This essay is one of 35 selected by a panel of judges for “Ambitions Interrupted,” a series from The GroundTruth Project and YouthVoices, its storytelling platform.
Name: Jacob Jewel C. Tabo
Age: 20
Dream Job: Engineer
City, Country: Antipolo City, Philippines
Current job/school: Electronics engineering student
Challenge: Lack of access to travel
In our house, I used to make sure that I was the last one to go to bed. It was so that I could turn off the lights and rest assured that we weren’t wasting energy as we slept. The routine was tiresome. I’d turn off the main light switch, then fumble around in the dark until I got to the other side of the house, where I’d turn on a smaller, dimmer light so that my family could see if they had to get up.
Then I used my basic engineering knowledge to build a dark-sensitive LED light. Now, every time I turn off the main light, the LED light will automatically turn on and I can go to sleep.
It’s just an example of the little things I can do to solve problems around me.
We’re experiencing a lot of problems in today’s world – climate change, violence, crime, corruption and poverty are just some of them. I want to be an engineer because I want to use technology to fix these things. I don’t dream of becoming famous – I dream of becoming someone who actually does something for this world.
I believe that climate change can be addressed by anyone. As an engineering student, I can help solve global warming by applying engineering theories I learn in class to the world around me. I want to look into both conservation efforts and how we can harness sustainable energy from different sources.
But to be truly effective, I need to become a global engineer. I must explore countries outside of the Philippines and see how others are solving these problems, then bring those solutions to my home country. But I don’t have the financial resources to do that yet. Last month, I was supposed to go to an international competition on Energy Innovation in Singapore. I wasn’t able to go because we were invited to the competition on short notice and my passport didn’t arrive on time. I don’t know when I’ll get another opportunity because traveling is too expensive for me – but, on the bright side, our team won second place.
The good news is that there is still so much to learn as a university student here in the Philippines. As they say, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I still try my best to find solutions for smaller problems I see around me everyday, and I’m holding hope for the future.
This story was originally submitted to YouthVoices, a platform powered by The GroundTruth Project that encourages young people to share stories about the issues affecting their generation. Submit your own essays and answer new questions here, or learn more about global youth unemployment with this interactive map.