17 Feb Being the change we wish to see
Internships at the Centre for Imagination
The Centre for Imagination is excited to announce our first team of student interns, whose work will include planning, publishing and hosting events, as well as helping meet the needs of visiting scholars, scientists, and artists. In addition, interns will practice design thinking and project management skills as they facilitate and support the projects of their peers.
Intern Emma Karas, Grade 10, shares her desire to be part of meaningful change
I remember traveling to India for the first time, on my way to a meet a new school and a new set of students. A rain-soaked Sarajevo had fallen away behind me, with life at Woodstock approaching faster than I could imagine. That’s what it was like, leaving home last July. The world felt far too large for my grasp. When I arrived, the Centre for Imagination was just starting to get up and running. The CFI is designed to make students consider matters larger than just their education, like the world they live in and how they can change it.
“I believe students and teachers alike need to think, not of where we will go in life, but what we will do when we get there- and the Centre for Imagination has the best shot of doing that for everyone.”
Believing that it would be more than an activity to put on my college application, I applied for an internship. A team was assembled to manage events, and I was given a role that consists of two aspects: writing passages about the events we host, and coordinating with teachers and staff to make student projects a reality. It’s hard to propagate change that is of substance, especially in a place where academics can become a cycle we’re obliged to rotate through. I believe students and teachers alike need to think, not of where we will go in life, but what we will do when we get there– and the Centre for Imagination has the best shot of doing that for everyone. I’ve found that programs of a similar nature are rare and lucky to come by, if at all.
Intern Shatakshi Kabi, Grade 11, explains her motivation
Change. One simple word describes the whole universe, from its existence through its evolution. A ‘slight’ change in the lifestyle of humans, from being hunter-gatherers residing under grass huts or a tree to being stock brokers living in penthouses, proves the power of our species to transform the whole world in order to fulfil a desire for better living. Yet, the world fails to be the best example of an unmarred planet. So, take a wild guess what is expected from us next, as the human race? Change.
“Improving the education system and encouraging people to look outside their windows for knowledge, instead of only in their books, is a unique start to stitch up all the ripped places around us.”
This is what the Centre for Imagination has planted in me from all the times I’ve attended their various events, ranging from discussions, documentaries, talks and much more to make me increasingly aware of the planet I live on. Its motive to change the world into a better place has really inspired me and I take extreme pride to have the privilege to be a part of a notion so vast. It’s not easy to plant this concept in the academically wired minds of our generation. However, I believe that improving the education system and encouraging people to look outside their windows for knowledge, instead of only in their books, is a unique start to stitch up all the ripped places around us. Being an intern at CFI has laid out a great opportunity for me to grow and discover myself as a part of a whole planet and to manifest change from within, bringing it into the world. I hope that one day we can look back and say, ‘We did it’.
Our other interns are Sudhiti Barjatya, Grade 9; Taarini Gupta, Grade 11; and Aashna Kulshreshtha, Grade 11.
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