January 15, 2025 • 37 mins
In this episode of Digication Scholars conversations, host Jeff Yan continues his discussion with Dami Akingbade, a junior at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University.
They discuss her involvement in the African Students Organization, her experiences at the Goldman Sachs Possibility Summit, the importance of emotional intelligence, and the role of college in providing life-changing experiences.
Dami shares insights about building communities, the impact of diverse perspectives, and the significant role of self-awareness in personal and professional growth.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Jeff Yan.
In this episode, you will hear Part Twoof my conversation with Dami Akingbade,
a junior at Boston University'sQuestrom School of Business, pursuing
a degree in Business Administration.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
(00:23):
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You know, feel free to talkabout this if you'd like.
I saw in your LinkedIn profilethat you have been in a number
of student organizations.
(00:45):
Um, an African students organization.
It looks like that you might'vebeen the secretary of the
African Student Organizations.
Um, can you tell us a little bit aboutthat and whether these types of learning
experience have helped or influenced theway that you, um, you know, participate
(01:10):
in these organizations and so on?
I mean, like, it's, it seems likethe theme of what we're talking about
today is Diverse perspectives and thatreally is what that club does for me.
I joined the African StudentsOrganization my freshman year and
then I was just an events coordinator.
(01:32):
I would help with planning eventsand really what it was was helping
to bring people together andcelebrate the diversity of Africa,
the different countries representedwithin Africa, and helping people
who came on campus find a community,
was so important to us to have peoplefeel like they have a safe space.
(01:54):
Um, it's sometimes it's reallydifficult when you come, you leave
home and you can't really find thathome away from home somewhere else.
And that's really whatwe're trying to bring.
Now that I'm secretary, I try as much asI can to, um, you know, book spaces and.
Contribute to meetings and make sure thatwe're thinking critically about how are
(02:19):
we helping the people in our community?
It's something I'm so passionate about.
I'm passionate about buildingcommunity and celebrating diversity.
We actually have an event coming upsoon, which is funny, this weekend,
which is Just a Thanksgiving celebrationsince Thanksgiving is coming up.
Just a Thanksgiving celebrationand it's like basically a potluck.
(02:41):
And so we're going to ask peoplewho represent different African
countries to bring their food thatrepresents them and their home.
And so we're going to have people from allover Somalia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria,
really come and bring their food and weall get to taste and just like have a
(03:02):
good time and really feel like you know,remove the stress of exams and really feel
like we have a community here and just beable to celebrate everything that we're
thankful for and that we have that cultureand that home that we appreciate so much.
So you said it was about diversity.
I think it's more about food.
(03:22):
Yeah.
Um, let's talk a little bit about otherthings that, that, you know, that, Seems
to be, you know, happening in your life.
Um, uh, I saw that you, um, havejust participated in the 2024
(03:46):
Goldman Sachs Possibility Summit.
Um, tell us a little bit about that.
Um, what was that like andhow does this all connect?
Does this connect with all thesethings that we've been talking about?
Or is this sort of the next chapter?
If I feel like everything, everythingis connected at this point.
Um, the Goldman Sachs PossibilitySummit was another place that
(04:11):
was celebrating diversity.
That summit was to helpunderrepresented communities.
It was really Goldman Sachs way of likegiving people a head start, helping
people understand what Goldman Sachsis and I feel like my experience is
the fact that I was in the Africanstudents organization that I had done
(04:34):
diverse things studying abroad thatreally came through on my resume, which
helped me when I had that opportunity.
And so the summit was reallyjust a way to learn more.
It represented, like, the Black community,Hispanics, women, um, past veterans,
(04:54):
the LGBTQ community, things like that,and, um, It was really just helping,
you know, bridge the gap and just helppeople feel represented and feel heard.
Just giving us a space to learn more.
We learned about different practices.
We learned how to build a resume,how to interview, and we just got
(05:15):
that head start that we needed.
It was really an inclusive and greatprogram, collaborative as well.
You got to meet people.
I connected with so manypeople during that summit.
So yeah.
And I should, I know that you'rebeing quite humble here, but it
is not an easy one to get into.
(05:37):
Um, it's, um, it's a summit thathas over 10, 000 applicants,
um, every year, I believe.
And, um, and so it's a, it's a, it'sa rather prestigious Um, uh, on your
resume, but I think that this is what I,I, I, I sometimes wanted to, you know,
(06:00):
I feel like that for folks who've been
looking to get ahead, like you said,right, you have to look for these
kinds of opportunities, but also haveto realize that schools like Boston
University and many others too, right.
Have spent a huge amount of resources.
(06:23):
And scholarship and intellectual, youknow, prowess to figure out programs
and design opportunities that is reallyprofessionally, that's their job, is
to get students able to have theseopportunities to learn and to, to grow.
(06:45):
And for, I think that, you know,especially for those who are
listening, who might be thinking about.
What's the value of higher education?
Should I just go in and,you know, do something else?
And by the way, I take back some of the...
for some people, you know, it's It maybe true that college is not for them.
(07:07):
Yeah.
It may It may well be true.
But I think that for those who aresimply going through the Actually,
rather rational, logical Um, thoughtprocess that is, Hey, if I want to be an
engineer, if I want to be, you know, sortof fill in your blank, like, you know,
(07:27):
dream job, dream, you know, like career.
I don't need all this other stuff.
Yeah.
And I think that sometimeswe just don't know better.
We don't know that actually we do.
And not only do those other things, thoseother things is what's going to make the,
(07:49):
the job that I want possible, you know?
Yeah.
I think, you even mentioning that, it'smaking me realize I didn't talk about
a huge part of the College of GeneralStudies program, which is the Capstone
that we have at the end, and you workin a group with, I think, about eight
people, and you write a 50 page paper.
(08:13):
Some people might question what isthe relevance of that, it just seems
like added stress, but you really getto understand what it's like to work
within a team, and we live in such afast paced world and the center of any
business, whether that, whether you'rean engineer, whether you're a doctor,
whether you're working in business,you are most likely going to have to
(08:35):
work with a team at some point, you'regoing to need to work with people and
being able to have that experience fromCGS of like writing a paper, 50 pages,
a research heavy, being able to splitthat up, knowing how to communicate.
It's so important to have theseskills from such a young age to really
(08:57):
help you build on that, allow you tomake those mistakes when Arguably,
it matters a little bit less.
Um, and just being able to learnmore about yourself, how you work
with others is so, so important.
And you get to, you have so many optionsto choose from of what to write about.
You learn so much more about yourself,about other people in the process,
(09:20):
how people think, what those diverseperspectives are, and how the,
how those apply within your life.
And How you operate as wellis just, it's so important.
So you had actually mentioned a fewtimes, um, about learning about yourself.
And we had also previously talkeda little bit about that from
(09:42):
different perspectives and whatnot.
What is, what is this aboutlearning about oneself, right?
So how does that applyto a business degree?
How does it apply to your, and by theway, you're not defined by your degree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, you are, there are thingsin the world that you want to do.
You want to see the world in a certain,in a different, in a certain way.
(10:04):
And you want to make that happen.
You want to contribute to that future.
What is the role and the significanceabout learning about yourself?
Cause you talked about a few times and Ifeel like there's, there's more to that.
I think the most important partabout learning about yourself is just
(10:26):
learning about emotional intelligence.
I actually gave a speech about this lastweek to my class about the importance
of emotional intelligence and reallythe first step of being emotionally
intelligent is being self aware.
And I just think that knowing whoyou are as a person, knowing what
(10:50):
your boundaries are, what yourtriggers are, what your biases are.
Being able to understand that is sucha huge skill that a lot of people don't
have, and if you do have that skill,you are miles ahead of a lot of people.
Being able to understandwho you are as a person.
(11:11):
Helps you be more socially awarebecause you understand, okay, this
is how I'm going to communicatewith this person because this is
how I think about this situation.
And I know when to take a step back.
I know when I want to speak passionatelyabout something I know when and
how to communicate effectively.
That is important in any field.
(11:33):
Like I said, you're going tobe working with so many people.
You need to be socially aware.
And sometimes, Well, most times, actually.
Learning about yourselftakes a difficult situation.
It requires something challengingto happen and you take a step back
and you look at it and you say, ohmy gosh, I didn't realize that this
(11:56):
is something that usually upsets me.
I didn't realize thatI reacted in that way.
It was just in the momentand I just did that.
Taking that time out to self reflecton why you make decisions that you
make and why you do the things thatyou do really helps you understand
who you are as a person more.
And understanding who you are asa person plays a huge role in your
(12:21):
relationships, how you manage thoseeffectively, and how you manage yourself.
How you feel about yourself, how youfeel about your life, you will be
more satisfied with life and you'llbe more able to Self accept and have
a better psychological well being Whenyou understand who you are as a person
Understand what your weaknesses are andyou're able to work towards those as well.
(12:46):
Can I ask you sort ofa side question here?
So Dami, are you always thisself reflective or is it
something that you learn?
Like, what is, what is it?
Um, I definitely had to learn it.
I mean, no one's perfect.
Um, like I said, I gave a talk last weekabout emotional intelligence and really
(13:09):
the start of the talk was when I had atime when I wasn't this self reflective.
Um, I realize from a lot of my friendsand that that's another thing is being
able to take feedback is a huge thingthat comes with becoming self reflective.
I remember growing up, a lot of peoplewould tell me that I was defensive
(13:31):
and I never thought of myself.
I never thought of myself in that way.
So it was something thatI started to brush off.
But when I realized that people whoI care about deeply, my best friends,
my siblings, were telling me like,we can have an argument and you can
like, you know, lay your point down,but you don't need to fight me.
You don't need to notlisten to what I'm saying.
(13:54):
And that's when I realized like,Oh my God, I had to take the step
back and be like, Oh my gosh,I'm, I'm not listening to people.
And because I'm you know, Iwant so badly to be heard.
I'm not hearing other people and Iwas able to really learn the value
of being self aware, knowing whento listen to people and knowing
(14:16):
that like sometimes speaking allthe time is not how you get heard.
You need to listen to people first.
Um, so yeah, there's theself reflection journey.
It's, it's, it's been a journey.
I wasn't always like this, but I thinkwith time, with age, with things like
CGS that force you to be in thosepositions where you self reflect, force
(14:39):
you to be in positions where you receivefeedback from other people about how
you responded to certain situations,triggers you to want to be better.
And I want to just have thatself reflection of, okay,
what, what can I do next?
How can I better myselfon this journey of life?
(15:01):
Can I, um, I, this is so beautiful.
You just said, you know,these are, these are amazing.
I, I, I want to, um, point out thisnotion that a lot of people have.
And I don't know whether you evenagree with it because, I mean, you, you
only started college a few years ago.
So, you know, before then you,you don't really know, you haven't
(15:23):
experienced what college is like yet.
And a lot of people, and thisis not young people alone.
This is across ages, across the spectrumof people who have attended college.
Depend on when you attended college.
It could be 30 years ago.
But a lot of people think aboutgoing to college as being this
(15:46):
giant sort of pressure cooker oflet's feed more, let's marinate you
more in more and more knowledge.
And knowledge, you know, is, is almostlike in, in, in, in forms of content, you
know, like, you know, I think everyonewho's listening to you today can say.
(16:07):
Man, she's really well spoken.
She's really can, shereally expressed herself.
So there's that language component, right?
To build the ability to carry yourself,to be able to, to express, to be
able to, to, to, to make sense ofthe world and to be able to express
that, um, you know, to others, right.
Yeah.
Um, but, but there isactually, um, you know...
(16:32):
and there's, there is, by the way, afair amount of content, so to speak.
If we hear everything that you saidtoday, it's actually much more about
the experiences that you were, that werecreated for you that were like, you know,
(16:53):
like, here's, here are the adventures.
They're well designed.
We hope you go through it.
It's not a bunch of contentthat we want you to have.
We want you to have theexperience so that you have.
You're forced into doing the reflectionsto examine yourself, to learn about
yourself, to learn about who you are,what your values are, so that when
(17:16):
you I mean, you talked about, forexample, the value of diversity today.
And by the way, it obviously shows upin then what you then participated in
at the Goldman Sachs, you know, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, summit and the fact
that they picked you out of a 10, youknow, um, you and a number of others
out of over 10, 000 applicants, right?
(17:40):
It's not some skills that.
Or some content, I should say,that was read to you in a book,
like in a book, paragraph three,this is how you work with a team.
Yeah, exactly.
They can listen all out, butyou won't, you won't understand
it, you won't learn it, right?
And I think that those are some ofthose things that, it's elusive, it's
(18:03):
like, wait, what is college about?
And I actually think that there'sso much about education that is
It's so obscure and therefore alsoso it's abstract, um, and therefore
it's hard to put your finger on it.
And people almost kind ofdiscount it because they go,
(18:23):
I don't know why I need that.
Yeah.
Right.
Because it's like, it's not this skillthat I can just check off in a box.
Actually you do check those boxes off.
It's just that it doesn't come fromreading a couple of paragraphs.
Mm hmm.
Right, it comes from actuallygoing through an experience
that is hard, like you said.
(18:44):
You know, they're hard and, and it'slike you have to face it and you
have to take courage to face it.
You have to take hard work and resilienceand all of that to face it and to then
process it and then reflect on it andthen you go, now I actually own this.
You wouldn't otherwise own it,because otherwise, we could have just
(19:04):
said, Let's not worry about goingto London, it's really expensive.
Like, just read this book, right?
John, uh, Regan could justsay, Here, I wrote this book.
Read it, and you've got it all.
You don't need to go and do all of this.
It wouldn't work, right?
It wouldn't work.
And that's the difference I feel likebetween sort of a learning experience
(19:29):
as what education is versus just abunch of content that you think you
can just read about and then justRemember it and then that's it.
Yeah.
No, yeah, exactly.
I think I agree completelywith what you're saying.
I feel like there is that misconceptionof college is just a bunch of,
(19:50):
you know, exams and studying.
And while it is that, there is that part,but it's so much more the experience.
Like you said, I think, of course,college isn't for everyone.
But I do believe that it's
Um, what I'm going to take away fromcollege, mainly, is the experience.
(20:16):
When I'm talking about that CapstoneProject, where we had to write the 50
page paper, I didn't even mention whatthe topic was, because it almost ended
up not even being the main focus anymore.
It was, Um, More aboutwhat we learned as a team.
I think, honestly, the project, what I'verealized now is the topic doesn't matter.
(20:37):
You can choose whatever topic youwant to talk about, but what is
really the main takeaway is how youeffectively worked with your team to
produce a good, well written paper.
How did you guys split the work up?
How did you communicate?
That's really what the takeaway is.
What are the skills you learnfrom that that are actually
(20:59):
like applicable in other areas?
Not just the knowledge yougot from doing the research.
I mean, our paper was about.
CTE, um, and brain trauma.
That's not applicable for me becauseI'm going into the business world,
but the experience that I got fromthat, that's what's applicable.
(21:19):
That's what's helped me in otherteam projects that I've had
working internships, workingin team projects and classes.
That's what's really carried through.
That's what the importanceof education is.
It's the experiences thatyou get along the way.
You.
meet so many people in college that arefrom all over the world and that's the
(21:44):
really the only time where you're meetingpeople so many different people who are
all kind of in the same stage of lifelike at the same time and And are all
commonly working towards the same goal.
And I feel like people don't appreciatethat moment enough and really take
the time out to reflect and be like,Wow, this is the only time that I'm
(22:08):
going to be around 19, 20 year olds.
That all just want to get a degree thatall want to learn something from this,
even though we're all so vastly different.
I know that, uh, at CGS, you hadbeen building a portfolio of your
work throughout those two years.
(22:29):
Yeah.
Tell me a little bit about that.
What that was like.
What did you do?
What did you have to do?
And what did you get anything out of it?
So At CGS, we had to useDigication to create an...
a portfolio of all of our work.
(22:50):
So we had a homepage and we also hadevery single class already embedded within
the Digication once we got on campus,it was nice that we didn't have to set
that up, but we had to really learn howto include tabs within the Digication
site to put different projects on there.
(23:14):
And I really liked it because I likedthat we were able to personalize
it and customize it when you usetraditional like homework poster sites.
There's not really much personalizationthat can go with this, but with
this it's literally a portfolio.
It has a picture of you, adescription of you, and it's very
(23:35):
personalized, which I really like.
And I like that it waslike really easy to use.
You can just put everything.
I like that everything is inone place and so easy to access.
Um, and so.
Yeah, it was, it was nice.
I think there were about 12 ish classeswithin it, and it was nice that we, we
(23:55):
just had it embedded within the system.
I remember, you know, seeing thatyour portfolio being presented
for the first time, like forme, it was at that conference.
And I remember, you know, Um, Ibelieve that you, I still remember
that you had shown, um, yourportfolio through your London trip.
(24:21):
And I think that's why I rememberthis food assignment so well.
And I think it had, I mean, you talkedabout the design, the colors, um, And
I remember, I think there was some ofthat that was part of the portfolio.
Am I right or am I dreaming this up?
No, it was definitely part.
I included the pictures of the food,the pictures I took, like, at the
(24:46):
place within the portfolio as well.
Yeah, and I remember thinking, youknow, I remember, um, you and John were
talking about how communication, Youknow, a lot of people think about going
to college is just writing a ton andton of papers, you know, but it's also
(25:07):
about expressing yourself in all thesedifferent models these days, right?
Being able to express yourselfthrough photographs, through
design, through, through how youput a sort of web page together.
And these are some of the skillsthat frankly, it becomes a today's
(25:28):
everyday skill for, uh, a someone, youknow, in the 21st century trying to.
You know, whether you go into businessor you want to become, you know, a
researcher or what have you, right?
Um, yeah, we're talking about dataanalytics, but that's not going to be
(25:48):
just charts and tables anymore, right?
Yeah.
You're we're moving into such atech-focused world that I think
it's so important to understand, toknow how different platforms work.
Use things differently, what differentbuttons mean, what different icons mean.
(26:11):
It's nice to have that technologicalportfolio that has everything in one
place and it is applicable to DataAnalytics as well because I'm learning
how to format things and the hugepart of data analytics, especially
(26:32):
when working in a business field,is knowing how to present data in a
neat, pretty, and understandable way.
And I feel like having that designaspect of designing the portfolio in
a way that it's readable for people,a way that it's easy for people to
understand, definitely applies now inmy major and everything that I'm doing.
(26:56):
It's just, How to make lifeeasier for people, basically.
Yeah, I hear a lot of people that gothrough that process talk about the, um,
experience of being able to tell stories.
So storytelling, not purely throughthe ability to write papers.
(27:17):
Yeah.
I almost feel like that it usedto be the case, you know, like
every, most college students justwrite a ton and a ton of papers.
Um, but, but today it reallyis not like that anymore.
Um, and I also remember seeingyour portfolio cause it's so rich.
You got, you know, 12 classesworth of stuff in there.
(27:40):
Yeah.
That it's almost impossible to ignorethe type of interconnectedness and the
integrative nature of your learning.
Yeah.
And, and one of the things that I hadalways felt that that was important
(28:00):
in, in education and learning, but it'ssomehow seems sometimes forgotten, is
that you know, and, and I don't knowwhat it is because of the way that
grades work, work out in most schoolsor in most classes, the culture of just
doing assignments and this assignmentis worth 10 points and this assignment
(28:21):
is worth another, you know, 15 points.
