Chevening is going to help me expand my network and relations with people who stick with their goals

Chevening is looking for individuals with strong networking skills, who will engage with the Chevening community ...

Part of my job as an architect is to create bonds with people, with my clients in order to assure that their wishes and goals are truly well oriented in the design, with engineers to guarantee that the project will be a whole function master piece, with the community so my ideas won't affect their lifestyle in a negative way nor compromise the environment, but most importantly is the bond I create with myself as a professional and individual. I know what makes myself tick and always try to find the motivation in those around me so I can expand my point of view. I started networking a very long time ago, without noticing that I was actually doing it.

Living abroad as an exchange student and volunteering changed me forever. It helped me not only to meet people from all over the world, but to connect to others, accepting and learning from their culture, language, religion and careers. It pushed me to boost my social skills, without being afraid of communicating in different languages and unusual scenarios.

Therefore, I chose to work with Rotaract club to keep in touch with the needs of my community. In 2011 our Rotaract club got involved in the design of a mobility awareness campaign. It comprehended a diagnose of the current state of the roads in a community that we took as sample, the design of posters and brochures regarding the mobility problem, which would be distributed in high schools, a sign design contest and finally, engaging in giving talks to teenagers regarding the mobility problem and the solutions involving our roles as actors in the mobility process (pedestrians, public /private drivers and transit officers).

I realized that to carry on and succeed with this project, we had to reach out for people from different institutions and organizations. The design of the campaign was supervised by teachers of the Universidad Nacional Experimental del Tachira (UNET), and executed by the members of the Rotaract club Dr. Pablo Puky in the city of San Cristobal; our goal was also to establish alliances with the mayor, in order to apply the campaign forward to other communities. Networking helped us to succeed in our goal, to meet people and link Academia (UNET) - ONG (Rotary/Rotaract) - Government in the solution of a problem.

In the future, I would like to keep finding solutions to the problems in my community. I'm a firm believer that if you have an idea, is easier to make it truth if you have the support of others. By exchanging services you can have a win-win situation for everybody.

I'm certain that Chevening is going to help me expand my network and relations with people who stick with their goals, so I can bring the best of my potential and keep working in community projects and motivating other to do so as well.

Liseth, you were able to revise your essay to enter into a more relevant mode of presentation. However, something got lost in the translation. While you explained how living abroad helped you learn how to network, the actual act of networking, in relation to the scholarship application disappeared. You concentrated so much on the project background that you accidentally mentioned the name of the doctor in charge of the project as the project head. Then promptly forgot to explain how you developed your networking skills as a member of this project.

You mentioned the goals of the project, excellent. So how was it executed? Who came up with the idea to network using the people and offices you mentioned? What was your part in it? How did you cultivate this contact and were you able to sustain it for future use? Do you continue to create networks today? How can you use it in the future?

I realize I offer a lot of questions for you to answer, but that is because you are expected to be able to present at least a framework of your past network as the basis of your future network that can help you and the other scholars if and when the time comes for you to need them.

Good revision though. Just keep on adjusting the content until you get it right. We will help you with that.

Hello Mary, thank you once again for your review. I'm working on improving this essay. However there is something I didnt quite understand, you said "you were able to revise your essay to enter into a more relevant mode of presentation" does that mean I should improve the oppening of my essay? I would send you the new changes once I'm done!

Thank you VERY MUCH!
Greetings from sunny Venezuela!

Simply put, all I meant was that you reviewed your original essay, took note of my suggestions, and edited or changed the essay as per my instructions. So the second version of the essay became more relevant to the prompt. Therefore, your editing brought the new version of the essay to a higher level of writing and understanding. The reader would have an easier time reading the second version of the essay than the first.

The opening of the essay is very good at this moment. So why would you consider revising it? I am sorry, I think I was not clear in my statement. What I meant to say was that the opening statement is very good. Better than the original work. So you don't have to change your opening statement. At least that is my opinion. You can change the paragraph content if you wish to. In which case, I will be willing to re-edit the introduction to you. However, I believe that you stick to this version of the opening.

Mary, thanks for answering. I tried to relate somehow my leadaership/influence essay with the networking one, I hope readers can easily perceive that.
this is what my last (so far) version of the networking essay looks like. Once again thanks for sharing your thought with me, I really appreciate it!

I hope you like it.
Best regards

Part of my job as an architect is to create bonds [....], without noticing that I was actually doing it.

