Greetings, I am Teleg Jodhuri. Welcome to my show, Hourglass Trails. And we are just on the verge of spring. And spring means flowers, butterflies, all the color. That is loving life with more colors. But love is a huge word and it doesn't always come with good things and happiness. Much difficult to accept. It has its downsides. Sometimes you fall into ditches. But the thing is how to pick up ourselves. And seasons will roll by and with the humans come and go. The best of is yet to come with next spring. So that's how we be positive and pick ourselves and speak on some pitfalls that we have in life. Today I have Andrei Dominikas with me as a guest. He is a self-employed person. He likes music. And he will talk to us about narcotics and how he was almost too deep into it.  So here is Andrei for you. Hi, Andrei. Hi, how are you doing? Thank you. I'm doing good and so good because you are here and I wanted to join my show. Thank you again. Yes, definitely. So all that we know about the recent things ongoing also with vaping, thousands of people, especially young generation getting sick with it, even deaths. And the narcotics, that's an ongoing challenge to our society. So tell us, Andrei, how did you begin and what was the time when you went into narcotics? The first time that I ever did anything was, I believe I was 10 years old. My dad was always in and out of jail. So just one day I found some stuff and I thought it was a cigarette. And that was my first time that I experienced marijuana. And just throughout my life I smoked it. That was my first drug that I got addicted to. I was going down a bad path hanging out with the wrong crew. Ended up doing some time. When I got out, I was lost. To me like the world changed in the two years, the two and a half years I was in. So it began like as a curiosity? I mean you didn't know it was marijuana and the cigarette. Everything just changes when you all wait for so long. When I came out I was like, I didn't even recognize anybody, stores changed. Even the slang, the way people talk within the two and a half years. The slang is always changing. So it was like I was lost. And then I started hanging out with the wrong crew again. So tell us more about how, because your life has changed and you yourself are not the old self. But how did you find the new crowd of people who made you a whole new person but at the same time it was a new life again? What did the same group of children say, made or some friends you didn't know? It wasn't even, it wasn't even, I used to make the stories short. When I came out of jail, I started hanging out with the crew. I got introduced to heroin. I sniffed it, I didn't shoot or nothing. I was clueless for three years. I was high every day for three years straight. I don't remember anything in those three years. So did you go to jail after these three years? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What made me take a 360 degree turn was that my girlfriend at the time, she came out pregnant with my first son. And that just made me think a whole different, you know, before I didn't care about anything. I didn't even think I cared about myself, you know.  I started doing, I started cleaning myself. And what really changed my life was there was a situation that happened. And I was actually on the way to commit a crime. I had a gun on me, it was loaded. And my attempt was to shoot this guy. I was walking by a church. And I have to say that that's the first time I ever felt God's present. That's the first time that I felt him and I knew that he was real. So I was walking by this church and all of a sudden I can't move. I can't move. It was like my feet were cemented to the ground. I had so much anger. I had tears coming down my eyes. Like I was really all messed up in the head. And I only had a vision was just to go do this crime, you know. And I tried to, like I tried to move my feet. Like I wanted to walk but something was holding me still there. And that's when the pastor, Pastor Jack came out and I never met this dude before. And he's like, I've been waiting for you. And that's when I started going to church. And I got, you know, a little more of that. That wasn't the first time I actually felt God though. But that's when my life, first my son, thank God for my boy. He'll be 21 today. Happy birthday, Nathaniel. So sweet. Yeah, he's 21 today. And then God just come in, you know, show me a spot, you know. Like for like years, I just like, how can you believe with something that you can't see? He changed my whole perspective. I'm not like, I know he's real. He's in everybody. You just got to let him out and feel him. So what's your son's name? Who has a birthday today? Nathaniel, Xavier Dominguez. Hi Nathaniel, birthday. Happy birthday from Tulip here and all of us at Amherst Media. And I have your dad here. Brave and facing the world and leaving messages to anyone who has had a rough patches in life. Let's get back to Andreno. So this is like, you would like more said it was like an invisible force, the spiritual self, that somehow came into you to rescue you from the life that was getting you down. I can't, there's no word to explain what I felt that day. But it's more like, it was like gravity was just pulling me down. And I like, I can feel the force is holding me down like I couldn't move. And then when the pastor came out and said, Hey, I've been waiting for you. Isn't that a miracle? That's just like, that just like, I thought I was going crazy. Like I don't even know this dude. And he's like, I've been waiting for you. We've been expecting you. And at that moment you had your gun with you. Yeah, I actually ended up taking the gun out. He asked me, he asked me to give it to him and I didn't even tell him I had a gun. He's like, can you give it to me? I'm like, I don't know why he was, why, why he was talking about, but I just pulled it out to the clip out and I gave it to him. And he invited me into the church. I went to that church for a while. You know, I think he really helped me a lot. I got to give it to the man upstairs though. You know, he's so forced to be reckoned with. He works in mysterious ways. Yeah, definitely. I agree with you. I figured that out myself. Nobody can tell me otherwise. Yes, that is what we say, like God has his own plans. And it will always get worse before it gets better. Wow, that's a good message.  Yeah, I don't have no purpose.  And just, the only thing I had in my mind was destruction.  And then just, I'm glad that my life took a turn because I'll either be dead or in jail. God forbid. Now, would you like to share more specifically about the kind of narcotics you used? Yes. Unlike which one was more strong? There was only three of them that I ever did. Marijuana was my first one. Cocaine was my second. And the one that really, the most dangerous one that really screwed me up and was taking me downhill was heroin. In Spanish language it's called Manteca. Manteca? Manteca, yeah. I never shot it. I never shot or nothing, but I did sniff it and I had a bad three years. Like I said, I was high. I was high when I slept. I was high when I was up. I was literally high 24, 7 or 3 years. It was black. I don't remember anything, but just, I was high and I was making money. Another way out of the devil pulling me and, you know, destroying my life. Can you tell me a little bit about your work? I mean, how did it strike you? Correct me if I am wrong. Sometimes these narcotics are used to slow down pain and sometimes they are used to... You took the words right. Make you happy. How did it... You took the words right out of my mouth. You felt happy? A lot of people, when they go through pain, whether they were raped, they were bullied, you know, any other stuff that were witnessing in the world right now. Everybody starts looking for that cure to take the pain away and you start experiencing things and people find it in different things. Some people find it in heroin. Some people take the pain away by doing coke. Some people take the pain by doing meth. This one gets rid of the pain by smoking marijuana. You know, it all depends. So by the time you find the one that takes the pain, whether it's like three minutes or an hour, whatever the high, how long the high lasts, that's where, you know, that's where they... So it all depends on... So the high, you mean that's when euphoria kicks in and you feel so... Yeah, you don't feel nothing. You basically feel like you're floating in the air, no worries. And the more... Basically, you know, the stronger the drug when, you know, we're getting into, like, cocaine and heroin and stuff like that, those are really powerful and they're really addicting. And it only takes a long time. Oh, my God.  I was... Was it called pure pressure? To doing something? Peer, yeah. That's what I was talking about with my friends.  You know, and I was already high from marijuana. So, and then it's just, you know, one drug leads to another. And that's how it starts. It just takes one drug and it just takes one time. And you're hooked. It is so sad, isn't it?  