Advancing Youth Leaders: PAL-NYC 2019

On May 2nd, 2019, Twenty-two World Link students started their journey to New York City for the 5-day PAL-NYC Advanced Leadership Conference. These twenty-two students earned their spot in this special end-of-the-year workshop by not only completing all the World Link Public Achievement Leadership Program Requirements but excelling at them.

The United Nations

The conference started with a tour of the United Nations Headquarters. Students learned about the UN, it’s work, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They got to see the famous rooms where world decisions are made and even heard the opening remarks from the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammad who led a general assembly meeting to discuss the attacks in Sri Lanka.

After the tour, a special speaker was set up to further discuss the goals of the UN. Dr. Abraham Joseph, a Senior Socio-Economic Adviser with the UN spoke of not only the SDGs but of their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their successes and failures. Students were inspired to hear the advances both the MDGs and SDGs have made in solving the most pressing global issues and got thinking of how they can continue the work when they return home.

After Dr. Joseph’s presentation, a UN Intern was invited in for a Q&A session to give our advanced leaders insight on becoming a UN Intern themselves one day.

Gaining New Skills

The next day, students learned from alumni speakers, World Link Regional Coordinators, and World Link National Staff. The first guest speaker was alumna Dana Kassymbayeva ’15 (Kazakhstan/CA) who talked about how to get active and stay active once they return home.

Regional Colorado and Texas Coordinator, Holly Nichols then partnered with Dana to help the students brainstorm their first few projects upon returning home with an idea convention.

After lunch, Regional Midwest Coordinator, Karen King-Fitzgerald gave advice on honing their public speaking skills. Each student then came up with an elevator pitch for their first project and practiced in front of the group.

World Link alumna Ninutsa Nanitashvili ’10 (Georgia/GA) was the perfect speaker to discuss grant funding opportunities for projects with participants. Since her exchange year, she has received and handled multiple grants, many of them worth $25,000 or more.

Following her presentation, Ninutsa invited World Link President, Curtis Stutzman to the stage and together they gave tips on writing a successful grant application.

This day ended with a note of inspiration from World Link National Program Director, Lana Stutzman; “We are ready for you. We are ready to support you. We are proud to welcome you to the World Link family.”

Participant Reflections

Of course participants visited the most famous sites the Big Apple has to offer. From walking the Brooklyn Bridge to getting a birds-eye view of the city at the top of One World Tower. Taking hundreds of photos in Times Square and visiting Lady Liberty herself. For participants, although the location of the conference was a bonus, it wasn’t what they took away from it and the following reflections prove the World Link PAL-NYC 2019 Conference was a success.