Volunteering helped me not only to meet people; it pushed me to boost my social skills, without being afraid of communicating in different languages and unusual scenarios. My work with Rotaract is a clear example of this.

In 2011 I was in charge of the design of a mobility awareness campaign for the community service program at my university. It comprehended a diagnose of the current state of the roads in a community that we took as sample, the design of posters and brochures regarding the mobility problem, which would be distributed in high schools, and finally, engaging in giving talks to other students regarding the mobility problem and the solutions involving our roles as actors in the mobility process (pedestrians, public /private drivers and transit officers).

We applied the campaign in our faculty and it had really good results. I thought this campaign had a great potential if applied in other communities, so I reached out to Rotaract and presented them the idea of expanding this campaign in our community. They liked the idea and got on board. I worked not only as leader of the campaign but also as the link between the University and Rotaract.

This second part of the campaign was supervised by teachers of the Universidad Nacional Experimental del Tachira (UNET), and executed by the members of the Rotaract club. As Rotaractors, we also wanted to bring something new to the campaign, so I came up with the idea of incorporating the Sign design contest, which was a success. Through our Rotarians mentors we created alliances with the mayor, in order to apply the campaign forward to other communities. Networking helped us to succeed in our goal, linking: Academia (UNET) - ONG (Rotary/Rotaract) - Government, in the solution of a problem.

In the future, I would like to use these alliances and new ones, in finding solutions to other problems in my community. I'm a firm believer that if you have an idea, is easier to make it truth if you have the support of others.

I'm certain that Chevening is going to help me expand my network and relations, so I can bring the best of my potential and keep working in community projects and motivating other to do so as well.

Mary,If you really are willing to edit my intro or any part of the essay for that matter, I would be forever gratefull....

Liseth, here is something that you should know about the Chevening scholarship committee, they frown upon repeated information in the essays that you present. Since there is a specific essay about leadership that is included in your application packet, it will be in your best interest to remove any references, direct or implied, to your leadership skills. That is a redundancy that will not be appreciated. Just stick to the prompt requirements. That is all they want to read about. Prove that you can understand directions and can actually follow them.

Since this is a word limited essay, open immediately with the reference to your volunteer activities and its relation to your network development. In my opinion, the essay becomes stronger and more interesting to read without the current introduction. It really doesn't help you to immediately respond to the prompt so it slows it down. The reviewers appreciate reading direct to the point essays because they only have a specific amount of time to consider each essay submitted to them for possible acceptance.

Hello Mary, thanks for your review. I've made some changes according to your suggestions, you're totally right of course. Let me know what you think, This is what I came up with:

Part of my job as an architect is to create bonds with people, with my clients in order to assure that their wishes and goals are truly well oriented in the design, with engineers to guarantee that the project will be a whole function master piece, with the community so my ideas won't affect their lifestyle in a negative way nor compromise the environment, but most importantly is the bond I create with myself as a professional and individual. I know what makes myself tick and always try to find the motivation in those around me so I can expand my point of view. I started networking a very long time ago, without noticing that I was actually doing it.

Volunteering helped me not only to meet people; it pushed me to boost my social skills, without being afraid of communicating in different languages and unusual scenarios. My work with Rotaract is a clear example of that.

Originally the design of the Mobility awareness campaign was part of a project I had with my friends in the university. We applied the campaign in our faculty and it had really good results. I thought this campaign had a great potential if applied in other communities, so I reached out to Rotaract and presented them the idea of expanding this campaign in our community. They liked the idea and got on board. One of my roles was to serve as link between the University and Rotaract, my team had their own network, so we took advantage of it and got different companies to donate money so we could carry on with or project to a bigger scale.

This second part of the campaign was supervised by teachers of the Universidad Nacional Experimental del Tachira (UNET), and executed by the members of the Rotaract club. As Rotaractors, we also wanted to bring something new to the campaign, so we came up with the idea of incorporating the Sign design contest, which was a success. Through our Rotarians mentors we created alliances with the mayor, in order to apply the campaign forward to other communities. It was a big step to have a connections to the government, that way we could get them involve in other projects later on. Networking helped us to succeed in our goal, linking: Academia (UNET) - ONG (Rotary/Rotaract) - Government, in the solution of a problem.

In the future, I would like to use these alliances and new ones, in finding solutions to other problems in my community. I'm a firm believer that if you have an idea, is easier to make it truth if you have the support of others.

I'm certain that Chevening is going to help me expand my network and relations, so I can bring the best of my potential and keep working in community projects and motivating others to do so as well.