After the assignments over, youkind of almost don't even think
about these assignments again.
It's episodic and transactional, youknow, whereas when I see your whole
portfolio, I remember thinking, man,that's a body of work and a body of work
(28:45):
is different from a bunch of transactions,almost like, you know, when you look
at like someone's transcript, it almostlooks like, it's just like a receipt,
it looks like a receipt, it looks likea receipt, you know, but what we really
want to see is a body of work of someonewho's accomplished all these things,
and the sum of all of that is It addsup to be a lot more, a lot bigger than
(29:10):
just, you know, a list of receipts.
Yeah.
I, that's, I think that's one of thereasons why I really valued like having
the portfolio and because I'm such avisual person and I really like to dig
deep and understand the value of things.
And I feel like having, like you said,that body of work is, it's valuable
(29:32):
than just seeing a bunch of A's.
It's different when you get to go in andsee the different papers, the slides,
the pictures, everything in one place,and you can really tell how the classes
are interconnected than if you just see aclass name and a grade right next to it.
(29:52):
It doesn't have that sameeffect on you, and you don't
really see what the person did.
What buildable skills they gotfrom that experience as well.
So that's the reason.
Can we wrap up with a quick exercise here?
Let's see if we don't work, but let's see.
All right.
So based on some of the workthat you've done, right?
(30:14):
I mean, you see your portfoliowith all this rich, you know, 12
courses, word of stuff in there.
Now that you see them there,are there relationships or
connections that you can make?
After the fact.
Either it's today or afterthese courses are over that,
(30:36):
that surprised you, you know?
Like maybe it's something that, oh wow,I did this in London, but I also, this
reappeared again over somewhere else or,you know, something along those lines.
Can you think of anything like that?
Like I said, um, the experience definitelycarries over and there have been moments
where I've gone back into the Digicationbecause it's just so much easier to go in.
(31:02):
It's all in one place to goin and look at something.
I I had to write a research paperfor one of my business classes and I
remember Professor Regan taught us likea really good way to write research
papers and so I just immediately waslike oh okay Digication let me just go
look in there it was I'm like it's allin there already so it's so much easier
(31:24):
to go from there and I think also fromLondon like I said the experiences we
had from there, the different classes,the fact that we were able to learn
from experience was really what.
um, London was, because of courseProfessor Regan's class, which was
the writing class, we had the food inLondon critique class, but my social
(31:50):
science class, she really wantedus to, my professor, um, Professor
Blaschke, she really wanted us tohave autonomy in the work that we did,
and so she told us, explore London.
Find something interesting.
You think about London, it can behistory related or not history related
(32:10):
and I want you guys to create a podcast.
So we actually submitted a podcastepisode as one of our homeworks and
then finally my art history class was,um, he told us go around to, like, four
museums, find interconnected themes, andchoose from one era, either the 1960s,
(32:35):
1970s, and create a slideshow of that.
Depicts these images and homeworkbeing exploring is just so important.
I think those experiences, learningso much about the world and how
to communicate because all thoseprojects, what they had in common
(32:56):
is you're sharing your experiences.
You're learning how tocommunicate experiences.
This isn't just, it's not just writinga paper, it's communicating experiences.
So whether it's through writing, througha slide deck, through a podcast, you're
learning the different ways to expressyourself, and I feel like that can be
(33:17):
applied in any field, and I've definitelyseen that show up in the work that I
do now, where I have to analyze dataand depict that through a slideshow or
in some of my marketing classes we'retalking about like marketing management,
creating a slide deck that shows howorganizations work, all that, all those
(33:41):
experiences I had that I might nothave had if I just went in straight
on have really, really applied as I'vegone in through my work and I think.
The Digication has been such a centerpart of that because the fact that it's
all in one spot is so nice, and it's sonice to go back and look on and be like,
(34:05):
I created this, like I, I made this.
This Digication was blank at some point,no color, no design, no work embedded
into it, and I put the work into this.
I designed this, and I've reallymade it my own, is what It's such
a proud moment for me as well.
(34:26):
That's wonderful.
Um, well, listen, I, I've, I've beenfully inspired by talking to you today.
I've been inspired for you too.
You, you, you, you know, honestly, Ithink that you give a lot of, I think
that people who will be listening,this will, will feel a sense of hope.
(34:48):
And also.
Hopefully a for those whohave been pessimistic.
Yeah about colleges And what itmeans and what higher education does.
I hope it gives you some renewed optimismto sort of, to appreciate that, you
(35:12):
know, if it was all about just learninga bunch of skills that people just
read a lot into a, into in the book.
We would've just setyou free in a library.
Exactly.
Right.
But this, it, it, this sort ofplanned experience, these going on
these adventures in a guided wayby professors who have spent their
(35:33):
lives trying to perfect that skill.
Mm-hmm . You know, to be able to help you.
I think that's what you are reallygetting, you know, in a, in a,
in a, in a well structured, welldesigned, higher education program.
And I, I really do thinkthat people, um, before they.
Dismiss that.
Um, they should give it a fair shake.
(35:54):
They should give it, they shouldreally look at it and understand.
Hold on a minute.
These are things that I can'tget out of reading a book.
Um, and it's, it's just hard otherwise,you know, to, to be able to get, get that.
Um, and, uh, and you've just been so,um, delightful to talk to and, and, and,
(36:16):
and it, it, by the way, it makes me wantto go back to college and be like, can
I just do that London semester, please?
I wish I could go back tothe London semester too.
Right, right.
Okay.
That's what, that's what BUshould be doing, doing a London
semester for alumni, right?
Yeah.
After you graduate, you know,you can still go back, but
(36:39):
now you have to pay for it.
All right.
Hey, listen, it's been.
It's been so great talking to you, Dami.
Thank you so much for having me.
I've, I really enjoyed our conversation.
Yeah, same here.
And I look forward tolike, please keep in touch.
Mm-hmm . I look forwardto seeing what you do.
Thank you so much.
Into this next phase.
I'm sure that lots of amazing thingswill come out of it and, uh, we, we,
(37:04):
we are so glad to have been a smallpart of you know, your, your journey.
Um, so it's, it's very inspiring.
Okay.
Take care.
Thank you.
And I, uh, stay in touch.
Okay.
Of course.
Bye.
All right.
Here's a preview of what's comingup next in my conversation with
Matthew Gomes, an ADP Systems Analystat Bunker Hill Community College.
