NSLC Boston
The next nine days of my life will be spent traveling to Boston, MA and attending the National Student Leadership Conference for Psychology and Neuroscience. I will be staying on Emmanuel College campus and doing activities on both Emmanuel and Harvard Medical School campuses. I have never been more excited for a trip in my life! I will be traveling alone, which is a little scary, but I know it'll be worth it! I have only flown two trips that I can remember - so this is a huge step out of the comfort zone for me. Wish me luck!!
I am officially back in Idaho after spending the last nine days across the country, experiencing the most amazing times of my life. I was so excited to attend NSLC, and I knew it would be a great opportunity for me, but I never expected that my life would be completely changed while attending this program. I am still the same person I was when I arrived in Boston on day one, but I have grown and flourished in ways I didn't know were possible. I met so many amazing people, learned so much about neuroscience and psychology, and had some of the most eye-opening experiences ever.
First, since I know everyone who wasn't there is wondering, I'm going to explain what exactly NSLC is and what I've been doing for the past nine days. NSLC provides students with the opportunity to experience life on a college campus, develop leadership skills, and explore a future career through exciting simulations, exclusive site visits and interactive meetings and lectures with renowned leaders in their chosen field. During my program, I stayed in the dorms at Emmanuel College, attended leadership sessions by Dennard Mitchell, preformed many neurological based labs, engaged in a clinical diagnostics simulation, visited Quincy Market and Harvard Square, and listened to many lectures and workshops about our topic. I loved every single part of the program, but leadership sessions were definitely my favorite part.
Dennard Mitchell has been delivering keynotes and conducting workshops for teens, college students, educators, and working professionals for over a decade. He has established a national reputation as an expert on human potential and leadership development. He shares life altering personal stories and success strategies that will completely change your life, they changed mine. Dennard taught me that no matter what personality type you are, where you come from, or what you've been through anyone can be a leader. He taught me that a leader can be someone who takes charge and talks in front of crowds, but it doesn't have to be. You can lead in so many simple ways, such as being kind. Dennard helped me, and everyone else, discover parts of ourselves that haven't existed in years - parts we didn't even know existed. We are all so used to being stunk in this mold of what everyone around us thinks we should be. We haven't explored ourselves and who we are in so long, mostly because we are afraid of being judged by people we call our friends and family. At NSLC no one judged anyone else, it was a safe place to become who we actually are. Everyone was so different and unique in so many beautiful ways. Dennard brought us out of our molds and taught us that it is okay to be every bit ourselves, and everyone of us went home a changed person - a better version of ourselves.
In Idaho, there isn't much diversity. Everyone is the same - we do the same things for fun, we go to the same church, the same schools, we all look the same. At NSLC not one person was anything like the next, it was so refreshing. I met people, friends, from all over the world. I met a lot from the US and I met some from India, China, Korea, Portugal, and Canada. I became closer with the 97 people I spent the last nine days with than anyone I have ever met in Idaho. I cannot wait to travel the world and meet up with all my best friends. None of us wanted to leave each other, in fact, the closing leadership session was spent with all of us bawling our eyes out. I have never been more thankful to live in a generation that we can all follow each other on social media and take a plane to visit each other. I am truly blessed to have met very single person I met at NSLC. I love you all with all of my heart. Thank you for encouraging and loving the truest version of me. (Special shoutout to my TA group and our TA Haleemah, you guys made this week everything I could've asked for and more.)
As I waited in the airport (from 1:30pm until I boarded at 5pm), I reminisced on the most amazing time of my life, and couldn't even believe that it was over. On the plane, I read the entire poetry book, Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell, I watched Love, Simon (which was amazing), and when I had about an hour left on my flight I opened the window cover, turned on Ed Sheeran, and watched as the world literally flew by beneath me. I cried tears of happiness, which I've never done before, because I have realized so much about life and the world. I cannot even explain the feelings I had that last hour of my flight, it was something truly beautiful. I am blessed, so completely blessed, to live in a world as beautiful as ours and to know people as beautiful as the ones I met at NSLC. I cannot wait to be present and truly bask in every single opportunity that I get to have. Life is such a beautiful thing. Thank you to all the people who put NSLC together and made it possible for me to flourish. I love you all, NSLC.
