It started in January when Charley brought up the idea to apply to the CGIU Conference with our disability rights project, A Day in A Wheelchair (ADW). I had no clue what CGIU was about, but the more I researched, the more I realized the grand impact CGIU has had on innovators who are combating global challenges. So, since ADW is promoting disability rights and challenging disability social stigmas through a human rights lens, Charley, Sean and I, with support from professors, decided to just go for it, apply and see what happens.
We were told that accepted applicants will be notified on February 18th.
When February 18th came, we didn't receive an email...
A bit bummed, I thought something was off, I thought it was weird how we didn't hear anything so I called CGIU on Tuesday (Feb. 19) regarding notification. Feeling relieved, I was told that applicants would be notified on the 28th instead of this week. So, for the rest of the day, I completely forgot about our application.
Around 8:30 that night I was in my room, contemplating whether to edit or write more of my thesis. Around 9PM, I'm still debating what to do and decided to go on my phone instead of doing any thesis work (senioritis). I saw I received new emails and started to scroll through. I saw an email from CGIU, but thought it was an advertisement letter or something else.
As soon as I read it, I screamed. OH MY GOD WE GOT IN!!!!! I stormed into my roommate's room on full scooter rabbit mode yelling on the top of my lungs, had her double check I was reading our accepted email correctly and just continued hysterically yelling. I then obviously called my mom, still yelling. I called Charley and Sean about 6 times as I was overjoyed. Sean found out via text and super excited. I finally reached Charley and this was our conversation:
Me: GUESS WHAT?!
Charley: What?
Me: GUESS WHAT!!?
Charley: We got in?
Me: YES!
Charley: We GOT in!?! We GOT IN!? WE GOT IN!!! OH MY GOD WE'RE GOING!!!
Me: YES!!!!!
Charley: I'M CALLING MY PARENTS AND THEN CALLING YOU RIGHT BACK!! OH MY GOD!!!!
So what do you do when you find out you're going to hang out with President Clinton, other prominent leaders and innovators from around the world?
Dance party...in your bathroom.
Yup, as embarrassing as it sounds now, I was so excited that I went into my bathroom, turned on the radio, full volume and danced my heart out to this song, which perfectly fit the situation.
I stayed up for the rest of the night as I obviously couldn't sleep. Every text or Facebook response I wrote entailed caps and countless exclamation points like- AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still wide awake, at 4AM Sean and I were texting about how excited we were that our project was accepted into CGUI. While we were texting, Charley was snapping photos and made a Facebook album with title: "The Night I Got Into CGIU". We were just so, so excited.
So what's next? Planning logistics from flights to hotels. We are invited to attend the annual CGIU Conference from April 5-7 at Washington University. President Clinton will be moderating the entire event, world leaders will speak about global changes and we will be doing many workshops with other college innovators from around the world. Last year's conference speakers were Jon Stewart, Biz Stone (founder of Twitter), Usher, Madeleine Albright (first women to be U.S. Secretary of State) and Chelsea Clinton. Charley, Sean and I were one group out of 1,000 people worldwide who were accepted to this conference!
Next week we find out our CGIU Mentor! I'm so excited! They're going to provide us guidance about our project and how to make it grow and remain sustainable!
It's still a whirlwind, but things are starting to settle in. Trinity College supports us 100% from Professors, Deans to President Jones and I'm so incredibly grateful.
For more information on CGIU here's their website! http://www.cgiu.org/about/
From applying to being accepted into CGIU, I've been reminded of what I've learned from my swimming career--
good things don't come to those who wait, but to those who aren't afraid to fail and take risks regardless of the outcome.
So, here we go! Another new journey beginning with the Clinton Global Initiative University!