(37:30):
But it, it is one of those thingswhere the more you put into it and
by more, I don't mean quantity.
But the more you put into it,the more you can get out of it.
So it transcends just that oneclass you're taking where you
want to get an A on your homework.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Jeff Yan.
In this episode, you will hear Part Twoof my conversation with Dami Akingbade,
a junior at Boston University'sQuestrom School of Business, pursuing
a degree in Business Administration.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
(00:23):
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You know, feel free to talkabout this if you'd like.
I saw in your LinkedIn profilethat you have been in a number
of student organizations.
(00:45):
Um, an African students organization.
It looks like that you might'vebeen the secretary of the
African Student Organizations.
Um, can you tell us a little bit aboutthat and whether these types of learning
experience have helped or influenced theway that you, um, you know, participate
(01:10):
in these organizations and so on?
I mean, like, it's, it seems likethe theme of what we're talking about
today is Diverse perspectives and thatreally is what that club does for me.
I joined the African StudentsOrganization my freshman year and
then I was just an events coordinator.
(01:32):
I would help with planning eventsand really what it was was helping
to bring people together andcelebrate the diversity of Africa,
the different countries representedwithin Africa, and helping people
who came on campus find a community,
was so important to us to have peoplefeel like they have a safe space.
(01:54):
Um, it's sometimes it's reallydifficult when you come, you leave
home and you can't really find thathome away from home somewhere else.
And that's really whatwe're trying to bring.
Now that I'm secretary, I try as much asI can to, um, you know, book spaces and.
Contribute to meetings and make sure thatwe're thinking critically about how are
(02:19):
we helping the people in our community?
It's something I'm so passionate about.
I'm passionate about buildingcommunity and celebrating diversity.
We actually have an event coming upsoon, which is funny, this weekend,
which is Just a Thanksgiving celebrationsince Thanksgiving is coming up.
Just a Thanksgiving celebrationand it's like basically a potluck.
(02:41):
And so we're going to ask peoplewho represent different African
countries to bring their food thatrepresents them and their home.
And so we're going to have people from allover Somalia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria,
really come and bring their food and weall get to taste and just like have a
(03:02):
good time and really feel like you know,remove the stress of exams and really feel
like we have a community here and just beable to celebrate everything that we're
thankful for and that we have that cultureand that home that we appreciate so much.
So you said it was about diversity.
I think it's more about food.
(03:22):
Yeah.
Um, let's talk a little bit about otherthings that, that, you know, that, Seems
to be, you know, happening in your life.
Um, uh, I saw that you, um, havejust participated in the 2024
(03:46):
Goldman Sachs Possibility Summit.
Um, tell us a little bit about that.
Um, what was that like andhow does this all connect?
Does this connect with all thesethings that we've been talking about?
Or is this sort of the next chapter?
If I feel like everything, everythingis connected at this point.
Um, the Goldman Sachs PossibilitySummit was another place that
(04:11):
was celebrating diversity.
That summit was to helpunderrepresented communities.
It was really Goldman Sachs way of likegiving people a head start, helping
people understand what Goldman Sachsis and I feel like my experience is
the fact that I was in the Africanstudents organization that I had done
(04:34):
diverse things studying abroad thatreally came through on my resume, which
helped me when I had that opportunity.
And so the summit was reallyjust a way to learn more.
It represented, like, the Black community,Hispanics, women, um, past veterans,
(04:54):
the LGBTQ community, things like that,and, um, It was really just helping,
you know, bridge the gap and just helppeople feel represented and feel heard.
Just giving us a space to learn more.
We learned about different practices.
We learned how to build a resume,how to interview, and we just got
(05:15):
that head start that we needed.
It was really an inclusive and greatprogram, collaborative as well.
You got to meet people.
I connected with so manypeople during that summit.
So yeah.
And I should, I know that you'rebeing quite humble here, but it
is not an easy one to get into.
(05:37):
Um, it's, um, it's a summit thathas over 10, 000 applicants,
um, every year, I believe.
And, um, and so it's a, it's a, it'sa rather prestigious Um, uh, on your
resume, but I think that this is what I,I, I, I sometimes wanted to, you know,
(06:00):
I feel like that for folks who've been
looking to get ahead, like you said,right, you have to look for these
kinds of opportunities, but also haveto realize that schools like Boston
University and many others too, right.
Have spent a huge amount of resources.
(06:23):
And scholarship and intellectual, youknow, prowess to figure out programs
and design opportunities that is reallyprofessionally, that's their job, is
to get students able to have theseopportunities to learn and to, to grow.
(06:45):
And for, I think that, you know,especially for those who are
listening, who might be thinking about.
What's the value of higher education?
Should I just go in and,you know, do something else?
And by the way, I take back some of the...
for some people, you know, it's It maybe true that college is not for them.
(07:07):
Yeah.
It may It may well be true.
But I think that for those who aresimply going through the Actually,
rather rational, logical Um, thoughtprocess that is, Hey, if I want to be an
engineer, if I want to be, you know, sortof fill in your blank, like, you know,
(07:27):
dream job, dream, you know, like career.
I don't need all this other stuff.
Yeah.
And I think that sometimeswe just don't know better.
We don't know that actually we do.
And not only do those other things, thoseother things is what's going to make the,
(07:49):
the job that I want possible, you know?
Yeah.
I think, you even mentioning that, it'smaking me realize I didn't talk about
a huge part of the College of GeneralStudies program, which is the Capstone
that we have at the end, and you workin a group with, I think, about eight
people, and you write a 50 page paper.
(08:13):
Some people might question what isthe relevance of that, it just seems
like added stress, but you really getto understand what it's like to work
within a team, and we live in such afast paced world and the center of any
business, whether that, whether you'rean engineer, whether you're a doctor,
whether you're working in business,you are most likely going to have to
(08:35):
work with a team at some point, you'regoing to need to work with people and
being able to have that experience fromCGS of like writing a paper, 50 pages,
a research heavy, being able to splitthat up, knowing how to communicate.
It's so important to have theseskills from such a young age to really
(08:57):
help you build on that, allow you tomake those mistakes when Arguably,
it matters a little bit less.
Um, and just being able to learnmore about yourself, how you work
with others is so, so important.
And you get to, you have so many optionsto choose from of what to write about.
You learn so much more about yourself,about other people in the process,
(09:20):
how people think, what those diverseperspectives are, and how the,
how those apply within your life.
And How you operate as wellis just, it's so important.
So you had actually mentioned a fewtimes, um, about learning about yourself.
