The Vision for Innovation

Service-learning, this short phrase in itself has such a deep meaning to it. I chose the
clubhouse as my service-learning option because it would provide an option to serve and to
learn. Learning more from circumstances around the place and from the people around.
I choose to be close to children and help add value to their lives. Being associated with
children and working for the people was part of something I did while I was assigned my
political post. Off lately I’ve been revolving around a very professional circle and I still feel
my heart belongs in the place where children are. I believe children are the future if we can
add value to their life means we are blessing someone’s future indirectly. Being a speaker
on impact investing I am strongly connected with children and the community, thus as a
result, I chose the clubhouse network because it provided me the opportunity to be a
mentor, it is a big word but involves a lot of responsibility too.

I had a very stereotypical opinion of the neighbourhood thinking of it not being so safe at
first and being an American black neighbourhood which at first made me uncomfortable. I
as an individual am very scared to be in these places, but the clubhouse is the place which
appeals in the neighbourhood. Once you realise the culture, the history associated with
place then it becomes more appreciative. Visiting the place, understanding and learning
mire changed my mind. Soon, time passed and it has been a little over a month. I feel like
this neighbourhood is where the clubhouse should be. The goal of the clubhouse is to cater
to the children/ young adults to create something new. The vision for innovation is
something that appeals to me from the clubhouse.

After mentoring children from diverse backgrounds, I began to understand the importance
of my community too. How the culture determines an individual’s thoughts and
perspectives. Coming in with a very narrow mind-set that the clubhouse would cater to only
STEM activities was one of my biggest mistakes. What I learnt was, we have to and we should
keep our minds open at all times, because we don’t know how we may encounter things
and learn from them. Ironically, I believe that the clubhouse has every activity other than
things related to STEM. The founder’s idea to create and not consume is very prevalent. We
have everything from creating music beats, clay modelling, wood models, drawings, art
work and absolutely anything one human would wish to do.

My goal as an individual is to add value to society and my community. Therefore, the
clubhouse turned out to be so apt for me because it helped me gain perspective towards
things which I wouldn’t have even thought about ever. I realized the importance of family,
diversity, and community as a whole. On a smaller level, I communicated with a boy who
came to the clubhouse who wanted to create a video game because his imagination
supports him to. The desire and willingness to do something motivates me too.

My thoughts and opinions on smaller, but real meaningful, things of life have changed after
this service-learning experience. Serving a community which is unknown is helping me
widen my horizons as a whole. I learnt how to deal with circumstances in a very different
and efficient manner. I look to the manager Jeff for managing circumstances and dealing
with them with the best possible way. This is something I believe is so important in shaping
the life of an individual.

At the end of the day, once you help someone, do good for someone, add value to anyone
we feel accomplished. As educated young adults, it is our duty and responsibility to learn
and help people around us learn.
In deal making terms I’d say – Sometimes it’s important to be a collectivist to achieve the
WIN-WIN.