{"430741":{"#nid":"430741","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Alumni Spotlight Summer Edition: Peter Swanson","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIt\u2019s a beautiful experience of being yourself and walking in someone else\u0027s shoes at the same time.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeter Swanson got involved in the GT LEAD community through his service as a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/leadership.gatech.edu\/content\/107\/leadership-fellows\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELeadership Fellow\u003C\/a\u003E (Coach) for the Leading Edge program over the 2014-2015 school year, as he completed the masters program in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).\u0026nbsp; This summer, he is serving as a student leadership facilitator for La Vid (a Christian student group at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.uasd.edu.do\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EUniversidad Aut\u00f3noma de Santo Domingo\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in the Dominican Republic) where he has been helping a group of students learn how to lead their group and grow in their career, faith, and responsibility.\u0026nbsp; We were curious to know more about his experience in the Dominican Republic, and here is what he told us:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E1. \u0026nbsp;Where are you this summer and what are you doing (ex: studying abroad, internship, teaching, summer classes, FASET leader, etc)? Please describe your context and why you chose this path for the summer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EI just graduated from the masters program in ECE at GT. I hope to teach Electrical Engineering in a university in the Dominican Republic (DR) as soon as my Spanish is good enough to understand their specific accent here.\u0026nbsp;I am currently working with a group of Christian students in the university in the mean time.\u0026nbsp;My dream is to help people in all sorts of\u0026nbsp;ways whether it\u2019s through education, relief work, or spiritual growth with God. I have been doing volunteer work in the DR for the past four summers and I love the people here. There are so many needs here and the people have such great hearts, so I wanted to do what I can to serve and help here in the DR.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E2. \u0026nbsp;What are some ways that leadership plays a role in what you are doing this summer?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EOne example of the need for leadership is in my friendship with a boy named Manuel. He is 17 and his family didn\u0027t have enough money to support him so they kicked him out of the house at a young age. He was homeless when we first met him. Though he is uneducated and looks a little rough, he has a heart of gold. He is always laughing and joking. I have been working with him to learn employable skills and develop life patterns of time and budget organization. I pay him to do random chores for me until he finds a job. He tells me that God has changed his life, and he is so kind and prays for his other friends who are also homeless. We recently found a temporary housing situation for him.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E3. \u0026nbsp;In what way are you\/were you involved with Georgia Tech Leadership Education and Development (LEAD)?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;And how has your LEAD involvement helped you with your summer leadership experience?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;In other words, were there valuable insights gained or lessons learned from your LEAD involvement that has been useful to you this summer?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EI was a one-on-one leadership coach this past year. One of the most helpful things that I took from my time in Leading Edge was the ability to teach by asking questions. In the Dominican culture, there are many worldview and cultural differences. I found that when I used a statement-based teaching style there was a lot lost in translation. But using the question-based teaching style that Leading Edge taught us has been incredibly helpful.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E4. \u0026nbsp;What has been the most rewarding part of your summer? What has been the most challenging?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe most rewarding moments have been seeing the Dominicans gaining and growing a heart for the helpful people around them: their neighbors, friends, and family. So many of them have told us that growing in their relationship with God has brought unity and love into families that have a lot of brokenness (and still have a lot to healing to do). The most challenging thing to me has been the \u201ccatch-22\u201d that I find myself in often. I want to help people financially, but the issue is that when I give out money or food, it often sends a message that American gifts are the solution to their financial problems. Instead of giving gifts of food and money, I have been creating ways to employ some of them (like Manuel).\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E5. \u0026nbsp;What do you know now that you didn\u2019t know before you ventured into your summer leadership experience?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBefore I came, I was worried that I might not fit into this culture very well. I was afraid that I would need to practically become Dominican before I could become effective at helping them. However, I have learned that it\u2019s okay to be my American self. I have been learning from the Dominicans and picking things up from them and they have learned from me also (My Dominican roommate and I were laughing hard one night as we played a funny game of impersonating each other\u0027s accent). It\u2019s a beautiful experience of being yourself and walking in someone else\u0027s shoes at the same time.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026nbsp;","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s a beautiful experience of being yourself and walking in someone else\u0027s shoes\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Peter Swanson, former Leadership Fellow, shares his summer experience in the Dominican Republic."}],"uid":"28136","created_gmt":"2015-08-04 10:09:37","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:19","author":"Mindy Kao","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-08-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-08-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"428241":{"id":"428241","type":"image","title":"Peter Swanson - DR 1","body":null,"created":"1449254358","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:18","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"Peter Swanson - DR 1","file":{"fid":"202813","name":"dsc_0139.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0139_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0139_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2719732,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_0139_0.jpg?itok=35dZMBYL"}},"428251":{"id":"428251","type":"image","title":"Peter Swanson - DR 2","body":null,"created":"1449254358","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:18","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"Peter Swanson - DR 2","file":{"fid":"202814","name":"dsc_0148_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0148_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0148_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2521440,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_0148_0_0.jpg?itok=17dniX-B"}},"428261":{"id":"428261","type":"image","title":"Peter Swanson - DR 3","body":null,"created":"1449254358","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:18","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"Peter Swanson - DR 3","file":{"fid":"202815","name":"dsc_0181.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0181_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0181_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2521229,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_0181_1.jpg?itok=Dd6hxu2c"}},"428271":{"id":"428271","type":"image","title":"Peter Swanson - DR 4","body":null,"created":"1449254358","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:18","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"Peter Swanson - DR 4","file":{"fid":"202816","name":"dsc_1421.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_1421_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_1421_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2605993,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_1421_0.jpg?itok=n25Tl86q"}}},"media_ids":["428241","428251","428261","428271"],"groups":[{"id":"269161","name":"Leadership Education and Development"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"288","name":"Leadership"},{"id":"87491","name":"leadership fellows"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELeadership Education and Development Staff\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["leadingedge@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}