“Even though we had a lot of amazing days exploring NYC, one thing that I was excited about from the beginning was our lectures… I got a better understating of what we are able to do after the end of our exchange year, how to keep up great work and be a successful alumnus… how to work in a team with other alumni to achieve your goals.” – Sofiia Fedorkova (Ukraine/CA)
“Before PAL-NYC, I didn’t want to go back to Armenia because I was scared to face culture shock and other issues again which would be a lot harder for me. Now, I’m so motivated and excited to go home because I got to meet alumni of the program and saw that every change is possible if you are persistent and really care about it. Special thanks to Dana and Nino for being such great mentors and inspiring leaders. I want to grow up and be like them. Forever grateful for every single member of our World link family.” – Lida Asilyan (Armenia/IA)
“’If you can dream it – you can do it!’ That’s how I would define this conference… during the conference I realized that it’s only the beginning, the first step and there are so many different opportunities for me to succeed in future… I learned a lot about public speaking, time management, grants writing and I met awesome students who are top leaders of their countries. Now I know that together we can change the world! PAL conference made me feel even more that World Link is my family that will always stay in my heart!❤️” – Tetyana Zhurman (Ukraine/CA)
“The last 5 days were full of productivity and excitement! During the Workshop I gained a deep understanding of Alumni Life! It was interesting to hear many ways of organizing bigger projects and striving for success… I will never forget all these unforgettable days and invaluable experience! It was an influence for my future!” – Zhibek Kashkaeva (Kyrgyzstan/IA)
“The PAL-NYC Conference was so emotional because of all the amazing people that made it special and it created so many wonderful memories. But more important, if before New York I was scared of the future as an alumni, now I feel ready. Ready to accomplish my goals and to be active. Ready to take responsibility and to change something.” – Adriana Nitescu (Romania/CO)
“PAL-NYC Conference has become one of my unforgettable experiences in my exchange year! I’ve learned a lot of things through this conference, such as searching lots of ideas for our first alumni project, time management, public speaking, organizing, grants writing, and most important how to become a successful alumn and start changes in our home community… I am so excited to see everybody’s accomplishments when we return to our home countries and see them at the top!” – Arya Dika (Indonesia/CA)
“PAL activities throughout the year changed my views and shaped me as a person, even though at the very beginning I did not believe it will be so beneficial for me. This conference was more evidence that your work is valued, and that people want to help you with what you are doing. This conference gave me a better understanding of what and how should we behave as alumni. And reminded us one more time, that we are way stronger than we think.” – Severina Seveleviciute (Lithuania/IA)
“After this conference I am ready to be the leader I was born to be. I learned how to be ready to get back to my country and make a change. This conference turned me from being an exchange student to being an alumni I dreamed about being: strong, confident, leader, and ready.” – Ali Alghoul (Lebanon/CA)
“The PAL-NYC conference was definitely the highlight of my exchange year! I got to learn more about how to organize future projects and how to write grants to help fund them! I also gained new public speaking and leadership skills! Although, the most important thing I will take home from this experience is the enthusiasm and excitement that I need to keep while becoming an active alumna!” – Teodora Lalatovic (Montenegro/CA)
“I enjoyed and learned a lot about projects and how to do them. Classes were super interesting and beneficial to me. My favorite part was that World Link made me believe that I can rely on somebody, and get help and advice when I need to.” – Malika Razieva (Kyrgyzstan/CO)
“PAL-NYC was one the biggest achievements in my life. It took one year of hard work and I am so glad that I was selected to that workshop. I enjoyed the visit to the United Nations and learned a lot about Sustainable goals and how the UN functions. The workshop we had was also informative and helpful.” – Jeren Tolegova (Turkmenistan/CA)
“This conference was the greatest closing of my exchange year that I could have ever hoped for. No other opportunity helped me as much in finding myself, gaining knowledge and becoming aware of the power that we as the alumni have! After seeing the General Assembly in action and having the feeling of sitting in a room where the most important world policies are created, I am going home ready to put ideas into action!” – Branislav Nolin (Serbia/IA)
“PAL-NYC workshop has been the best part of my exchange year… Hearing all alumni stories has made me realize how much we can do and that we are the future of our countries, we are the ones that have to make changes. Being able to visit and learn more about United Nations has helped me find and think about another different ways to solve issues. This workshop has also helped me learn important things like organizing my time and planning projects, improving public speaking and similar; but most importantly it reminded me what World Link family is and helped me get ready to go home as an alumna.” Ana Lukic (Bosnia & Herzegovina/CO)
“Attending the PAL conference in NYC was truly a life-changing experience for me. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better place to meet so many talented and motivated individuals from all over the world. Getting to know each one of the future leaders inspired me so much that now I know how big of an impact I can have on my local community when I get back home. I believe that together we can change the world for better. I am beyond grateful to be a member of the World Link family and have connections to so many wonderful people.” – Ketevani Razmadze (Georgia/CA)
“It was an incredible opportunity I could ever have so far to learn about our future opportunities… I got inspired by admiring presentations about developing our own bigger projects from World Link Alumni Dana and Nino. I learned more about solving local and global issues at the UN tour and started believing more that we can accomplish great things by working hard. We can change the world, we can help others, we are the future of this world!” – Nuraiym Nurgazieva (Kyrgyzstan/IA)
“’Dreams don’t work unless you do’. That’s the motto all PAL participants were inspired by for the whole year! The experience of PAL-NYC conference is ineffable. Alumnus speakers influenced the vision of each of us, effective workshops helped us to find our passions, and, of course, all of us became a powerful international family that in a couple of years will change the world!” – Nataliia Kalantaienko (Ukraine/CA)