Episode 40: Student Experience Grant Specials - Vanessa

In 'Leapfrogging Beyond Borders', Vanessa tell us her story, and about smart transport, changing your definition of success, and working out what you want to do with your life. 
 
Each episode is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of five inspiring people who did exceptional things, unexpected things, things that transformed them during their time at Edinburgh.

The people who share their reflections have set up businesses, shared their passions with others, designed projects to make a difference, expanded their skills, travelled far and pushed themselves beyond what they thought they were capable of.

For this special edition of Multi Story, the experiences our guests share all have one thing in common: support from a grants scheme, funded by Edinburgh alumni and friends. Student Experience Grants have been supporting staff and student projects at the University of Edinburgh for 10 years. To celebrate this milestone we wanted to reflect on some of the inspiring things our students have achieved.

Find out more about the Student Experience Grants at:
www.ed.ac.uk/student-experience-grants

Transcript

[Theme music]  

00:07 
This is a snapshot, a moment, a sneak inside the minds of five inspiring people, people who did exceptional things, unexpected things, things that transformed them during their time, at Edinburgh. 

00:24 
I did not think I'd come to university and leave with a degree and as a co-founder of a social enterprise. So, I am Vanessa Ombura, I'm from Kenya. So the project we did called Leapfrogging Beyond Borders was set on holding smart transport workshops across Sub-Saharan Africa and India. These workshops were held with high school students, as well as some peer-to-peer learning with other university students. And they were all surrounded around things like the Hyperloop autonomous cars, smart roads. In the end, it impacted about 1100 students across seven different countries.  

01:07 
I've always been interested in innovation and technology. One because it's new and interesting, two because of the impact it can bring about. A nice background as well is when I was in high school, there was a group of women called AkiraChix who used to come and talk to us about technology and women being in technology. And I just remember that just exciting me to feel like, 'Oh, there's a space that maybe traditionally wasn't designed for me to be in, but I can be in it.' And from then on, I just kept on being so interested in tech. When I came to university, in my first year, I remember getting an email saying they're looking for civil engineering students who are interested in the Hyperloop. I had never heard about it but just looking at the word 'Hyperloop' and what it was, which is just you moving in a tube, really fast Edinburgh to London in 40 minutes, I was like, 'Wow, I want to be a part of this!' And just got into the meeting and from then on, just kept myself in spaces around smart transport, which led me to make so many friends and the two amazing people I partnered with to form Leapfrogging Beyong Borders - Ann Mwangi and Dipti Rapte - we came together and we were like, 'This is something cool that we're exploring here'. We had done workshops with students in Edinburgh, and across the UK actually and we were like 'We'd also like to take this back to our countries'. So two of us are from Kenya and one from India. And we realised there wasn't as much discussion in emerging economies about smart transport and we were like 'There is also a space, because there's so many technological developments happening in emerging economies'. And that's when we were like, 'Yeah, let's take these conversations back home', inspire students who probably don't have enough resources to actually build a prototype Hyperloop pod, like we did in Edinburgh, but definitely have the resources to ideate, to research and to be able to participate in these conversations and discussions. 

03:10 
So talking about what we did, who we impacted, putting together the report, bringing everything together, I remember thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, this is what I want to do with my life'. I remember just feeling goosebumps everywhere. Because of, one, the level of engagement the students had, the feedback we got from both the high school students who were impacted, but also like university students, for instance, that I trained, that actually gave our training, and how it opened up their mind, gave them a seat at the table that they didn't have before. We were just then able to dream. And I felt, and I still feel, inspired, motivated, excited, but even more, very hopeful about the power of collaboration with people. Because this all wouldn't have been possible if we weren't 11 different people across seven different countries, reaching out to several schools, organisations, individuals we knew, and just thinking about how it impacted that one student and what that one student can go on to do for so many more. And it' just kind of like a full circle for me because I was thinking, 'Oh, I was that little girl in high school that AkiraChix came to talk to.' And I connected with this other little girl and this other little girl and formed this thing that hopefully these 1100 students are able to pass on and more as well. So, I get goosebumps when I think about it that way.  

04:39 
Based on the project, we now were sitting back as the three co-founders and we're like, 'What do we want to do next? Like, do we just put this up?' So initially,  we helped to create a website and put up the material we use, the experiences, the feedback and if anyone else wanted to hold workshops like this, they could. And one of us, Ann, was like 'But what if we could do more?'. And based on that, we're now building a social enterprise, that's going to be focused on streamlining personal development resources for young people in emerging economies. 

05:16 
I see university not having been my academics as much, but all these other things I did as well. So the academics were important and were there, but there's just, not just in terms of the number, but also the depth of what I got from these extracurricular activities I took part in.  

05:41 
I struggle with perfectionism a bit. But I'm trying to teach myself to be here and understand the now, and that you can still appreciate the now even if you have huge dreams that you probably haven't achieved yet. That the now is still as amazing and as meaningful.  

06:01 
So the project we did, for me personally, it's changed my definition of success. As a background, growing up in, going through primary school, in high school, the idea was, you need to get good grades to get a good life, get good grades, get a good life, change your family situation, etc. But having co-founded Leapfrogging Beyond Borders, having given the workshops, but also like, interacted with the people I impacted, for me, it was like, 'Oh, yeah, it's not just my grades'. It's how is what I learned from school, from the other extracurricular things I do, from the people I interact with, how can that impact other people as well. How can that make a transformative change in the world and, and that really did a whole lot in terms of also helping me better accept failure, for instance, better accept just coming across roadblocks, because again, during the project, there's so many roadblocks that we didn't think about. But it was really amazing learning, 'Oh, yeah, this is part of life'. And it's like, what can you learn from it, what can you also like appreciate about it, and how can you move forward. Yeah, that helped me. 

[Theme music]  

07:23 
We all have role models, people we look up to, people who encourage us, or who leave a mark on our life. We asked our podcast guests who inspires them. 

07:35 
So I really tried selecting one person. I couldn't, and instead, for me, it was a category of people. And that's a category of people who defy the odds. People who, despite difficult circumstances, or despite it not looking like they could ever do what it is they ended up doing, did it and had the hope to do it. And I just different people came to mind from my mom and my dad to marathon runners from Kenya, who just like have beaten records, you know, to someone I know who basically didn't finish their education, started a family, ended up deciding, 'You know what, I'm gonna go back to school', when they're about 40. And just thinking about all these different people, those I know and those I don't, and just seeing how it's, it's never necessarily a straight path, and you can, you can do anything you put your mind to, even if it looks like you couldn't. That, that inspires me and just constantly gives me hope even in times when I'm just constantly doubting myself. 

[Theme music]  

08:59 
Our podcast guests were supported by Student Experience Grants, one-off awards that help fund innovative projects that help students make the most of their time at Edinburgh. The grants are funded by Edinburgh alumni and friends. Without their generosity, the scheme would not exist. Have you been inspired by the story? Are you a student or member of staff looking for funding? Search - Student Experience Grants - on the University website to find out how to apply for support. Thank you for listening. And thank you to the donors who make the Student Experience Grants possible. 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai