Journey of the Best Representative - Ana Campos

As we wrap up 2024, we reflect on the changes we have made in our community as well as within ourselves.

Here is a great example from our latest Buddies Without Borders Online Forum. The student who her peers voted as the Best Representative of all young changemakers in the AI's Impact on SDGs is Ana Campus.

Here is Ana's reflection on her experience. We are hopeful for a wonderful 2025.

"Since the day that I joined the BWB Forum that my life has not been the same.

When I signed up for this project, I had no idea of how important this Forum would be for me and how this would turn my life upside down. During the Forum, we were not just encouraged to work as a team but individually as well by doing constant research about the topic and discussing ideas through the chat which really helped in my notion of what is AI and how it can impact our world.

Looking back, I think this forum helped me in several different ways. I learnt how to make good research, using trustworthy sources and mentioning them correctly. I have explored new sides of AI and the SDGs that I would have never seen it if it wasn’t for this forum, and started to work on how all our ideas can be put into action. Besides, it gave me the opportunity to link and use all the knowledge that I have been gaining on the past few years. This is not just about technology and engineering, as you may think since it is about AI, but it is also about history, business and sociology as well. I have learnt that, sometimes it is not just about science or only one subject but about several areas of knowledge, from social studies to arts and much more, that linked and connected can effectively change the world.

Moreover, this Forum was not just about things that we learn in school or just research, but also about people and interactions. I did not just work with my teammates but with many other participants, even with the ones that were from the other section. For example, I have been chatting with a participant from Section B and we have been helping each other in many ways. I have been helping her by giving her a notion of how it is to be from the country that she is studying about, and, at the same time, she has also opened my mind a lot to different problems that India is currently facing. It is not just about the forum, but also knowing a little bit about the rest of the world as well.

This constant cooperation helped me to be more flexible, open-minded and sociable. Even though we work online which eliminates most of the physical barriers, we are still in completely different parts of the planet which creates several obstacles, and it is up to us to overcome them, though. Besides, things do not always work as expected. Sometimes, cooperation may turn out to be very difficult and arduous. If we were not flexible there was no way we could work together. In one way or another you learn that, sometimes you need to take the lead and take the first step so we can break the ice and work together, nevertheless it also reminds one constantly that everyone is important and that we are a team, after all, and I think this is one of the most important things on this Forum: All of us have the duty to hear but also the right to be heard. We have not just been brainstorming about one more interesting topic but committed to a collaboration that can make our world actually better!

Some people may look at this BWB Forum as just a competition. In fact, it is a competition, but what I realised is that this is so much more than that! It is about commitment, leadership, collaboration, friendship, unity and above all hope. Hope that we can make a better future, together!

What really made me feel special here, is that I did not only feel that we were committed to something that could improve the lives of the new generations or even the ones yet to come, but also because it made feel that we all, together, will be the leaders of tomorrow. “Alone we may be faster, but together we’ll go further”, it already says an African Proverb, and now this in our hands. It is our responsibility to make sure that each step we take will improve someone’s live. Even if it’s about just one person, though, because we start to change the world by one step at a time.

This Forum made me realise that we live for something and now we have a cause. We may be teenagers now, but it will be us who will be the leaders in the future. Not just to make a better today but make the day of tomorrow bright!

And I will be eternally grateful for that. Thank you so much!