As described by his Instructor, Harold is “an expert in the class, asks analytical questions, pushes himself and others to learn content and understand the big picture.” She sees a “world of potential in Harold” and thinks that “if given the opportunity he could utilize these skills in any field that he chooses”. As a hard working spirit and a devotion to helping others, Harold is a positive leader who is smart and funny. As a native Dominican, Harold “want[s] to pay contributions to [his] home country by caring about the issues that and problems that my people are facing there”. He is very proactive in participating in meaningful activities, politically, locally and socially. Professionally he wishes to become an environmentally conscious engineer “who helps architects by combining math with education or business”. Harold, whom has never traveled before—apart from when he first came to the USA—wishes to create better neighborhoods, communities and schools which kids won’t have to skip. He sees potential as “the power to do something really important, to make changes in our community, with skills and a profound desire to do something”.
Harold says that “I am in Global Potential because I want to have the opportunity to help the community and gain experience about real life issues. I want to be able to help not only my community, but the whole society in general. Through the training and hard work that I am doing in Global Potential, I hope to learn how to be more active in my own community and how I can make a difference in the world. The Dominican Republic is my community because I was born there, and I want to give something back to that community and learn how people struggle everyday, which can help me encourage other people in New York or wherever I live to appreciate what they have and take advantage of their education. I want to help people in a way that would change their lives forever. I know that one way we are going to help people is by doing a Venture related to what we like to do and things that other people enjoy. This is important because we are using our knowledge and activities that we like to create something that is fun, educative, and rewarding. In Global Potential I will use my time to do very valuable things, which are to help people with my own hands in another country, learn ways to solve big issues in my community in New York, encourage others to make a difference, and acquire experience about the real world.
Harold continues: “In Global Potential, we are using our creativity and our skills to help people in way that we’ll know. In other words, we are helping the community in the Dominican Republic with our own ideas, which means that we are developing as young entrepreneurs and community volunteers. My point is that we are acquiring certain experiences through this program, which is what I want to gain from it. This program will change my life because I won’t just be a kid who lives in New York anymore, but a young man who has dedicated a lot of time to help others and push himself to learn new ways of helping others. I will learn things that I hope will give me an idea of how much help the world needs and how much help I can give to others. Global Potential will affect me in a positive way, and it will give me the experience necessary to help others and on my own and create new ways to make the world better for all of us.”
