Seeds for the Future 2021 – Experience
Seeds for the Future is Huawei’s flagship global CSR program. Launched in 2008, it is an initiative that aims to help cultivate young talent, ensuring that the tech-savvy and change-resilient young people have the skills and mindsets needed to be competitive in the workplaces of the future.
Seeds for the Future was launched for the first time in Nepal in 2021. In the program, I had a great time being a part of the first cohort. In this blog, I will share my experience all about it.
The Inception
On October 26, 2021, I received an email forwarded by my friend Ashish. The email was from ICT Awards, with an invitation to apply for the Seeds for the Future program. This is how I came to know about the program.
Moreover the program sounded interesting to be and it was going to be on December. So, I decided to apply for it.
The Application for Seeds for the Future
For the application process, firstly the applicants had to visit seedsnepal.com. Then fill up the application form from there.
The application asked for the basic personal details. It required latest transcript or letter of recommendation from the academic institution. It also required the CV and a personal statement about the interest in the program.
I prepared all those and then submitted my application.
Selection Process for the Seeds for the Future
Among the applicants, the best 40 students were called for the interview. My interview was on November 18th. So, the interview venue was at Huawei Nepal Office at Pulchok. For students who were out of the valley, there were online interviews.
The interview was taken by the selection committee of distinguished ICT Professors; Prof. Dr. Shashidhar Ram Joshi, Dean, TU Institute of Engineering, Prof. Timila Yami Thapa, Tribhuwan University and Prof. Dr. Subarna Shakya, Tribhuwan University.
My interview went well. And I was hoping to get selected.
Seeds for the Future – Journey Begins
A day after my interview, I got an SMS that I had been selected for the program. Also, there was an invitation for the program briefing and speaking for videos.
So, I went to the Huawei Office where I met the other Seeds. 20 students from different parts of Nepal had been selected for the program. With whom I was going to have yet another lifetime experience of learning and growth.
So, there we were briefed about the program and how next few weeks were going to look like for us. All of us also recorded videos about our selection and expectation from the program.
We also received links for different online classes and Huawei’s ilearningX platform.
Opening Ceremony
The journey officially started with an Opening Ceremony on November 29 at Hyatt Palace. Along with the students, one College Representative was also invited for the ceremony.
Overall, it was a great event and we did manage to get some interesting photos.
So, 20 students selected for the program were:
1. Ankit Khanal, Advanced College of Engineering & Management
2. Awan Shrestha, KU School of Engineering
3. Bhabuk Gadtaula, Kantipur City College
4. Bibek Gupta, Madan Bhandari Memorial College
5. Bishal Shrestha, Advanced College of Engineering and Management
6. Darshan Gautam, Advanced College of Engineering and Management
7. Elbina Paudel, Advanced College of Engineering and Management
8. Gyanu Awasthi, National Academy of Science and Technology
9. Janak Bhatta, Herald College
10. Kritagya Regmi, TU IOE Eastern Region Campus
11. Lal Bahadur Budha, LBEF College
12. Nishan Thapa Magar, ISMT College
13. Pradeep BC, TU Institute of Engineering
14. Prasiddha Kansakar- St. Xavier’s College
15. Ranish Devkota- TU IOE Eastern Region Campus
16. Sandeep Kumar Jha, LBEF College
17. Sandesh Acharya, Khwopa College of Engineering
18. Sarala Bhandari, Himalaya College of Engineering
19. Shishir Poudel, Islington College
20. Yunika Bajracharya, TU Institute of Engineering
So, the journey starts with these amazing students.
Online Classes
After the opening ceremony, our online classes started.
So, we had to take courses from Huawei ilearningX platform about the basics of AI, Cloud and 5G.
And another was, there were online classes for a week. There, we took the classes together with students from Malaysia, Morocco and Madagascar. Overall we had classes on leadership, Huawei Exhibition hall, about Tech4Good project, cultural insights, etc.
What a great way was to start off the classes with leadership class. And we also got our personalized leadership report at the end of the program. The cross cultural program was also very interesting, where we got to know about the stories and culture from different parts of the world.
Throughout this time, we had also been working on our Tech4Good projects. I was in group Technopalis.
Our project was Sathi, which was an AR based notification application for Type I Diabetic patients.
Pokhara – Ghandruk Trip
One of the best part of the program was the field trip to Pokhara – Ghandruk. It was very fun and memorable, and at the same time it felt great to learn about how technology is being used by Network Operators and Huawei for connecting remote areas of Nepal.
On December 9, we had our flight to Pokhara.
We stayed at Hotel Barahi. And that day, we visited Bat Cave, Peace Pagoda and evening boating at Fewa.
Next day, we headed to Ghandruk. There we took our field classes right below the mountains. It was a great experience learning, while enjoying the awesome natural scenario.
And, we returned on December 11.
We were also given classes by DishHome and Ncell. The classes were about how Internet Service Providers and Telecommunication organizations are working in Nepal.
Closing Ceremony
Finally we had our closing ceremony on 20 December, where we received our completion certificate from Hon’ble Minister Devendra Poudel, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Nepal.
The nice thing was that our parents were also invited for the closing ceremony.
After the ceremony, we continued working for our Tech4Good project Sathi. Moreover we will continue with it.
In conclusion, Seeds for the Future was a wonderful experience meeting and collaborating with students from different parts of Nepal and implementing our tech knowledge for something good.