Today, I decided that I am going to start recording my life experiences - the things that are worth telling and remembering, the ones not worth letting go, but learning from. I'm compiling for that one day, and reading chronologically, to look back and smile. Today, I begin writing about today, and step into tomorrow cramming posts about yesterday, so as to one day be able to compile it all.
Showing posts with label university of chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label university of chicago. Show all posts
Venezolanos, compatriotas, amigos... todos padecemos de la energía colectiva del 11 de abril del 2003; padecemos de la unidad nacionalista que nos unió y dio la fuerza de vencer al régimen Chavista que giraba nuestra nación en un rumbo equivocado.
10 años después, una decada entera, podemos reflexionar y ver que ya es hora. Muchos de nosotros nos hemos ido del país, hemos perdido esperanzas y como oposición no tenemos el mismo poder colectivo de años atrás.
Tenemos en nuestras manos el nombre de un candidato que fue elegido en las primarias abiertas por aquellos más valientes en nuestro pueblo, quienes decidieron que Henrique Capriles Radonski, con 1.806.860 votos, nos representará en las próximas elecciones electorales.
David Akinin y Henrique Capriles Radonski
University of Chicago, Harper Library
Mi escrito es para hacer un llamado a nuestro pueblo, y en especial a los líderes que se presentaron junto a Capriles Radonski. Este es un llamado por la unión y por el futuro de nestra Venezuela. Este es un último llamado para que nos despertemos y veamos un nuevo día- un día que alumbrado por los rayos de un nuevo sol, hará a Venezuela florecer una vez más.
Como un solo pueblo, salgamos a la calle desde hoy hasta el día de las elecciones a convencer a todo aquel que cree que su voto no cuenta, que esta vez es la que cuenta.
Desde Libya hasta Egipto, hemos visto pueblos a admirar, poblaciones enteras, que a pesar de problemas que aún estén enfrentando, han sabido salir a la calle y mostrarle al mundo que ellos son los dueños de su país!
Por una Venezuela mejor, por nuestra Venezuela en el 2013!
I had the honor of being invited to attend, as a Venezuelan and University of Chicago representative, the 14th World Business Dialogue which took place on March of 2011 in Cologne, Germany.
Along with Pedro Sanchez de Lozada and Guimar Vaca Sittic, close friends and usual partners in trips, I was exposed to innovative ideas, complex issues, dynamic personalities and emerging markets from all over the world. We were passionate about the programming because it kept us motivated to dialogue about and understand complexity.
With Keynote Speaker and Joseph Ajao
The Forum dealt with complexity as its main topic, yet it touched upon all fields, regions and issues.
Speaking with 2nd Monzambique President at Go Africa! Panel
Exciting was not the conference on its own, but the diversity of its attendees, the excitement of a new city and its culture, and the development of our careers from that point-on.
Rihards Garacs, Marcello Schermer and David Akinin
At the Dialogue, I made lasting friendships, promoted www.rise-pak.com, met Ricardo Amador with whom I later won Third Place at the Loyola Business Case Competition pitching an idea about housing in Rio de Janeiro based on recycled paper, and culminated with a memorable road trip.
Pedro Sanchez de Lozada, David Akinin, Guimar Vaca Sittic
(View of Cologne)
Santiago Lizaso, Pedro Sanchez de Lozada and I rented a car and drove through Belgium, Netherlands and Germany for the following week, experiencing everything from Moules Frittes to the Berlin Wall.
In Brussels with the Road-Trip Crew
We must grasp the opportunities life puts in front of us. They shape us then, and much more later on as we reflect on our learnings, relationships, failures and achievement. L'chaim!
Last week, I had the honor of being recognized by the University of Chicago with:
The Humanitarian Award The Humanitarian Award is presented to students who have lived a life of honesty, integrity, and responsibility, with a demonstrated commitment to the welfare of the greater community.
The Maroon Key Society The College's honorary society, members serve as advisors to the Dean of the College and the Dean of Students in the College. Nominees must be second or third year students in the College who have been especially active in cocurricular activities, who have good communication skills, and whose academic performance has been strong with a minimum overall grade point average of 3.0.
I could not have done this without the inspiration of those around me and the countless experiences that have shaped who I am, what I do, and why.
