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Project E-Liminate

Youth Lead the Change is a leadership development program created by professors of the Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of education, and conducted by Harvard students. Held for students in grades 9 – 12, the program aims at empowering students and unlocking their leadership capabilities as they develop tangible solutions to global problems. Over a 7 day course, the students work in a group to understand a global issue and develop a social change project to address it. Through this program, students learn about core leadership skills such as collaboration, public speaking, time management, and self-knowledge.

The admission is limited to selected students only after screening of all applications and shortlisting of eligible and worthy candidates. I was one of the 100 students selected from over 3000 applicants for this programme which was held online from 25th June to 1st July. I was assigned under the mentorship of my supervisor, Phil Labrum, along with a group of 12 students. As for our project, my team and I initiated PROJECT E-LIMINATE, under which we plan to tackle the inefficiency of the informal sector in e-waste recycling by using multiple approaches for all aspects of the issue, along with promoting new models, raising awareness about eco and health friendly recycling methods, and overall bettering the livelihood of these recyclers.

The final day saw all 10 teams making an online video presentation of their projects to the Harvard organizing fraternity and the parents of students with a view to carrying forward their respective projects as a realtime initiative. We have to stay connected to our supervisors for their mentorship in the execution of our project. It was a great learning experience with a chance to work with students from all across india and alumni of the prestigious Harvard University.

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