YLAI Fellow Grecia Gutiérrez Reflects on Her Time with CGEST
By Grecia Guitiérrez
My time in Arizona began with a very interesting experience: I describe it as walking next to an oven at Christmas. A very different weather from my native Lima (Peru), but with kind people that made me feel at home.
To provide a bit of context, the Young Leaders of Americas Program (YLAI) sent more than 280 entrepreneurs from Latin America and the Caribbean to different cities in the USA, to carry out a cultural and experience exchange in companies, institutes, and NGOs that had similar goals. I was lucky to be matched with Arizona State University (ASU).
The ASU Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology (CGEST) conducts activities that empower students (especially girls of color), highlighting the idea that you can achieve what you dream, the system needs to change, and your initiatives can have a great impact, even on the other side of the world. This exchange gave me a much more open perspective of learning, that culture is a living platform, and it is receptive to new knowledge and adopting it in its own way.
I met an amazing team during this time. They were patient and open to learn about my culture, my experience, and the information I could provide. As I have already mentioned many times, it is an alliance that could share many projects together in the future. I was also able to integrate new concepts, such as culturally relevant teaching, which embraces diversity and utilizes a new approach to learning. In addition to this, the team shared tools for project planning. Without these basic strategies, I could not meet my desired goals.
It was a month full of experiences, new friendships, and lots of joys and knowledge I will proudly take back home. My main objective is to go back to Peru and use and adapt what I have learned in my home country. I’ll share the great outcomes that I took away from Arizona, ASU, my fellows, the many entrepreneurs we met, and the incredible CGEST team.
Finally, I can only thank you enormously for the opportunity to carry out this exchange, which was definitely life changing.