For more information about college awards, visit: https://studentactivities.uchicago.edu/involved/sla10.shtml
Many communities have that one or two organizations that bring their people together several times a year for events, sports and whathaveyou. In the inner-city of Chicago, the community of Canaryville, has its baseball little league, an organization that has been up an running since the 1950s.
Johnny Kozlar and David Akinin
1955- Canaryville Little League, the beginning.
In the past years, as it came to my attention last summer through my friend Johnny Kozlar, the management of the organization had been decaying, it was much less transparent and the general experience of those who actively participated wasn't the same.
The Old Field
Johnny and I, along with some other peers at the University of Chicago- Dyia Aboasha and Rob Serpico, immediately decided to get involved and bring in our experience, ambition and spirit to start the organization anew, leave behind a transparent, efficient and organized model for this and potentially other communities to follow.
Johnny Kozlar, David Akinin and Dyia Aboasha
Mark Baker helped us create our official website, www.canaryvillelittleleague.org. We met with the St. Gabriel's Athletic Association and the Parish to get their approval back in 2009. We presented them with our plan of management, an ambitious plan to renovate the entire little league stadium, and our qualifications. Months went by and we saw ourselves holding biweekly sign-up days at the Boyce Park building in Canaryville, aggressively fundraising in the surrounding neighborhoods, including Hyde Park where the University of Chicago is based and reaching out to the entire community to come out, support and sign their kids up.
St. Gabriel's Board and University of Chicago Contingent
The beginning was tough- the community was a bit skeptical of our potential- as any community would be with outsiders who propose to renovate their estate and manage an organization free of cost. I remember our first sign up day, when the first parent walked in... The parent was eager to sign his son up for the Little League, as he'd be off the playstation for a change. He said "I'm happy someone is doing this, we didn't think there'd a be a little league this year". Immediately, I felt pride for what we were doing; the thankfulness in each of the 250+ parents who walked in to sign up their kids in a two month period, is the highest form of payment I could ever receive.
Meeting with Coaches at Boyce Park
Many parents approached us about not being able to afford the participation and uniform fee we were charging, and despite our fundraising (a $35,000 campaign which was mainly for the field rennovation), our Excel spreadsheets indicated that we could not sponsor as many players, as the need expressed. In turn, we developed a system whereby anyone who signed up would get 10 raffle tickets to sell. The system was simple- they'd keep the revenue from the ticket sales, which in fact covered exactly the league's fees, and they just had to return the tickets to us. Basically, we are probably one of the few leagues were any player can play for free if they so desire!
Hands-on! (David, Johnny, Dyia)
Uniforms, we ordered from Texas, the Cool Breeze technology- official MLB apparel. We held our uniform pick up days, and till this day we're dealing with exchanges here and there, but couldn't be happier about our choice.
In the meantime, we had hired all the contractors that'd renovate our field, mainly from the local neighborhoods in order to put back the money we raised to those business, but some from other states, as we were after quality and expertise at large.
David Akinin and Johnny Kozlar, Renovation Underway
Renovation in Process
Among the many fundraisers we've held and plan on holding throughout the summer, we had concert nights, car wash weekends, Elvis Night, and many more.
Grass Delivery
Inflield Red Dirt
Despite the differences, the bumps along the road, the hours of planning and arguments, the experience has been one that has shaped me and my peers infinitely. It has brought us strongly together, helped us grow in many respects and increased our pool of values and appreciation for community needs in a manner that will remain unique.
Stocking up the Concession Stand
First Game 2010
Opening day was Sunday May 2nd 2010. It kicked off with a community parade, where nearly 700 people walked the streets in a way that I've never seen any other community do before. The route kicked off from Boyce Park where our operations had started, and arrived at 455 W 45th Street, where the new Canaryville Little League baseball field awaited its new owners, the community of Canaryville. If it wasn't for the help and unity of the entire community, none of this would have ever been accomplished.
We had a beautiful kick off ceremony, in which over 300 helium balloons signaling the US Flag colors were let go by all the innaugurating players, as hundreds of parents clapped and cheered.
Girl's Red Sox Team
Canaryville's Phillies
Girls Minors' First Game
T-Ballers
I picked up the microphone and said "Let the Games Begin", and Kozlar responded "Play Ball!"