You, at 10 years old, you had no idea that it's so bad, but it was at home. Well, back then, I used to see my dad and his friends. They used to smoke these cigarettes. Oh. And they used to pass them around and everybody's smoking a cigarette. So to me, it was just a cigarette. Everybody done it. I found one and I found out back some matches with it behind my dad's pickup truck one day and I just happened to light it. And that was the first time that I would try it. And I was... Yeah, it's like, you know, childhood and curiosity both go together. Children are curious. But at that time, I guess it calls for more adults to be more responsible. Like the guns we talk about, whether we should have a gun at home or not, and if we have to be responsible for it so that anyone who is not in the proper senses has a chance to grab a gun. Right? So it was something like this. If it was not within your sight, you wouldn't have a gun. But the only reason why these kids are doing that is because name one game right now from an Xbox or PlayStation that doesn't have a gun or killing unit. That is so true. It's while we instill in our kids that's what they're going to grow up. From the movies, the music, the games. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to lie. I played them games when I was younger too, you know? Those bad games like Grand Theft Auto, you know? All the kids play, yeah.  It's showing you exactly how the streets are playing it again. So as you get older, in their mind, they think they're Tony Montana. They think they're Oscar Faye. They think that they're unstoppable. Oh, you know, I was a beast in the game.  Mm-hmm. It's like the craving for power that gets the kids. So even from the video games that have guns and make you feel really good about yourself, yeah. From my experience and me being from the streets, the streets all it has is nothing. There's nothing positive about being in the streets because one of the streets is done using you, is going to chew you up, spit you out, and move to the next one. Oh, my God. So vicious. You know? You got one drug lord right now that's spreading heroin and throughout the city. Once they lock him up and he's doing life in prison for what he did, another one, there's always another one to take over where he's at. Yeah. You know? So it's just like... So would you say, like, if your home or your father did not lead you to the day you started smoking, were there any friends with whom you played outside? Were any one of them involved that made you think that, yes, I want to smoke? My whole life there's only, like, I can count on one hand five people that in my whole life I've only had five real, real friends. Okay. And don't hurt a combine because everybody else to me is an associate. You know, you ever heard that saying keep your enemies closer and your best friend the father's? Yeah, yeah, of course. Because your best friend is the one that knows everything about you. He has all the ammunition to go against you. Exactly. And the enemy has to know nothing about you. So, in reality, your best friend becomes your worst enemy. Your worst enemy becomes your best friend. Okay.  So, as a parent, I mean, peer pressure and our kids at home, it's a big challenge even for the parents. The biggest thing? As a father, would you think is there any way, I mean, if you know that one of your child's friends or son's friends are into narcotics and you want to, is there any way to intervene? What do you mean, like? I mean, talk to the child. Would that be better? Yeah, yeah. I talk to my kids, you know. They know my history. I don't, I never lie to them. They know I smoked here and there. They knew at one point I also had my M.D. card because for that, I need a knee replacement. I got a bad, bad, and I got a torn ruler card. So they gave me the medical marijuana card for the pain. I don't take it, I didn't take it for, you know, to get high, but mostly at night so I can get some good sleep, you know, and I didn't feel the pain. But I only did that for a little bit, but right now I just, just taking it there by day, you know. I got four kids. Nathaniel, it's 21 today. Alexi is 19. Should be 20th September. I got a Zela in Florida, and then I got my little one named Jace that he's three years old. So I think he completes me. He's the one that pushes me. You know, all my other kids, I love them all the same. I don't have one favorite than the other one. I love them all the same. Jace is severe autistic. So I got to give him more attention, you know. And he's my last one. I'm gonna have him no more. So I didn't get to enjoy the life that I lived. I lived back to buy paychecks, you know. I couldn't do a lot for my kids when they were younger like that. So I'm an opportunity right now where I can do that for Jace, you know. But he completes the family. He completes my kids. And that's what keeps me going as my kids, man. My kids. Just take it there by day. So coming back to the family again. So would you recommend, like we know it's very much really outside our home, these vaping or narcotics among the young children. Do you like thinking that if parents or guardians as a family, we had our own times with the children, you know. And explain to them, talk more about them. Would that help? What do you think about that? You know, like giving them a warning before they are into it. Basically not kidding me, just telling them the truth about the world and how the streets are. It's a big step for us as parents to make sure that they understand. Not everybody's a friend. And most of the people out there, they have a mask on, you know. And you don't know who's behind that mask. Until it's too late. And that's true colors. That is so true. So you just got to have a good judgment.  You know, all that stuff. I really don't want my daughter to go through that. Can you call anything to her?  The first thing that a man will tell a female and that he's going to, or that he wants to, is to try to get in their pants. It's just, I don't know, it's a male thing. But the first thing is a lie. And she asked me, why is that? Okay, you got two guys that coming up to you.  How many times have we ever heard that? That's a lie. The world doesn't belong to nobody. The world is not his to give to you.  See, now, his life is his to give to you. That is so true, such a deep insight. You see what I'm saying? And I was like, there's always signs, there's always keys on just certain things and I instill that to my daughter. So I feel bad for the guy. Yeah, totally. Because she got to take now for nobody. I had to do that to my girls, you know. To keep a close relationship with the children. So we'll come back to you more again. I will just take a short break and come back again. So, Andrew, please, from here, I would like to know from you as after family, what can we more do to help the younger generation and anyone who is into narcotics or vaping to come out of it, to have a life that's called normal in the society to address to the society. So, like, what do you think of the community, neighbors coming together? What did you say to that? I mean, besides coming together, the most important thing is that besides us parents, we try to be... We're not hard on our kids. It's just part of... That's what we have to do, you know. But I think that we need to stop being parents like for a few minutes and actually be their best friends. That's just your mother and father-in-law. You have to open up. Like I said, I don't kidney coat. I can't have a conversation with any of my kids and I just be blunt about it and they understand who I am and how I am and how I speak. So, I have... I'm best friend with my kids. I know everything about my kids, you know what I'm saying? And I think that...  That's what I'm saying. But just step back and interact with them like you're the best friend. Get them to know to talk to you about things. And then... Another thing that I've seen that parents do when they be like, oh, dad, I tried this, I tried that.  Instead of, okay, you know what, baby? There's something that we need to sit down as a family and talk about it. You see the difference? Yeah, yeah, of course.  You know what I'm saying? That pushes the kids. But a lot of times we can't control that. You know, it's like, in your mind, it just collects in like, what is wrong with you? That's bad stuff. Yeah, I mean, that's not wrong. But it's how we approach it. That's what we need to change. I mean, the child is never wrong as a child, right? What he's doing is wrong and he did those things for the children. Not to say like you are wrong. The number one thing the kid doesn't want to do is be yelled at or screamed at. You know what I'm saying? That is so true. So, especially in situations like that, it's something important in their life. And you as a parent, you know about that situation. You have to have a good communication with your kids. You have to be their friend, that just the father, you know, or the mother. That is so true. You gotta have that connection between them. That they're not afraid to tell you anything. Okay. You see what I'm saying? If you yell at them, oh, don't let me catch you doing that. I'm about to beat you. Then I'm going to come to you. You're going to throw them far away. She can go down the street and knock on wood.  