And we had also previously talkeda little bit about that from
(09:42):
different perspectives and whatnot.
What is, what is this aboutlearning about oneself, right?
So how does that applyto a business degree?
How does it apply to your, and by theway, you're not defined by your degree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, you are, there are thingsin the world that you want to do.
You want to see the world in a certain,in a different, in a certain way.
(10:04):
And you want to make that happen.
You want to contribute to that future.
What is the role and the significanceabout learning about yourself?
Cause you talked about a few times and Ifeel like there's, there's more to that.
I think the most important partabout learning about yourself is just
(10:26):
learning about emotional intelligence.
I actually gave a speech about this lastweek to my class about the importance
of emotional intelligence and reallythe first step of being emotionally
intelligent is being self aware.
And I just think that knowing whoyou are as a person, knowing what
(10:50):
your boundaries are, what yourtriggers are, what your biases are.
Being able to understand that is sucha huge skill that a lot of people don't
have, and if you do have that skill,you are miles ahead of a lot of people.
Being able to understandwho you are as a person.
(11:11):
Helps you be more socially awarebecause you understand, okay, this
is how I'm going to communicatewith this person because this is
how I think about this situation.
And I know when to take a step back.
I know when I want to speak passionatelyabout something I know when and
how to communicate effectively.
That is important in any field.
(11:33):
Like I said, you're going tobe working with so many people.
You need to be socially aware.
And sometimes, Well, most times, actually.
Learning about yourselftakes a difficult situation.
It requires something challengingto happen and you take a step back
and you look at it and you say, ohmy gosh, I didn't realize that this
(11:56):
is something that usually upsets me.
I didn't realize thatI reacted in that way.
It was just in the momentand I just did that.
Taking that time out to self reflecton why you make decisions that you
make and why you do the things thatyou do really helps you understand
who you are as a person more.
And understanding who you are asa person plays a huge role in your
(12:21):
relationships, how you manage thoseeffectively, and how you manage yourself.
How you feel about yourself, how youfeel about your life, you will be
more satisfied with life and you'llbe more able to Self accept and have
a better psychological well being Whenyou understand who you are as a person
Understand what your weaknesses are andyou're able to work towards those as well.
(12:46):
Can I ask you sort ofa side question here?
So Dami, are you always thisself reflective or is it
something that you learn?
Like, what is, what is it?
Um, I definitely had to learn it.
I mean, no one's perfect.
Um, like I said, I gave a talk last weekabout emotional intelligence and really
(13:09):
the start of the talk was when I had atime when I wasn't this self reflective.
Um, I realize from a lot of my friendsand that that's another thing is being
able to take feedback is a huge thingthat comes with becoming self reflective.
I remember growing up, a lot of peoplewould tell me that I was defensive
(13:31):
and I never thought of myself.
I never thought of myself in that way.
So it was something thatI started to brush off.
But when I realized that people whoI care about deeply, my best friends,
my siblings, were telling me like,we can have an argument and you can
like, you know, lay your point down,but you don't need to fight me.
You don't need to notlisten to what I'm saying.
(13:54):
And that's when I realized like,Oh my God, I had to take the step
back and be like, Oh my gosh,I'm, I'm not listening to people.
And because I'm you know, Iwant so badly to be heard.
I'm not hearing other people and Iwas able to really learn the value
of being self aware, knowing whento listen to people and knowing
(14:16):
that like sometimes speaking allthe time is not how you get heard.
You need to listen to people first.
Um, so yeah, there's theself reflection journey.
It's, it's, it's been a journey.
I wasn't always like this, but I thinkwith time, with age, with things like
CGS that force you to be in thosepositions where you self reflect, force
(14:39):
you to be in positions where you receivefeedback from other people about how
you responded to certain situations,triggers you to want to be better.
And I want to just have thatself reflection of, okay,
what, what can I do next?
How can I better myselfon this journey of life?
(15:01):
Can I, um, I, this is so beautiful.
You just said, you know,these are, these are amazing.
I, I, I want to, um, point out thisnotion that a lot of people have.
And I don't know whether you evenagree with it because, I mean, you, you
only started college a few years ago.
So, you know, before then you,you don't really know, you haven't
(15:23):
experienced what college is like yet.
And a lot of people, and thisis not young people alone.
This is across ages, across the spectrumof people who have attended college.
Depend on when you attended college.
It could be 30 years ago.
But a lot of people think aboutgoing to college as being this
(15:46):
giant sort of pressure cooker oflet's feed more, let's marinate you
more in more and more knowledge.
And knowledge, you know, is, is almostlike in, in, in, in forms of content, you
know, like, you know, I think everyonewho's listening to you today can say.
(16:07):
Man, she's really well spoken.
She's really can, shereally expressed herself.
So there's that language component, right?
To build the ability to carry yourself,to be able to, to express, to be
able to, to, to, to make sense ofthe world and to be able to express
that, um, you know, to others, right.
Yeah.
Um, but, but there isactually, um, you know...
(16:32):
and there's, there is, by the way, afair amount of content, so to speak.
If we hear everything that you saidtoday, it's actually much more about
the experiences that you were, that werecreated for you that were like, you know,
(16:53):
like, here's, here are the adventures.
They're well designed.
We hope you go through it.
It's not a bunch of contentthat we want you to have.
We want you to have theexperience so that you have.
You're forced into doing the reflectionsto examine yourself, to learn about
yourself, to learn about who you are,what your values are, so that when
(17:16):
you I mean, you talked about, forexample, the value of diversity today.
And by the way, it obviously shows upin then what you then participated in
at the Goldman Sachs, you know, uh,uh, uh, uh, uh, summit and the fact
that they picked you out of a 10, youknow, um, you and a number of others
out of over 10, 000 applicants, right?
(17:40):
It's not some skills that.
Or some content, I should say,that was read to you in a book,
like in a book, paragraph three,this is how you work with a team.
Yeah, exactly.
They can listen all out, butyou won't, you won't understand
it, you won't learn it, right?
And I think that those are some ofthose things that, it's elusive, it's
(18:03):
like, wait, what is college about?
And I actually think that there'sso much about education that is
It's so obscure and therefore alsoso it's abstract, um, and therefore
it's hard to put your finger on it.
And people almost kind ofdiscount it because they go,
(18:23):
I don't know why I need that.
Yeah.
Right.
Because it's like, it's not this skillthat I can just check off in a box.
Actually you do check those boxes off.
It's just that it doesn't come fromreading a couple of paragraphs.
Mm hmm.
Right, it comes from actuallygoing through an experience
that is hard, like you said.