https://www.nslcleaders.org
https://boston.nslcleaders.org/category/programs/psyc/
https://vsco.co/jamynlott/journal/nslc-boston
I am officially back in Idaho after spending the last nine days across the country, experiencing the most amazing times of my life. I was so excited to attend NSLC, and I knew it would be a great opportunity for me, but I never expected that my life would be completely changed while attending this program. I am still the same person I was when I arrived in Boston on day one, but I have grown and flourished in ways I didn't know were possible. I met so many amazing people, learned so much about neuroscience and psychology, and had some of the most eye-opening experiences ever.
First, since I know everyone who wasn't there is wondering, I'm going to explain what exactly NSLC is and what I've been doing for the past nine days. NSLC provides students with the opportunity to experience life on a college campus, develop leadership skills, and explore a future career through exciting simulations, exclusive site visits and interactive meetings and lectures with renowned leaders in their chosen field. During my program, I stayed in the dorms at Emmanuel College, attended leadership sessions by Dennard Mitchell, preformed many neurological based labs, engaged in a clinical diagnostics simulation, visited Quincy Market and Harvard Square, and listened to many lectures and workshops about our topic. I loved every single part of the program, but leadership sessions were definitely my favorite part.
Dennard Mitchell has been delivering keynotes and conducting workshops for teens, college students, educators, and working professionals for over a decade. He has established a national reputation as an expert on human potential and leadership development. He shares life altering personal stories and success strategies that will completely change your life, they changed mine. Dennard taught me that no matter what personality type you are, where you come from, or what you've been through anyone can be a leader. He taught me that a leader can be someone who takes charge and talks in front of crowds, but it doesn't have to be. You can lead in so many simple ways, such as being kind. Dennard helped me, and everyone else, discover parts of ourselves that haven't existed in years - parts we didn't even know existed. We are all so used to being stunk in this mold of what everyone around us thinks we should be. We haven't explored ourselves and who we are in so long, mostly because we are afraid of being judged by people we call our friends and family. At NSLC no one judged anyone else, it was a safe place to become who we actually are. Everyone was so different and unique in so many beautiful ways. Dennard brought us out of our molds and taught us that it is okay to be every bit ourselves, and everyone of us went home a changed person - a better version of ourselves.
In Idaho, there isn't much diversity. Everyone is the same - we do the same things for fun, we go to the same church, the same schools, we all look the same. At NSLC not one person was anything like the next, it was so refreshing. I met people, friends, from all over the world. I met a lot from the US and I met some from India, China, Korea, Portugal, and Canada. I became closer with the 97 people I spent the last nine days with than anyone I have ever met in Idaho. I cannot wait to travel the world and meet up with all my best friends. None of us wanted to leave each other, in fact, the closing leadership session was spent with all of us bawling our eyes out. I have never been more thankful to live in a generation that we can all follow each other on social media and take a plane to visit each other. I am truly blessed to have met very single person I met at NSLC. I love you all with all of my heart. Thank you for encouraging and loving the truest version of me. (Special shoutout to my TA group and our TA Haleemah, you guys made this week everything I could've asked for and more.)
As I waited in the airport (from 1:30pm until I boarded at 5pm), I reminisced on the most amazing time of my life, and couldn't even believe that it was over. On the plane, I read the entire poetry book, Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell, I watched Love, Simon (which was amazing), and when I had about an hour left on my flight I opened the window cover, turned on Ed Sheeran, and watched as the world literally flew by beneath me. I cried tears of happiness, which I've never done before, because I have realized so much about life and the world. I cannot even explain the feelings I had that last hour of my flight, it was something truly beautiful. I am blessed, so completely blessed, to live in a world as beautiful as ours and to know people as beautiful as the ones I met at NSLC. I cannot wait to be present and truly bask in every single opportunity that I get to have. Life is such a beautiful thing. Thank you to all the people who put NSLC together and made it possible for me to flourish. I love you all, NSLC.
https://www.nslcleaders.org
https://boston.nslcleaders.org/category/programs/psyc/
https://vsco.co/jamynlott/journal/nslc-boston
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