February 19th, we landed at London-Heathrow. This, in fact, was my first trip to Europe, and I was lucky enough to be going with three great friends from the University of Chicago: Pedro Sanchez de Lozada, Guimar Vaca Sittic and Rodrigo Blandon.
This trip, unlike others I plan to take some day, wasn't solely for the touristic purpose; we were taking ten days off from school to compete in the final round of the Entrepreneurs International Challenge at the London School of Economics.
Guimar, David, Rodrigo, Pedro
The final round of EPIC, www.lse-epic.com, consisted of 9 teams from Malaysia, India, UK, Netherlands, Canada, Argentina and USA. We were the American team: four Latinos from Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and El Salvador, respectively.
In any case, we landed on a Friday, and the competition wasn't until the following Monday. The excitement took us around, made of us better friends, had us experience new routes, meet new people, see new things, taste new flavors, and cheer louder and stronger than we ever had before. To us, the fact that we were already in London, funded by the Dean of Students, meant we were already winners.
We saw the Big Ben, rode the London Eye, admired the view from the London Bridge, had Beer at the pubs, called out for the Queen from right outside the Buckingham Palace, stayed at cozy hostels, and I even experienced a beautiful Shabbat (different from what I had ever been to) in the heart of London.
Martin Kelly, IBM and David Akinin
London Eye and Big Ben, from London Bridge
The competition started on Monday. We were intimidated by some teams, but there was something inside of us, perhaps a strong bond we built over the weekend like we couldn't have at the University in two years, that reassured us, inspired us and made us feel like brothers.
It was very similar to the Apprentice, had four parts: a Sales Challenge, a Strategy Challenge, a Marketing Challenge and finally, the Social Enterprise Challenge.
Day 1, Sales Challenge we sold Mother's Day cards in the streets. Our strategy: focus on the London School of Economics strip. We sold to students, professors, staff. We didn't take no for an answer. We'd walk blocks with people until we made a sale. Persistence proved to champion: 168 Sterling Pounds.
Day 2, Strategy Challenge we presented a business venture based in El Salvador called Somos Soya (See blogpost about Entrepreneur Idol 2009). A soymilk production plant that would establish a breakfast supplement program for kids in public schools. We got full funding: 284,000 Sterling Pounds.
Day 3, Marketing Challenge 7digital.com came looking for ideas and we were eager to give them. They're in the process of launching a new and exciting product: "Locker Plus" and wanted marketing insight. We made a powerful presentation on Prezi.com, renamed the product, created a new image, gave Search Engine Optimization advice and pay-per-click marketing suggestions, and dressed up Guimar as a Cloud (see: cloud computing) and had him talk to London about getting on the Cloud... the judges voted for our proposal!
Day 4, Social Enterprise Challenge seeducation.com sponsored this event. We used Somos Soya, and added to it an additional Social Component- The Chutney Cooperative. As usual, we gave out soymilk samples, gave an in-depth, passionate presentation, supplemental materials and a business plan. But that wasn't it; we had to collect signatures in the streets (over 130), funding from random people who supported our project and win the vote of other competing teams ranking presentations.
Rodrigo, Pedro, Guimar, David
We won! We placed first in every challenge, accumulating a total of 40 out of 40 possible points-the first time a team got perfect scoring in the international challenge.
It was an "EPIC" experience for us all! We made friends around the world, celebrated at the Penthouse in London, made our country and university proud, but most importantly took home with us an experience that will mark our lives forever.
This one's short. Just sharing a link to collegecrunch.org from 2009 rankings for colleges and universities. I am proud to report that the University of Chicago is ranked #1, on top of Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
The University of Chicago is a private institution located in Hyde Park, on the South Side of Chicago. Founded by John D. Rockefeller, the first classes were held in 1892. The University has 14,600 students and 2,100 faculty. Seven current faculty members have won Nobel Prizes. To attend the University of Chicago as an on-campus student, the annual cost is $52,450. The University of Chicago not only has one of the best research and technology infrastructures in the world, but it has also climbed into almost every top 10 undergrad list out there. That's no fluke. The school has everything you could want. A diverse student body, high quality teachers, access to city life and an unsurpassed emphasis on research opportunities, even for undergrads.
To learn more about the University of Chicago, visit their website at http://www.uchicago.edu/ or contact me! :)
David Akinin is a rising sophomore at the University of Chicago majoring in Economics and International Studies.