And she's going to keep it to herself because she knows when she tells her father or her mother, she's going to get yelled at. You see what I'm saying?  You know, so... So one thing I often come across is like when parents find suddenly or their daughter or son is into drugs and the first reaction is they don't know what to do. So if you are in such a situation, what did you say to the parents? Like, what to do first? First thing first, man, is... We're definitely in some professional help, right? At one point. Abiana, which is professional, is just a bonus. The main key for... for health and to... and that addiction is family. Yeah, but when someone is able to far gone, then... And if they don't have that, that's when they're going to go... you know, they're going to get worse in life if they don't have that. That's the first key, it's the family. Support and love. Being shown to them. Okay, I'm being loved. Giving them the, you know, the will to want to change.  So just, I don't know. So I think one thing that often makes the children go more into drugs is when they feel singled out at home. As you said, not to scream or shout at them, but to take them as a friend and then explain. 50% of the time is pure pressure. Oh. Because they're hanging out with their buddies, they started doing that.  Yeah. So I have been thinking lately, is there any thoughts you have, like, is there any role that educational institutions can play in it? I'm sorry, the what? The schools can play in it. Suppose a high school or a middle school, do they have any, do they do something more helpful for the children? Can educational institutions do something? Like, give them more education on it? What do you think? I would say education of more activities. More activities, get the mind, get them, you know, moving the legs, the arms, whatever it is. Whether it's sports, whether it's sports. To keep them busy. Amusing. Yeah. But look at all the athletes. There are many, many people who are big with that, going games, soccer, et cetera. But when they are going back to their fears or the friend, they are into drugs again. So I mean, what do you think? Sacrificing. Obviously, if those friends you have for years, every time you meet up with them and you end up to the same back, all you doing drugs. Now answer yourself this question. How much really are they your friends? Because they were your friends. They won't be pure pressing you to do this. Or come on, take one last hit with me. Or come on, it's been a long time, at least with me. Then you're true friends. So let's think of them collectively. The whole generation that are getting lost. Suppose they had a regular, you know, learning of how the narcotics or the drugs and everything or opioids affect. If they had that at school or any other, that's kind of mandatory they have to take. Do you think they would make them more alert? What do you think? I think it's good for them to... I mean, depending on what the age bracket is, I won't only go so down to a certain age. You don't want to go too young and get that and instill in them and then when they grow up, the other doers think about it and then they want to... I just want to try it. So we got to be careful on how young we go and open them up to that, you know. But I think it goes to age to start as a middle school. Middle school, that's wonderful. That's what I was thinking. Middle school is the first one. I mean, I'm pretty sure it happens in elementary but not so much. More public in the ghettos, you know, where kids in elementary are already smoking pot. But mostly it all starts when you go into middle school and then it all changes when you go into high school. The reality is, Andre, I mean, these days, parents are busy. We cannot deny that. We have to earn all of you. We have to pay the bills. We have to work. Exactly. We have to pay the bills. We have to work or it's a single parent. So we can't even give the whole responsibility to the family, quality time, et cetera, et cetera. That's when I think the school they attend to and the home, they can come at a point where I like to make sure the kids have a good rounded knowledge of what it is, how harmful it is. Often we get into dangers because we don't know about it. Right? So you think the middle school is a starting point where we can tell them more. That's when you need to really open up, especially about sex. And from them about sex. That's the number one thing too, because not just drugs are killing us, too. AIDS. AIDS is killing us. So the most important thing that you got to talk to them about is AIDS. Because once you have it, it just takes one time. Once you have it, you're done. That's it. It's a matter of time. At least with the drugs, you know, you can survive to a point. So the first one, the first thing when it comes to middle school is sex education is big. And then narcotics. Exactly. Those are the two main things that are killing our children today. AIDS and narcotics. Yeah. My friend was, I talked into it the other day, was saying like every flu season, they have preventative measures. We take flu shots, et cetera. But this is one thing that's killing millions. AIDS. I mean narcotics or drugs or opioids. So how come around the year we don't have more preventative things? This is like as we are, it seems we are kind of denial on it until we are on it. And then we want to get cured but how to prevent it? So if we are as a society, as a community, what do you think of the community coming together? As I mentioned that also together, because sometimes telling the kids that you are one here doesn't make much sense. But when the kid sees himself or herself as a part of community where it's not just me, there are other people like me, they are more likely to get in touch with each other also and try to help each other out. Right. So would you think like if you get in a monthly or even by monthly basis a community gathering? I think getting the community involved is always a big thing because it's not just one, it's everybody in the community that you can get involved in with something. But the biggest thing is that I've seen it in the movies. We keep taking stuff from our kids to save money, to save budgets, but that's the one program that we should always keep in time. That should be our priority. It's our children. Not taking the rec center away because you want to make a motel.  To the streets. They have nowhere else to go. You see what I'm saying? Music. How many schools do you hear that are fighting to keep the music programs up because there is no budget? Why are they going to go? To the streets. There's nothing else. The streets is always going to be there. And that's where all the kids, you know? Yeah, I totally can understand it. The whole energy in the youth. But where to place it?  And when there is no place to give, they will go into the unwanted places. Right. But now let's talk about some happy things you do in life. I think you like music. Would you like to talk about that? Yeah. When I was going through my rough times, poetry. Wow. Poetry. Poetry. Poetry and music really changed.  I started writing down. I started writing down thoughts. Things that I saw, that I witnessed. And then music. When I just want to blank the whole world away from me, I just put on my headphones and put on some positive music. What kind of music do you like? I like it all. To be honest with you, my alternative band is Skillet. I'm actually a Christian. Wow. Well, I'm a band. That's my number one on my playlist that I have is Skillet. And I like Hip Hop. I like rap. I like all school rap though, like Nas. I like Nas, the old Jay-Z, stuff like that. I might enter that mumble rap right now. What's going on? Rap. So what's the current rap that you're following? Rap music. Who's the current one you are doing, following now? I still listen to Nas and Jay-Z and stuff like that. So while we think on that, I think sometime back you shared a poem with me. Do you remember it? I liked it. Something of a poem that you were reciting one day. A few days back, remember about a poem. Do you remember any poem at all that you can just tell us now? I'd love to hear it. Anything you remember? My first poem that I wrote, I was 12 years old. I was 13. I got arrested. And I got sent to this, it was called Forestry Camp. We had to do three months in this island. I was there with people from, there was kids there from, they were juveniles there from California, Utah, Arkansas. Please say you would think that there won't be no gangs or nothing. And they got the most powerful guns. Because there's no gun laws in those small towns like that. I was locked up with people there. I went there from marijuana, but I was people there for crack, heroin, coal, guns, prostituting. So it was just a mixture of all of us. It was good to be, all of us to talk about, because we were all there for different things. Do you remember a few lines from anything? Yeah, so we had to write a poem, why we were there. That was the thing. And it was 15% of the grade, the last grade for us to do. So everybody did a poem about what they were there. I was there for marijuana. So the poem was, it's called A Drug Ticking Within. And it goes, A drug ticking within will make your heart spin.  