center to become a nodal point where professors and scholars can come with their ideas, projects, and research on all projects that have overlap with climate action. This would allow for research where climate action overlaps with other areas such as poverty, education, or gender equality to thrive and would foster broader learning and cooperation. Currently, Ganesh and his team are working on their Statement of Purpose and developing an operating procedure for what the center will entail. They also need to approach the student legislator as they are the ones who determine funding. Although they fully expect that some of their funding for the center will come through the university, fundraising and networking events, they also hope that the center can get sponsored research projects. Despite being extremely organized and passionate about this project, Ganesh expects that implementing the first Climate Study Center will be an uphill battle. This is because study centers are usually set up by university deans, alumni batches or a group of professors. Because this is a student-led movement, they are contacting professors in the domain along with students and research scholars who are enthusiastic about climate change to support their initiative. However, even though this project is an unprecedented move, Ganesh feels it is one that is needed due to extreme changes that are taking place in his region right now. “The extent of climate change is extreme. Right now as we speak parts of my state Kerala, up north, just a few kilometers away from my place, are experiencing landslides and huge floods taking place. Additionally, I research the Himalayas. And the people who live there, they tell me that it hasn’t snowed there in the last 8 years and that’s the main watershed region for 8 countries from Afghanistan all the way to Bangladesh so it’s really scary right now.” Because Ganesh’s project relies heavily on the approval of his university’s administration he feels that being part of a prestigious fellowship, such as the Millennium Fellowship gives his project more legitimacy. “I feel I am better equipped and in a position of relative advantage when you compare it to other students and the gen student body. There is a lot more of a sense of being official and being part of something as prestigious as the Millennium Fellowship.” He also hopes that being part of the Fellowship will allow him to network with other like-minded colleagues in the climate action discipline and let him reach his larger goal of replicating Climate Change Centers in universities all across India and potentially in other global locations where the concept has not yet taken hold. “The Millennium Fellowship provides me with a large amount of connections and networks. In the long run, my project is one that I want to replicate not only in my university but across several universities that currently lack the infrastructure or capacity to have dedicated climate study centers. I really want this climate center on my campus and I want it to be similarly modeled across other universities. I want this to be my legacy when I leave this institution and I feel that the Fellowship gives me a platform to engage with my university administration as more than just a student to get it done.” *Campus Climate Collective is a project that was founded by Ganesh and is being worked on by several Millennium Fellows (Sadhana Nadathur, Sathya Priya Ganeshkumar, and Anand Krishna Unni) along with other student leaders at IIT Madras.