International Friendship and Internship

Kingston Yu is a student from Pacific American School in Taiwan. His team won the December 2021 Forum - Social Media for Global Good. Fernando Mingo Moreno is a student from Los Sauces in Spain. His team won the October 2021 Forum - Green is the New Gold.

Recently Kingston and Fernando met up and exchanged their thoughts on their experience of the Forum and what they think the future holds:

Fernando: Do you think the APP you proposed in the Forum competition could exist one day? And if so, do you see it evolving and becoming much more?

Kingston: We created a working prototype for the final presentation. Even though it is a bit rudimentary, it works (see Team 8's Presentation on the Global Community page). Due to the time constraint, we could not expand on the subject as much as we would have preferred. I would've liked to include more NGOs.

Fernando: Is the subject of the APP (Reduced Inequalities) close to you?

Kingston: Everyone has seen media coverage about inequality issues, be it BLM, stop Asian hate, or gay rights. Even though I myself haven't experienced this kind of discrimination, I have a friend who was discriminated against for being Chinese (in the country where he lives). We felt that a topic as important as this one should be provided with a platform to help spread awareness and ways people could aid those suffering from discrimination.

Fernando: Now that you´ve won, how do you plan on taking advantage of the internship?

Kingston: I am evaluating my workload next school year. If I end up participating in the internship, I think that the most valuable thing we´ll gain is experience and work skills. Plus, it will look good in our CVs!

Fernando: What made you join this forum?

Kingston: I had already joined several forums, so I knew beforehand what the experience was. What made me want to join again was meeting new people from other cultures. Being able to connect and communicate with people from all around the globe is a unique experience that I wanted to feel again

Fernando: What would you say to someone joining a future forum?

Kingston: I think that the most important thing to do is to be open, to have better coordination with your team, work better, and most importantly, get to know your peers better. It's also very important to have fun

Kingston: Do you want to pursue different types of ecotourism projects in the future?

Fernando: Though I like this topic a lot, I don’t really want to start a business. However, I do want to support and participate in organizations about ecotourism. I feel like more people should learn and be aware of the environment.

Kingston: What is the biggest challenge you face in this forum?

Fernando: I think that it is to compress the amount of information into a 5 min presentation. We had to synthesize a 2000 word essay. Another challenge is the deadline. The time is very quick and we have to complete a lot of things. However, we managed to push through.

Kingston: Is there any advice to keep you concentrated on doing work?

Fernando: The best thing is to work on a topic that you really like. You will only work harder if you do that. I like this topic and this gives me motivation. Also, be open to your teammates so that you can help others and others can help you.

Kingston: What is the reason for you and your team’s success?

Fernando: I feel like we had a creative idea. We incorporated a lot of aspects. We have good leadership and they pushed us to do the best we could. We have good confidence.

Kingston, Fernando and their teams have won a year-long international internship working with clients in Nigeria, starting in September. Your chance to join them is here - the application for the next Buddies Without Borders Online Forum ends on Feb 21!