About to approach the last took of the road. Forget it when it was in your mind. Your heart is crying, your soul is flying. Thoughts are within, just races right out of your skin. Wow. That was so awesome. I was 13 years old. So are you still doing some poetry? I'm always doing poetry. I'm always doing poetry. My poetry to me is my diary. So I always had, I had the thing that people always ask me, how come you don't do a book? Because it's my diary, you know. But I thought about it and I was like, so I gathered up some poems. I put them together. And I said, what to call the book? So it just dawned to me. It's a diary. To me, it's my diary. So you don't want people to read a diary. It's just personal things that you write on it. But the way I write is poetry. Everything is poetry. You don't want to get the rhyme. You know what I'm saying? So I was like, okay, diary. All right, diary, I'm a poet. Yeah, I mean it's totally, it's your thing. That would be the name of the book. If I ever go forward and approach it to it, it would be diary, diary, I'm a poet. I just love the one you told me right now. Excited and that was amazing. It makes me want to read more of your poems. That was the first step for me. I've written and forgotten so many. But that was my first step, my first push. I mean they all come from the heart, but that one was really, that poem always, it's always going to mean something to me. Like where I came from. Yeah, so I'll never forget those words. I will take those words to my grave. I'll never forget them, you know? No, but I can understand your feelings because my own brother is a fantastic writer. He writes, but he never ever goes into publishing. He says, this is my life, this is where I am. I don't want to share it, but I think when you do something that makes you happy and we all have rights to share it or not. Right, right. But if you ever want to share it, you know. Oh yeah, definitely. More than I'm just saying. Every artist, whether it's clothes designing or going off on a set of drums or going off on a guitar or writing or doing poetry or writing music, that whatever one they choose, whatever artist or artist, whatever he chooses, that's his way of showing the world, you know, expressing themselves through that art, you know, and minds his poetry. That's wonderful. And I hope we keep up with it. You know, I always write stuff down, especially when hard times. But you know, there are many platforms these days, out days, online platforms where you can sign up and you don't have to use your own name either. You can just share them. And the feedbacks that you get from other writers sometimes is just awesome. I mean, if you step back to like 30 years back, we didn't have these platforms, you know, where you can just sign up, free sign ups and share your poetry. Like there's one for hello poetry dot com and there are many other like that. I write, nobody changes what I write, but my girlfriend or fiancé, she doesn't understand. Like when it comes to songwriting, people don't just, sometimes they do, but just because you're singing about a sexual song and the couple were cheating on each other, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's going through that. It's that that's the topic that a lot of people are going through and a lot of people can relate to that. That doesn't mean that she was messing around her husband with another dude. That's why I, that's how I write. I write, not necessarily, you have to be something that I witnessed. Like for example, I love to take the bus in the summertime. I have the car, but I like to take a bus because you hear all types of different conversations. Oh totally, I love my bus rides. And a lot of my poetry comes from on the bus because I heard this, I heard this kid saying he puts these words together in a sentence. Like you know how the slang is always changing? Yeah, yeah. I might like a phrase that this kid said, ooh, I like that, I'll wind it down, you know? And the next thing you know, I mean, okay, so this and this, and the next thing you know, once a pen hits a paper, it just goes with the flow and it just goes until you finish, you know? Yeah. So yeah, so a lot of them, I took a bus a long time. But look at it, you are doing all that music, poems, you have a family, you are a great dad and would believe you are in a place one day where it was hard to think that you are alive again. So this is all you. I'm in the greatest place in my life right now, but I'm content, I'm happy with what I have right now. Okay. Because there's people doing worse than what I have. And you got to share it, even if it's the little bit that you have, you have to share it because somebody else wishes that they have what you have. Exactly. You know? That is why we are having conversations today.   I'm content right now. And hopefully my life gets better financially. Money doesn't necessarily make you totally happy. You don't have to be a billionaire. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I got my kids. That's great. So I will be, sadly, have to go and end the show. But before I go, I would like you to mention that sentence about quitting. You just told me a while ago. But just hold on a moment. I'll just bid farewell to my audience. And you will have the last words to the audience. All right. So to anyone who is not so in a happy place in life, it may be many things. It doesn't have to be narcotics. It doesn't have to be opioids or substance abuse or vaping.  And you can come out. It's just a temporary challenge. Just climbing a tree. There are branches, but you can go to the top, climb. So thank you so much to our media for making this show. And thank you to my honorable audience who are watching and are with us today. And before I say goodbye to you, I'll let Andrei leave a message for anyone who needs to find the sunlight again. I'm going to finish off saying that no matter how hard or how tough life is, I've been in a situation where why am I even alive? Why is my purpose here in life? And I just never quit, man. I just kept stepping, taking one step at a time. And I just never quit.  Never, ever, ever, never give up. Push yourself to the limits. And that's it. Just have the mentality that you're always going to win. You're always going to make something better of yourself. My name is Andrei Stominguez. And thank you guys for having me. It's a pleasure. Thank you so much, Andrei, for being the show. Thank you, everyone. Bye.


So you are watching the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you major news developments from around the world, our headlines, thousands protests mounting housing crisis and gentrification in the Netherlands, El Salvador witnesses renewed protests against President Naib Boukele, Palestinians face increasing Israeli settler violence's olive harvest progress, and Venezuela condemns illegal kidnapping of diplomatic envoy Alex Saab. In our first story, 8,000 people had to protest against the housing crisis in the Netherlands on October 17th. Organized by a residential revolt campaign, the mass action raised the slogan housing for people and not profit. Protesters denounced the lack of affordable housing, home demolitions and gentrification. Sunday's demonstration was held in the city of Rotterdam. Among the protesters were residents of the Tweebozburg social housing area. 537 homes are in the process of being demolished by the Westia Corporation. The company has claimed that the houses are outdated and need renovation. However, only 137 units will be returned, retained as regulated or social rental homes. As the protests continued, there were reports of police violence including beating with batons. The protests in Rotterdam were part of the national residential protests in the country. Around 15,000 people attended a similar mass protest in the capital of Amsterdam last month. Homelessness in the Netherlands has doubled in the past decade to include almost 40,000 people. Meanwhile, an estimated 90,000 homes in the Netherlands awakened. Campaigners are demanding accessible, affordable and secure housing. They have also demanded purchase protections, housing for vulnerable groups and the abolition of the ban on squatting. In our next story, El Salvador saw renewed protests against right-wing President Naib Bukkeli on October 17. Around 4,000 people gathered in the capital to condemn the government's drift towards authoritarianism. The protest was called by a group of 34 organizations as part of the popular