SI opening ceremony – a true sense of belonging and inspiration
This week, Lamiaa Bakry shares her impressions of this year's kick-off event in Stockholm. Lamiaa is currently a Master’s student of Strategic Entrepreneurship at Jönköping University.
On September 14, the Swedish Institute welcomed a new batch of SI-scholarship holders at the 2019 kick-off event in Stockholm. Many of us expected it to be a simple opening ceremony. But guess what? We were surprised! The ceremony was much more than this: it was a representation of who we are – a group of ambitious, smart, and active world leaders from different corners of the world celebrating their baby steps in Sweden. Sharing this exciting moment with fellow scholarship holders from different cultures and nationalities gave us a strong sense of belonging to the SI Network for Future Global Leaders.
During the event, the program directors gave us a warm welcome, followed by former scholarship holders and members of local NFGL networks sharing their experiences. The highlight of the event was, however, an inspirational talk from Brian Palmer on how the true leaders, with their courage, changes the world. The speech was inspiring, motivating, and mind-blowing. We could not help but think that we, as future global leaders, also want to leave a mark by making the world a better place for everyone. After Brian was done with his speech, our eyes were full of tears and our hearts were filled with hope and motivation to unlock our full potential and reach the best versions of ourselves.
There is no better way to communicate what this event meant to us than through the voices of the other Jönköping University NFGL members who attended the kick-off ceremony:
“Being part of the SI Kick-off ceremony was a unique opportunity not only to get the inspiration from former scholars, but also to get a better sense of our potential as SI scholarship holders. The inspiration from the ones that have already advanced the path within the network was fundamental for us. It was like visualizing now what we can achieve in the future with commitment and determination. From our perspective, the NFGL makes a difference in the way we approach our master's degree studies, as it enables us to go beyond the academic setting and get hands-on experience to solve real-life issues.”
– Leo Arboleda, Colombia, Master Student of Digital Business
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On September 14, the Swedish Institute welcomed a new batch of SI-scholarship holders at the 2019 kick-off event in Stockholm. Many of us expected it to be a simple opening ceremony. But guess what? We were surprised! The ceremony was much more than this: it was a representation of who we are – a group of ambitious, smart, and active world leaders from different corners of the world celebrating their baby steps in Sweden. Sharing this exciting moment with fellow scholarship holders from different cultures and nationalities gave us a strong sense of belonging to the SI Network for Future Global Leaders.
During the event, the program directors gave us a warm welcome, followed by former scholarship holders and members of local NFGL networks sharing their experiences. The highlight of the event was, however, an inspirational talk from Brian Palmer on how the true leaders, with their courage, changes the world. The speech was inspiring, motivating, and mind-blowing. We could not help but think that we, as future global leaders, also want to leave a mark by making the world a better place for everyone. After Brian was done with his speech, our eyes were full of tears and our hearts were filled with hope and motivation to unlock our full potential and reach the best versions of ourselves.
There is no better way to communicate what this event meant to us than through the voices of the other Jönköping University NFGL members who attended the kick-off ceremony:
“Being part of the SI Kick-off ceremony was a unique opportunity not only to get the inspiration from former scholars, but also to get a better sense of our potential as SI scholarship holders. The inspiration from the ones that have already advanced the path within the network was fundamental for us. It was like visualizing now what we can achieve in the future with commitment and determination. From our perspective, the NFGL makes a difference in the way we approach our master's degree studies, as it enables us to go beyond the academic setting and get hands-on experience to solve real-life issues.”
– Leo Arboleda, Colombia, Master Student of Digital Business
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