(18:44):
You know, they're hard and, and it'slike you have to face it and you
have to take courage to face it.
You have to take hard work and resilienceand all of that to face it and to then
process it and then reflect on it andthen you go, now I actually own this.
You wouldn't otherwise own it,because otherwise, we could have just
(19:04):
said, Let's not worry about goingto London, it's really expensive.
Like, just read this book, right?
John, uh, Regan could justsay, Here, I wrote this book.
Read it, and you've got it all.
You don't need to go and do all of this.
It wouldn't work, right?
It wouldn't work.
And that's the difference I feel likebetween sort of a learning experience
(19:29):
as what education is versus just abunch of content that you think you
can just read about and then justRemember it and then that's it.
Yeah.
No, yeah, exactly.
I think I agree completelywith what you're saying.
I feel like there is that misconceptionof college is just a bunch of,
(19:50):
you know, exams and studying.
And while it is that, there is that part,but it's so much more the experience.
Like you said, I think, of course,college isn't for everyone.
But I do believe that it's
Um, what I'm going to take away fromcollege, mainly, is the experience.
(20:16):
When I'm talking about that CapstoneProject, where we had to write the 50
page paper, I didn't even mention whatthe topic was, because it almost ended
up not even being the main focus anymore.
It was, Um, More aboutwhat we learned as a team.
I think, honestly, the project, what I'verealized now is the topic doesn't matter.
(20:37):
You can choose whatever topic youwant to talk about, but what is
really the main takeaway is how youeffectively worked with your team to
produce a good, well written paper.
How did you guys split the work up?
How did you communicate?
That's really what the takeaway is.
What are the skills you learnfrom that that are actually
(20:59):
like applicable in other areas?
Not just the knowledge yougot from doing the research.
I mean, our paper was about.
CTE, um, and brain trauma.
That's not applicable for me becauseI'm going into the business world,
but the experience that I got fromthat, that's what's applicable.
(21:19):
That's what's helped me in otherteam projects that I've had
working internships, workingin team projects and classes.
That's what's really carried through.
That's what the importanceof education is.
It's the experiences thatyou get along the way.
You.
meet so many people in college that arefrom all over the world and that's the
(21:44):
really the only time where you're meetingpeople so many different people who are
all kind of in the same stage of lifelike at the same time and And are all
commonly working towards the same goal.
And I feel like people don't appreciatethat moment enough and really take
the time out to reflect and be like,Wow, this is the only time that I'm
(22:08):
going to be around 19, 20 year olds.
That all just want to get a degree thatall want to learn something from this,
even though we're all so vastly different.
I know that, uh, at CGS, you hadbeen building a portfolio of your
work throughout those two years.
(22:29):
Yeah.
Tell me a little bit about that.
What that was like.
What did you do?
What did you have to do?
And what did you get anything out of it?
So At CGS, we had to useDigication to create an...
a portfolio of all of our work.
(22:50):
So we had a homepage and we also hadevery single class already embedded within
the Digication once we got on campus,it was nice that we didn't have to set
that up, but we had to really learn howto include tabs within the Digication
site to put different projects on there.
(23:14):
And I really liked it because I likedthat we were able to personalize
it and customize it when you usetraditional like homework poster sites.
There's not really much personalizationthat can go with this, but with
this it's literally a portfolio.
It has a picture of you, adescription of you, and it's very
(23:35):
personalized, which I really like.
And I like that it waslike really easy to use.
You can just put everything.
I like that everything is inone place and so easy to access.
Um, and so.
Yeah, it was, it was nice.
I think there were about 12 ish classeswithin it, and it was nice that we, we
(23:55):
just had it embedded within the system.
I remember, you know, seeing thatyour portfolio being presented
for the first time, like forme, it was at that conference.
And I remember, you know, Um, Ibelieve that you, I still remember
that you had shown, um, yourportfolio through your London trip.
(24:21):
And I think that's why I rememberthis food assignment so well.
And I think it had, I mean, you talkedabout the design, the colors, um, And
I remember, I think there was some ofthat that was part of the portfolio.
Am I right or am I dreaming this up?
No, it was definitely part.
I included the pictures of the food,the pictures I took, like, at the
(24:46):
place within the portfolio as well.
Yeah, and I remember thinking, youknow, I remember, um, you and John were
talking about how communication, Youknow, a lot of people think about going
to college is just writing a ton andton of papers, you know, but it's also
(25:07):
about expressing yourself in all thesedifferent models these days, right?
Being able to express yourselfthrough photographs, through
design, through, through how youput a sort of web page together.
And these are some of the skillsthat frankly, it becomes a today's
(25:28):
everyday skill for, uh, a someone, youknow, in the 21st century trying to.
You know, whether you go into businessor you want to become, you know, a
researcher or what have you, right?
Um, yeah, we're talking about dataanalytics, but that's not going to be
(25:48):
just charts and tables anymore, right?
Yeah.
You're we're moving into such atech-focused world that I think
it's so important to understand, toknow how different platforms work.
Use things differently, what differentbuttons mean, what different icons mean.
(26:11):
It's nice to have that technologicalportfolio that has everything in one
place and it is applicable to DataAnalytics as well because I'm learning
how to format things and the hugepart of data analytics, especially
(26:32):
when working in a business field,is knowing how to present data in a
neat, pretty, and understandable way.
And I feel like having that designaspect of designing the portfolio in
a way that it's readable for people,a way that it's easy for people to
understand, definitely applies now inmy major and everything that I'm doing.
(26:56):
It's just, How to make lifeeasier for people, basically.
Yeah, I hear a lot of people that gothrough that process talk about the, um,
experience of being able to tell stories.
So storytelling, not purely throughthe ability to write papers.
(27:17):
Yeah.
I almost feel like that it usedto be the case, you know, like
every, most college students justwrite a ton and a ton of papers.
Um, but, but today it reallyis not like that anymore.
Um, and I also remember seeingyour portfolio cause it's so rich.
You got, you know, 12 classesworth of stuff in there.
(27:40):
Yeah.
That it's almost impossible to ignorethe type of interconnectedness and the
integrative nature of your learning.
Yeah.
And, and one of the things that I hadalways felt that that was important
(28:00):
in, in education and learning, but it'ssomehow seems sometimes forgotten, is
that you know, and, and I don't knowwhat it is because of the way that
grades work, work out in most schoolsor in most classes, the culture of just
doing assignments and this assignmentis worth 10 points and this assignment
(28:21):
is worth another, you know, 15 points.
After the assignments over, youkind of almost don't even think
about these assignments again.