resistance bloc. Among them were feminist and human rights groups and political parties. Bukkeli received widespread criticism after his ruling party voted to dismiss Supreme Court judges in May. The replacement judges were considered to be more in favor of the president. The Supreme Court then ruled that Bukkeli could seek a second consecutive term. Congress has also voted to remove judges older than 60 years of age or those who have served for over 30 years. Meanwhile, the president is pushing a controversial constitutional reform plan. Mass protests also broke out after the government announced that Bitcoin would be recognized as legal tender. People fear that the volatility of the currency could impact their incomes. Moreover, many people already live in poverty and only one-third of the population uses the internet. Protesters once again raised signs that that Bitcoin is fraud on Sunday. They also denounced pension reforms and the blocking of files on criminal proceedings for war crimes. We now go to Palestine where Israeli settlers have carried out at least 58 attacks on Palestinian villages since the start of the olive harvest this month. These have included the beatings of Palestinian farmers and uprooting the destruction of trees. Palestinian authority official Ghassan Daghlas told Al Jazeera that the violence was planned and not spontaneous. According to the Red Cross, settlers have destroyed over 9,300 olive trees since August 2020. Olive trees are a crucial source of livelihood for 10,000 Palestinian families. The areas most targeted by settler violence are located near Nablus and Salphith in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlers uprooted 900 apricot and olive saplings and stole olive crops in Sebastia north of Nablus on October 12. Since the end of August 2021, at least 1,800 trees have been destroyed and 22 Palestinians have been injured. At least 12 Palestinians were injured after settlers set fire to olive groves near Nablus on October 16. The Hamude family was attacked with rocks on October 15 and 16, leaving four people injured. According to the BDS movement, 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted since 1967. And finally, in Venezuela, hundreds gathered in Caracas on October 17 that Sunday to protest the kidnapping of diplomatic envoy Alex Saab. He was extradited to the United States on October 16 after being detained in Cap Verde for 491 days. Saab was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019 on unsubstantiated charges of money laundering. He was arrested in Cap Verde in 2020 at the request of the U.S. government in violation of international law. At that time, he was on a diplomatic mission to Iran to negotiate trade deals for food and medicines. Saab was also subjected to torture by the authorities there during his detention. Despite a court order and appeals from organizations including the UNHCR, he did not receive proper medical care. Following the news of his extradition, the Venezuelan authorities suspended the ongoing talks in Mexico. The government has held three rounds of dialogue with the right-wing opposition factions so far. However, Representative Jorge Rodriguez stated on Saturday that the government will not attend talks scheduled for October 17. He said it was an act of protest against the brutal aggression against Saab.


Hello everybody, can you hear me well? Yes, okay, so thank you very much everybody for attending this submission webinar. We are so glad to have been here with you just to share the beauties of our program MIT supply to management master program. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your interest and your motivation to apply your program and hopefully we will be able to convince you about why to apply to this program. But feel free to include your questions in the chat. We will monitor the chat. Probably we will answer the questions at the end. But yeah, this is the idea. Let's, let's start. So this is the agenda for today. We are going to describe why and why supply to management is the hot topic today and I mean what does this include. Then we will discuss. I mean, how do we cover this talent market in the market with our professional outcomes of professional services in our MIT supply to management program. Then we will have a problem overview. What is the content? What are what is the dynamics and the sequence during these 10 month intensive program. And then how to apply and then to describe what is the MIT experience something that our graduates really value. They value a lot when they are here with us at MIT and also when, when, when they leave this this miss the MIT experiences missed a lot. So let's start.  And then this is why the demand of professionals in this field is so high supply to management has been during the last, let's say, three years, two years and a half, I would say, then a very hot topic. Unfortunately, Kobe, the eruptions that had happened have have brought me supply chain into the top of the agendas of all the companies, several supply chain directors or self supply chain officers. They have been promoted to lead organizations, which means that the supply chain is a great way to grow is a great way to impact in the operations in the business. And even in society as well as we will see now. So here you have several pieces of news extracted from the newspapers about why supply chain has been so impactful, especially in the global landscape. Then I mean all these eruptions with the containers we had all the problems with Kobe it now all the high demand and high expectation from the customers to deliver the products as soon as, as, as the companies can as soon as we can. And then so it means that supply chain is important supply chain is a hot topic and supply chain again impacts the industry impact the world. So how do we understand the supply chain domain here at MIT. We understand from the educational point of view in our master supply chain management, we understand as as an experiential learning approach, then all of us, all of these structures that we are teaching in our master program. We conduct applied research working closely with the most impactful industries, most impactful supply chain department worldwide. And then we we provide good insights about how to shape the different angles the different areas of supply chain management. Here's some examples. The first one is digital supply chain transformation lab is my lab but it's the first one now because it's the most important one, because it's the first in the in the in the again in in the sequence that that we follow. So then we have other labs that are having great impact for retail or preys of lab freight lab, of course, in the human Italian domain all over the world we are having a good impact with the human Italian supply chain lab, mega city logistic lab with the last mile delivery approach they followed, both from AI machine learning, sustainability is a hot topic, absolutely innovation from many different angles, what can I talk about resilience, and then the visual analytics lab. Different books, different publications in different magazines, but also academic journals, then this this shows what is the impact that we are doing here at the MIT Center for transportation and logistics of the center that is the umbrella of all these laboratories that we are having here MIT. So again, supply chain is important is a hot topic is impactful topic, then we approach this development of talent for this supply chain topic. Thanks to all the applied research that we are doing in our labs, and then we provide a great professional outcome service professional service, while the students are here with us at MIT. And this is a summary of what we are doing John maybe you would like to elaborate a little bit more about our professional development. Yeah, absolutely Maria. So hi, coordinating logistics for the current class, sort of on the academic and program management side of things. And yeah I'll talk a little bit about the professional development stuff here and again feel free if you have questions throw them in the q amp a will get to as many of them as we can, along the way or at the end of the presentation. So, we offer a bunch of professional development services we have to absolutely amazing career counselors, Justin snow and Len Morrison. They weren't joining us today but if you come to our program you'll see them a lot we have students meeting with them sometimes weekly to work on both interview prep. The job search networking reaching out to alumni strategies for all of that it's a very customized kind of personal service, we benefit from being a pretty small cohort program. So we're able to really work one on one with students in that way. We send resume books out to companies we've companies come in for career sessions and our student ambassadors who are joining us today. We'll have them introduce themselves after we've gone through the presentation and they'll, I'm sure be able to talk a lot more about sort of the career process