Student Growth Through Professional Travel

In the 2023–24 academic year, 47 Grinnell College students with a range of interests attended 15 off-campus, professional-development events with travel support from the Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership. Here is a look at some of their experiences.

Keanu Yamanaka ’26, National Network for Youth Summit + Hill Day

The National Network for Youth (NN4Y) holds an annual summit to address, prevent, and end youth homelessness. Funding from the Wilson Center as well as the California Coalition for Youth provided for full expenses of Yamanaka’s trip to Washington, D.C. At the summit, Yamanaka was honored to present a 30-minute workshop on the “Power of Word Choice and Dignity” to over 30 executive directors, service providers, and young people. On NN4Y’s hill day, he was invited to represent California at the federal level with a delegation to advocate for significant national legislation (Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act), expansion of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s federal definition of homelessness, and access to affordable housing for unhoused youth while enrolled in community colleges. A highlight for Yamanaka was meeting his role model, Ricco B. Hall with the US Department of Justice.

Thainá Theodoro ’27, SXSW EDU Conference and Festival

“I was impressed by the global participation of faculty members from different parts of the world.” Theodoro’s motivation for attending this conference was her “involvement with various education nonprofit organizations in Brazil.”  She hoped to gain insights and strategies at the conference to apply in roles within student government and civic engagement. One of her future goals is to contribute to meaningful initiatives with positive impact on local and global scales. In addition to lectures, workshops, and networking events, she attended a premiere screening of a documentary that highlighted educational inequalities in countries such as Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Adarsh Sharma ’27, Hack Princeton

Sharma participated in Hack Princeton because he wanted to expand his knowledge and skills. He says, “the event provided a platform for participants to collaborate, brainstorm, and create innovative solutions to real-world problems, as well as to network with like-minded individuals from other institutions.” Sharma valued the opportunity to collaborate with diverse individuals and learn from industry experts and mentors. In the end, he was on the team that won the award of best financial application at the competition. Upon returning to Grinnell, Sharma gave a talk with advice for fellow students on how to find and apply to hackathons, and encouraging them to fully participate and network at such events.

Sophia Ramalli ’27, NASA Johnson Space Center Open House

Sophia Ramalli aspires to someday work at a space agency. Once she got to Grinnell College, she has been enthusiastic about starting a rocketry club here with a goal of joining a NASA student launch competition. After scouring all the information she could online, she craved networking — what better way than visiting a NASA space center and conversing with astronauts?

Dennis Mboya ’27, National Society of Black Engineers Convention

Mboya wanted a “unique experience for sustained growth in my critical understanding of what drives success in engineering leadership and innovation.” In addition to looking forward to resources at the convention for black students to find internships, network, and interact with industry experts, he was also on the lookout for potential collaborations. Mboya wrote on LinkedIn: “Just survived NSBE's 50th Convention where brains meet caffeine and business cards fly faster than Wi-Fi signals. Thankful for the brilliant minds I've met across tech, finance, and energy – together, may we forge innovations that not only illuminate our screens but genuinely light up our world.”

Deepit Chandgothia '24 and Raj Jhanwar '25, Google Cloud Next

Chandgothia says they took full advantage of "insightful sessions, inspiring keynotes, and engaging expo hall that showcased remarkable advancements in cloud technology." A strong focus of the 30,000-participant event was generative AI. Talks addressed how generative AI is transforming the way companies work, highlighted the power of collaboration for innovation, and offered resources for software developers. "The potential for AI to revolutionize everything we do is truly inspiring!" Chandgothia says. He learned the it's important to "be curious, adaptable, willing to embrace new technologies, and capable of inspiring others to do the same."