Pallavi Deshpande: Meeting Peers and Facing Fears
Imagine a summer program where you are meeting peers from all around the world, having life-changing experiences and memories that you’ll cherish for the rest of your life and are given a platform to improve yourself in an international environment. That is the LaunchX entrepreneurship summer program in a nutshell! LaunchX has been a fantastic mix of making friends, exploring my passions and facing my fears to develop the courage to voice my opinions and beliefs with renewed confidence.
From all the engaging classes and talks from eminent and established entrepreneurs to exciting and fun activities, Launch had it all. It forced us to understand our true interests and passions which in turn helped me understand myself better and gave my the confidence to talk about my passions or ideas with revitalized fervor. At Launch we leaned to be uncomfortable, to be original and to be a “painkiller” not a “vitamin”. It’s only a 4-week program, but it feels like we’ve learned more to apply to our lives than any school course could teach us in a year.Coming from across the globe (literally), I was anxious as to whether or not I would be able to fit in with the group of students attending Launch. The culture shock was evident but the warmth and openness of the faculty and students helped my ease into the program. It was my first time visiting Boston but due to Launch’s impeccable efforts to make you feel at home, you’ll be surprised as to how quickly a month can pass by leaving you pining for more!
On my first day at Launch, with an incredible level of anxiety, I started talking to people. What if I would be stuck doing something that I really hate? Or even worse, what if I miss home too much and mess up my stay? Mustering my courage and confidence I began to go up to people with a pounding heart and started talking to them. “Hi, my name is Pallavi, I am…” and I am fairly certain that I messed up with the first couple of people that I talked to. However, it got a little easier as I continued to talk to others. I was surprised by how comfortable everyone seemed to be and how open they were. This made me want to be more confident and I forced myself to stick around and talk to people, understand their interest and delve into intellectually stimulating conversations with everyone there!But by the end of program, Launch motivated me to be more creative every day, to focus more on innovative solutions to problems, and most importantly, to learn to be flexible, to ADAPT.