and, and sort of looking forward from the program what that looks like. We benefit from a really strong alumni network as well so we have a lot of ties to different global companies, both around the US and around the world. Next slide Maria. Yeah. Here we go. All right, so we have had some really great employment outcomes, consistently and especially over the last few years. This is based on last year's class data so this is actual the actual average based salary from the residential class last year. Pretty strong based salary and that's before we include bonuses stock incentives those kinds of benefits as well. And yeah we had 97% of students who are looking for a job had received an offer by graduation. And one of the things that really want to highlight is the ROI on the program. And when you're evaluating the tuition of our program, the affordability loans, all of those things it's really big calculation, but we really want to highlight the ROI of coming to the program in terms of the boost that people see in their careers, and how this program pays back for itself so it's important to factor all of those in everyone's situation is unique but as you as you're evaluating it I hope you take those numbers into consideration and we have all this information on our website so feel free to explore there as well and go through it. Next slide. All right, and so you can see a little bit of a breakdown of jobs. We have a lot of students who are interested in consulting and tech that's made up a huge portion of our of our outcomes last year as you can see it's around 90%. But we do have more traditional roles and consumer packaged goods and energy and pharma as well. Really it's what you're interested in we're going to help you find those roles and really just the student interest the past couple years has really gravitated towards consulting and technology which is why those are so strongly represented, but students who are interested in other fields haven't had trouble finding jobs in those fields as well it just really depends on their background like we have someone who comes from and is interested in continuing on in pharma, we're absolutely able to work with that as well. Maria looks like we just lost the presentation. Yeah, yeah, I tried to get to move something and yeah, here we go. No worries. And so, the last thing is just going on to the rankings from the program we are the number one ranked supply chain management program in the world from qs and from Ed Universal which is really huge. We've, we're really proud of that ranking we've been able to maintain it several years in a row now. But last year we we maintain that ranking as well. And so we think that that also stands out and people recognize that when they see that you're coming from MIT. They recognize both the MIT brand itself but also that this is the number one ranked supply chain management master's program. And so that's a huge part of sort of the outcomes as well. And that's the education to we were number one ranked for reason it's not just the outcomes it's also the quality of the education here. All right, I'll pass it back over to you Maria I think you're going to take the next section. Yes, thank you john. So then the number one means means a lot right and implies a lot of different things. So then every year we are implementing innovation in order to try to adapt what we are teaching the speed is that we are provided into the expectations from the industry. All this connection with industry that we're having an MIT CTL is so important in order to adapt and aligned all our master program into the latest expectations from the industry in terms of topics in terms of experience in terms of example the combination of analytics and new technology together with the expectations in terms of recruiting in terms of global impact, etc. So then I think it's important. One of you asked if we are going to cover the SCM blended program yes we are going to cover the blended program with deadlines and then we expectations in terms of timings. So yes, absolutely yes. Okay, then. So let me continue with the presentation. So then, again, we will differentiate between residential cohort and blended cohort. Probably you know already about all these different but let me present in a nutshell, what is what is the core features of each of the two options. The two, I mean cohorts, they, they get the same degree. MIT's master in Appliance Science in Supply and Management master degree. I mean, some of you you can, I mean obtain the master of engineering but I will comment this in at the end of the presentation. The residential cohort on your left is 10 month intensive on campus master program full time. So connect you with John mentioned about the ROI return return of investment is important to note that then you will be only 10 months out of your, I mean how your work, and then you will come back to the same position or maybe to find a new position, thanks to the, again, recruiting services that we are providing is typically designed for early career supply chain professionals. Typically, we are having around five years of experience supply chain experience in the residential cohort. And then we are quite strong in career development. During all these 10 months that you are here at MIT, then we are working one to one with each of you in order to customize how you should approach the job market.  This means that then you have work authorization to work in the US. So one of the main difference with the blended with the blended due to the fact that the students will be only five months in campus at MIT, then blended cohort is not eligible to OPT. But then there are a lot of other great opportunities here, you can find a job outside. I mean, US, if you are not the US work, you don't have work authorization, then we the intention is to provide an alternative pathway to master degree in supply chain management. So first, you need to complete the micro master degree is a credential offered by MIT X online. So then once you get the certificate, once you finish your certificate after the CFX exam, comprehensive exam, then you are eligible to apply. Our deadlines for applications are aligned with the dates for the CFX. So typically twice a year. When you complete this, then you are eligible to apply and then if you are accepted to come to MIT for the five months on campus at MIT. So then you will get exactly the same degree than the residential program. Actually, this is the idea. In January, all the two cohorts get together in order to create a one cohesive, unique class. Typically the experience for the blended programs for the blended cohort is around seven years average experience in the world, I'm sorry, in the job or in supply chain area. So is it great collection of experience? We want to use your experience in order to create a collective learning approach within our program, within our classes and discussions. Yeah. And all this, what is the purpose? This is the purpose. This is our value proposition to develop world class global leaders in supply chain management with an innovative MIT educational model. Every single word here has a meaning. Global means that then we want to impact the world. Leaders is that we want to combine different, I mean, features in supply chain together with the leadership approach in order to develop your leadership potential while you are here. And all these innovative MIT experience you are learning educational model, especially connected with the MIT ecosystem is completely different with other universities. And then definitely once our students, they graduate, they have a different way of thinking, different way of approaching the challenges, the problems and especially the supply chain endeavor. So yeah, definitely a great opportunity for you. What is the timeline? Let's start with the residential program timeline, 10 to 10 months in person intensive program. We start typically once you have, you are accepted, we have the onboarding May, July with different webinars, so you are ready to join us in August. In August you come here to MIT. Previously you have been working on the onboarding accommodation, all your selections, etc. During the orientation in August is a two weeks, two weeks and a half intensive program, then which we work around some recruiting preparation. We introduced the capstone projects, some analytical content and exam just for you to be ready to start with the core terms at MIT. So we you start the fall term from September to December with different courses you have a blog list actually 300 different electives you can select out of the MIT ecosystem with a certain structure of course. Then you have the spring, sorry the winter break from December to January and in January, we have a beautiful feature in which we receive a scale of students from all over the world. We gather 200 supply chain professionals at MIT during this three week period. And then we are having workshops, speakers, CEOs, chief supply chain officers from global industries, they are coming to share their, their, again, their insights, their experience.  