Lessons Learned: Taking Opportunities
When I first transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio in August 2008, from Collin County Community College in Plano, Texas, I became involved with several organizations on campus. I was doing my everyday routine of going to class and heading back to the dorms until one day I was thinking of what type of legacy I could leave behind when I graduate as a “UTSA Roadrunner.”
On Facebook I saw a link to the ONE Campus Challenge. When I first saw the website, I notice that UTSA was part of the program. Then I notice that UTSA did not have a campus leader, so I decided to step up and represent my university. Next, I sent an email to the regional organizer from Texas, Justin Kralemann, saying that I wanted to become “The UTSA ONE President.”
Even though we had a late start this year, our school has accomplished so much. UTSA made the cut for the 2009 Power 100 Summit for the first time ever, and I got an invitation for an awesome weekend in Washington D.C.
Since the trip in D.C., our school has been moving up rapidly in the standings and hopefully at year’s end we will become a Top 20 institution. ONE in a way is all about fun and games, but on the other hand it is about making a difference in the world in not only local communities, but in schools across the country.
Also, by being part of ONE, anyone can gain so many opportunities during and after college to build connections through many non-profit organizations. These possible opportunities are from Oxfam, Unicef, Shoes of Africa, the Feed Program, Jubilee USA and the United Nations. Finally, by seeing ONE partner up with so many groups, UTSA and other schools nationwide have valuable information needed to succeed in future seasons of Campus Challenge.
-Hassan Barzani, University of Texas at San Antonio
This entry is part of a series of student submissions on “What I Learned From OCC This Year.” Click here for more info.
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