Complimenting GSE by Tokunbo Fashoyin

As the school year draws to a close, it’s hard not to reflect on how much my courses and experiences outside of GSE have influenced my overall experience at Penn. Last fall, I took a course in the Social Policy department, which explored the dynamics of cross sector partnerships as they related to global social impact. Not only was my professor fantastic!, the unique structure and content of the course helped me appreciate the varied opportunities and challenges of working with different actors when trying to facilitate change. I think it goes without saying that we at GSE are enthusiastic about education. That being said, I think that stepping outside the “education-box” to engage in projects with students from other fields helps you notice blind spots, especially because so many other fields ultimately influence education development. I found the course and discussions with students from all across Penn’s campus stimulating and I even notice myself incorporating the many takeaways around humility, working with resistance and the importance of good leadership into everything that I do. This spring, I am taking a class in the Non-Profit Leadership Department on entrepreneurship. Through the course assignments, which form different parts of a business plan, I was given the opportunity to turn my innovative program idea into a viable business model. Truth be told, the process has been very humbling in that it has enabled me to discover the limitations in what I thought was a perfect idea. Having a passion to improve education access and quality is definitely important but I cherish the opportunity that I am getting to be able to flesh-out my ideas in order to build a model that is effective, relevant and sustainable. In addition, being able to pitch this program model and respond to questions from my peers (who come with diverse lenses) has helped me refine and develop something that not only impacts lives, but has a good probability of being funded. My passion for education development remains very strong and I feel fortunate to have had stimulating occasions to enhance my understanding of educational issues through varied interactions with students from different backgrounds. I believe that my experiences outside PennGSE have been an invaluable compliment to my education program and I am looking forward to opportunities that will enable me to put into practice the new insights I have gained.