In the spring, then we start from February to May with typically we call the electives period in which you have different classes, study track, for example, this year, actually in 10 days, we go to San Francisco in order to connect with the alumni network that is there and visit companies like Google, like Flex, Walmart, and then also to Panama to visit all the logistics operations of Panama Canal. This is really great, really exciting and time for making great connections and bonds within the MIT supply chain management class. Also, during this spring term, you will work with our coaches for career for just to customize your journey. Of course, the capstone project research project and the final event in which we are presenting all over the world, your results with your research project with your capstone project. And finally, then you got into the graduation and end of May. This is a very, very special day.   And yeah, typically, most of the class have already received an offer.  Let's talk about the blended program. Did you remember five months in campus, previous to these five months online education is a hybrid mode, the same degree than the presidential MIT master degree. So then we start, we just start with, as I mentioned, with the five online classes, the final comprehensive exam called CFX.  Right. So then the application opens, opens typically in September, but is together with the CFX. We have different admission decisions. And I will share all the key deadlines at the end of the webinar. Right. So then we have all the admissions cycle from September to July. And then in July after the second CFX, the second, I mean, the typically May CFX, then you apply and then quickly we review the applications and we have the class ready to start. So in from August to December in a remote mode, then we work in different aspects. We have conducted some pre-work. So then you start your capstone project, we offer companies to work with, but also you bring your own company with your own capstone. So it's a mix of options. Then you follow different webinar series in, in data management, in analytics methodologies, et cetera. So is this our kind of webinar is a preparatory work in order for you to be ready in January to join the a scale connect conference. I already mentioned three weeks at MIT with 200 students all over the world. So then physically the first day you are physically here with us is the beginning of January. If you are a blended student, but previously you have gathered all this knowledge with the MIT micro master credential.  Right. So then in January we have all your orientation, especially for the blended. Also we prepared you analytically to be ready for the content. And then with all the scale connect events. Again, in the spring you are exactly the same student and the residential student. So then a long list of electives you can customize your journey. Imagine that you want to focus more on sustainability topics, or you want to develop more your leadership potential, or you want to focus more, let's say, on the healthcare industry. So then you can customize your journey. We help you to structure this with all these electives and at the end, the same date than the residential, all the 80 students, 40 from the residential, 40 from the blended. They get together in the graduation in order to get your MIT master of applied science degree. Yeah. And it's again, very, very excited. So let me continue with the curriculum. Then it depends if you are residential or you are blended this will vary. But the idea is that you are residential you will be in person taking these courses. And then you can get such a political method for just existence databases, financial supply chain finance is very important for supply chain, then writing supply chain management and then you start the very beginning in August with the capsule project. And then at IP, I mean, generally is the scale connectors I already mentioned, you continue with your custom project and this spring, you can have a long list of selection or sorry of electives with additionally of these electives in supply chain analytics, but additionally we are going to work intensively in data science and material learning. And then some additional topics like advanced writing public speaking, etc. So this is your capsule project with your sponsor company, and then you will have definitely 100% of the students get more than 90 units 90 units is the minimum, but typically why why I mean when the students are here, they select more than 90 units in order to maximize their potential to the MIT knowledge and MIT experience. And then we are very flexible in the number of units that you can you can take. Yeah. Okay. Then we are offering different topics around supply chain electives. So then, again, you have here the list you have here the instructors you can go to the website and see what are the speciality and the angle, all of us, all of us, we are working closely with industry. And then we teach in this master program but also in executive education programs, and also in in other programs within MIT. So our experience in terms of education in terms of applied research is quite rich in our field of domain. This is what we want to connect with you. And then the capstone project capstone is an important element in our curriculum. Why, because, as I mentioned, then be to develop experiential learning approaches in our program is the one of the most beautiful feature. And the idea is the following. We do bring your experience and supply chain, typically an average of five years of experience residential and blended. So then, in different areas, different industries, we want to take advantage of this experience and how we are doing that. We are putting in the different courses, different experiential learning exercises for example cases studies assignments in a real case with a real company.  So again different layers of experiential learnings. And then one in different areas different courses, and then the overall umbrella is the capstone the capstone project is a real project, sponsored by a real company with a real challenge. This is scoped within nine months nine and a half months. So then we are crafting a team of two students, sponsored by a real company that can be provided or facilitated by us by MIT or in the blended case then you can bring your company as well. We allocate one or two researchers from MIT who are advice and they have a special, I mean, experience and expertise in the area of the capstone project. And during these nine, 10 months, then you are working along different deliverables in order to propose a particular, I mean solution for this particular challenge. So then you work again on the particular motivation. This is an example that I was advising with Lenovo. We talked about supply chain segmentation and all the analytics we did for that. And then we work about objectives then of course you review the literature with the state of the art. And then you apply certain methodology with different grounds in the methodology, then you provide typically managerial recommendations or framework or something that is extracted out of all these methodology that you have applied. And then you typically have many main insights, and then your contributions. So some of them, I would say a selection of capstone projects are finally published in supply chain management review magazine that has a great exposure. And there's a great way of impacting all over the world with the results of your project. Yeah, this is this this publication is supply chain management review magazine is coming after. After the finish after you finish the capstone project after end of May. Yeah. Okay, the application process John would you like to go into this topic. