Fill in the Blank

Fill in the Blank

SO YOU CAN HELP OTHERS TO FILL THEIRS

by Rodrigo López Techera University Innovation Fellow Universidad de Montevideo

Throughout my life I’ve always been happy; I had a great childhood and such. Then, there were the college years. In my first year, there was nothing out of the ordinary: getting used to timetables, studying harder, being organized, etc. It was in my second year that something changed. Some advert had been posted about a program called UIF. “Me picó el bicho” (“I got bitten by the bug”, a way of saying my curiosity was awakened). So I applied, and didn’t make the cut, as my university had its own pre-application process and only a few students were selected to apply for the program, but I stayed around, as some innovation and entrepreneurship event was going to be organized by my university, and what these guys were planning actually sounded cool. That was the starting point of everything. I worked with an unmatched, energetic, warm group of people during the span of two months for an international five-day intensive workshop. The prevailing feeling inside me was “I want more of this! Why am I not having more of this in my life?” That year I had started being an assistant teacher in a robotics course, and the feeling was quite the same there, but with less intensity. From there, I just wanted to do more, to give more. To help someone with my free time, to show them what they are capable of, to give more opportunities to everyone. These events started a spark inside me, so I wanted to do the same for others. How? What am I good at? What superpower do I have? Then I realized I had the superpower of understanding people. So I started doing what I believe this program does for everyone: not exploiting technical skills nor throwing lots of theoretical content to students and friends, but rather showing them that they can _____. That blank space could be taking up a new hobby, changing something in their neighborhood, creating a space for a minority community, just founding a club to hang out and meet new people, or creating a solution to solve a world-class issue. From big to small, any size. My blank is showing students what they can achieve with learning in courses, and showing them they can do it at any pace. To give support, and understand them, so that they can become better versions of themselves. Kindling inner passions, one at a time. Having spent my time in what made me happy for a whole year, I applied again to UIF and got in! I always believed that if you really wanted to make a change, you would do it no matter what group you belong to or not, but it was a great feeling knowing that I’d have the chance to connect with a lot of people that have the same passion for guiding and enlightening other than me!

Having attended the meetup, that spark, that “I want more and to do more” feeling came back even stronger, and my will to guide whoever I could in filling their blank got a massive boost. And I’ll start by posing the following question: For you, reader, how can you fill that blank that will inspire you and help you inspire others too? Just try new things and it will come for sure. New foods, friends, environments. Start from where you feel comfortable and push that limit at your own pace. I’m sure you will find that unmatched energy and be able to spread it out too!