It's episodic and transactional, youknow, whereas when I see your whole
portfolio, I remember thinking, man,that's a body of work and a body of work
(28:45):
is different from a bunch of transactions,almost like, you know, when you look
at like someone's transcript, it almostlooks like, it's just like a receipt,
it looks like a receipt, it looks likea receipt, you know, but what we really
want to see is a body of work of someonewho's accomplished all these things,
and the sum of all of that is It addsup to be a lot more, a lot bigger than
(29:10):
just, you know, a list of receipts.
Yeah.
I, that's, I think that's one of thereasons why I really valued like having
the portfolio and because I'm such avisual person and I really like to dig
deep and understand the value of things.
And I feel like having, like you said,that body of work is, it's valuable
(29:32):
than just seeing a bunch of A's.
It's different when you get to go in andsee the different papers, the slides,
the pictures, everything in one place,and you can really tell how the classes
are interconnected than if you just see aclass name and a grade right next to it.
(29:52):
It doesn't have that sameeffect on you, and you don't
really see what the person did.
What buildable skills they gotfrom that experience as well.
So that's the reason.
Can we wrap up with a quick exercise here?
Let's see if we don't work, but let's see.
All right.
So based on some of the workthat you've done, right?
(30:14):
I mean, you see your portfoliowith all this rich, you know, 12
courses, word of stuff in there.
Now that you see them there,are there relationships or
connections that you can make?
After the fact.
Either it's today or afterthese courses are over that,
(30:36):
that surprised you, you know?
Like maybe it's something that, oh wow,I did this in London, but I also, this
reappeared again over somewhere else or,you know, something along those lines.
Can you think of anything like that?
Like I said, um, the experience definitelycarries over and there have been moments
where I've gone back into the Digicationbecause it's just so much easier to go in.
(31:02):
It's all in one place to goin and look at something.
I I had to write a research paperfor one of my business classes and I
remember Professor Regan taught us likea really good way to write research
papers and so I just immediately waslike oh okay Digication let me just go
look in there it was I'm like it's allin there already so it's so much easier
(31:24):
to go from there and I think also fromLondon like I said the experiences we
had from there, the different classes,the fact that we were able to learn
from experience was really what.
um, London was, because of courseProfessor Regan's class, which was
the writing class, we had the food inLondon critique class, but my social
(31:50):
science class, she really wantedus to, my professor, um, Professor
Blaschke, she really wanted us tohave autonomy in the work that we did,
and so she told us, explore London.
Find something interesting.
You think about London, it can behistory related or not history related
(32:10):
and I want you guys to create a podcast.
So we actually submitted a podcastepisode as one of our homeworks and
then finally my art history class was,um, he told us go around to, like, four
museums, find interconnected themes, andchoose from one era, either the 1960s,
(32:35):
1970s, and create a slideshow of that.
Depicts these images and homeworkbeing exploring is just so important.
I think those experiences, learningso much about the world and how
to communicate because all thoseprojects, what they had in common
(32:56):
is you're sharing your experiences.
You're learning how tocommunicate experiences.
This isn't just, it's not just writinga paper, it's communicating experiences.
So whether it's through writing, througha slide deck, through a podcast, you're
learning the different ways to expressyourself, and I feel like that can be
(33:17):
applied in any field, and I've definitelyseen that show up in the work that I
do now, where I have to analyze dataand depict that through a slideshow or
in some of my marketing classes we'retalking about like marketing management,
creating a slide deck that shows howorganizations work, all that, all those
(33:41):
experiences I had that I might nothave had if I just went in straight
on have really, really applied as I'vegone in through my work and I think.
The Digication has been such a centerpart of that because the fact that it's
all in one spot is so nice, and it's sonice to go back and look on and be like,
(34:05):
I created this, like I, I made this.
This Digication was blank at some point,no color, no design, no work embedded
into it, and I put the work into this.
I designed this, and I've reallymade it my own, is what It's such
a proud moment for me as well.
(34:26):
That's wonderful.
Um, well, listen, I, I've, I've beenfully inspired by talking to you today.
I've been inspired for you too.
You, you, you, you know, honestly, Ithink that you give a lot of, I think
that people who will be listening,this will, will feel a sense of hope.
(34:48):
And also.
Hopefully a for those whohave been pessimistic.
Yeah about colleges And what itmeans and what higher education does.
I hope it gives you some renewed optimismto sort of, to appreciate that, you
(35:12):
know, if it was all about just learninga bunch of skills that people just
read a lot into a, into in the book.
We would've just setyou free in a library.
Exactly.
Right.
But this, it, it, this sort ofplanned experience, these going on
these adventures in a guided wayby professors who have spent their
(35:33):
lives trying to perfect that skill.
Mm-hmm . You know, to be able to help you.
I think that's what you are reallygetting, you know, in a, in a,
in a, in a well structured, welldesigned, higher education program.
And I, I really do thinkthat people, um, before they.
Dismiss that.
Um, they should give it a fair shake.
(35:54):
They should give it, they shouldreally look at it and understand.
Hold on a minute.
These are things that I can'tget out of reading a book.
Um, and it's, it's just hard otherwise,you know, to, to be able to get, get that.
Um, and, uh, and you've just been so,um, delightful to talk to and, and, and,
(36:16):
and it, it, by the way, it makes me wantto go back to college and be like, can
I just do that London semester, please?
I wish I could go back tothe London semester too.
Right, right.
Okay.
That's what, that's what BUshould be doing, doing a London
semester for alumni, right?
Yeah.
After you graduate, you know,you can still go back, but
(36:39):
now you have to pay for it.
All right.
Hey, listen, it's been.
It's been so great talking to you, Dami.
Thank you so much for having me.
I've, I really enjoyed our conversation.
Yeah, same here.
And I look forward tolike, please keep in touch.
Mm-hmm . I look forwardto seeing what you do.
Thank you so much.
Into this next phase.
I'm sure that lots of amazing thingswill come out of it and, uh, we, we,
(37:04):
we are so glad to have been a smallpart of you know, your, your journey.
Um, so it's, it's very inspiring.
Okay.
Take care.
Thank you.
And I, uh, stay in touch.
Okay.
Of course.
Bye.
All right.
Here's a preview of what's comingup next in my conversation with
Matthew Gomes, an ADP Systems Analystat Bunker Hill Community College.
(37:30):
But it, it is one of those thingswhere the more you put into it and
by more, I don't mean quantity.
But the more you put into it,the more you can get out of it.
So it transcends just that oneclass you're taking where you
want to get an A on your homework.
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