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so we can go on the next slide. I'll talk a little bit about the application process for both programs. This will just be a brief overview. If questions come up. Feel free to ask them right now during the Q&A, or you can always reach out to our email SCM dash admissions at mit.edu. So our application requirements for the residential class we do have a test requirement you can take the GMAT or the GRE, either of those work, or you can take the first MicroMasters course SC 0x supply chain analytics. We're considered equally by our department. We do prefer SC 0x just because if you are admitted to the program, we're going to have you take SC 0x before you arrive on campus anyways so you get that requirement out of the way saves you a little time if you're admitted. But we don't bias against any of the any test against the other we evaluate all of them equally. You only have to submit one so just SC 0x the GMAT or the GRE that's one of the biggest questions we get. So the average score for SC 0x the minimum is 85%. If your score is lower you still can apply we just suggest that as the minimum for a competitive application but you're not barred from applying the evaluate application statistically. Similarly the 75th percentile for the GMAT and the GRE. So for that and you're going to have a written statement of objectives those are unique to the residential class for the blended class we're going to evaluate your MicroMasters performance. And instead of a statement of objectives you're also going to submit a research project proposal so this will be a proposal for your capstone project, and usually students are proposing these with the company that they're working at currently. The requirement that we get this question a lot to you don't have to submit a proposal that you actually have agreement from a company to work on it could be from a company that you're interested in working with. And it's an interesting research proposal idea that you think is a strong prospect but you don't actually have to have the agreement to work with the company, the details of the proposal and how to write it are all on the website as well. Do you require an I excuse me IELTS or TOEFL requirement for anyone who's not from an English speaking country. That said, there is a waiver if you went to an undergraduate or graduate program that was taught primarily in English, then you can receive a waiver from the TOEFL requirement. And there's a video statement that's conducted during the actual application process. It's it's part of the application system will want to see your resume and we do require at least two years of work experience preferably supply chain related work experience. We prefer three to seven years of work experience from applicants but the minimum we accept is to if you have less than two at the time of your application, we will let you know that you're not eligible to apply to the program. We also require two letters of recommendation with those can be both professional or one academic one professional we just ask that they're both not not both academic we want to hear from some professional experience, and we require your transcript as well from any undergraduate or graduate degrees. All right, next slide. Yes, John. I want to highlight something about video statement. Bring yourself. Don't try to package yourself in something that you are not right so for us is you we want to know a little bit more about yourself in the video. Right so applicants prefer to be very formal and to read. We don't recommend to read a script. Right so then bring yourself the best of yourself. It's very natural about what you are. And this is the main purpose of the video not a formal kind of, I mean, recipe kind of video. Okay, this is one of the recommendations and the others just to bring your, your credentials. Yeah. All right, so just a couple of key dates for the comprehensive final exam. If you're currently looking to apply and blended round to the comprehensive final exam is scheduled to start on May 10, the end date to take it will be on May 11 this year. And the first live event which that QR code that's on the screen right now is a link to information about that happens on the third of April. So if you must have already passed all five SCX courses to be verified to be eligible. If you are eligible, we will automatically enroll you in the C effects and let you know that you're eligible to take it. And then if you plan to take it you can pay the verification fee by April 26. And so those dates are important. If you're looking to take the CFX this May and then apply in blended round to and we'll get to the application dates in just a moment. And so then let me highlight something, considering how close the dates of the CFX and the blended applications are, we strongly recommend you if you plan to apply to the blended to try to start the blended application even before of making the CFX exam. This is a recommendation, for example, if you start thinking about the research project proposal, we will spend a minute or and you start thinking about what would be the best referees for your recommendations. And then you start preparing all this work. So then once you pass this effect that I'm sure you will because you are highly motivated, then, then you will be able to apply and something happens you have time to to fulfill the deadline. Okay, then we will recap this later. Yeah. So application tips. Thanks for adding them. Yeah, this is just reiterating what Maria said earlier just be yourself. We really want to get a sense of who you are from the video statement. And this we've changed the system this actually the video is recorded online in the application system itself so you'll see that as part of your application there will be a tab to record the video. And then like I was saying work experience we really have a hard requirement around that two years minimum. We're not quite at two years yet. That's great stay interested stay in touch and and just get a couple more years of experience and then we'd love to have you apply when you're ready. Some information about fellowships and funding. These are questions that always come up in terms of what's available for fellowships and for aid with the program. So these are the departmental fellowships and scale scholar fellowships those are offered by the SM department. So if you're admitted to the program, you will include and we're able to offer you a fellowship will include a letter with your letter of admission that will include your fellowship award. The average award last year was around $8,000 $9,000. We're not usually full tuition fellowships there there for you know as much aid as we can meet but we're never able to meet the amount of need that there is so we try and make meaningful contributions to as many students who need aid as we can. So those are what are available from the SM department itself and those are made those reviews are made by the admissions committee during the admissions process. There's no separate application for those you just select. That's on your application that says yes I am interested in receiving financial aid. Additionally, we've got the advancing women in education fellowship. That is a supply chain fellowship partnership with the awesome organization. This is a great opportunity. They provide one full tuition fellowship per year to the residential class and one to the blended class. And so if you're interested in that as well. The, that it again you just select that box that I'm interested in financial aid during the application process there is an additional video component for that but we send all that information to you after you're admitted to the program. One thing to highlight is that if you're interested in the awesome fellowship, you need to apply in round one or round two of the residential class or round one of the blended class because those decisions the review process for it are made early in the year. And so round three of residential and round two of blended are too late to be considered for the awesome fellowship. Similarly, there's some other competitive fellowships at MIT that are open to all graduate students. We have a really talented group of students so every year we tend to get one to two students who receive those fellowships they're not guaranteed because you are competing against all other graduate students at MIT. We have information about those on our website if you want to review that as well some of them have specific eligibility requirements. But again, you need to apply in those early rounds to be considered for those fellowships as well. So let me highlight something here John. So, I mean when somebody is asking me, I mean, what should I, I mean, how should I base my decisions for selecting a master program. Then please don't, I mean, bias yourself on the tuition you have to pay at the beginning you have to pay tuition. Yes, there are mechanisms to find this tuition as we are showing here. Yes. But think more on the midterm long term. Right in our program the ROI according to a QS is not something that we are saying is another institution who is saying that our ROI 10 years is almost $1 million. It means that then now you spend the tuition, but imagine then in again in a 10 month. I mean timeline that is not too long. Right. Then you are going to recover this money very quickly. According to the figure that we provide according to the recruitment and the value you acquired getting this kind of degree and this kind of knowledge and experience. So please don't try to get obsessed with the tuition of course is important is a first, I mean a step, but definitely think more about midterm long term. What is the average you are going to gain what are the opportunities you are going to get for the job, and then how you are going to recover this money. And I can tell you that then it's definitely worth it compared with other programs that will be much, much cheaper. Right. But however, then the opportunity you will get after nine months of paying the tuition will be much lower. Right. So this is the kind of I mean framework you need to implement in order to make your decision. Okay. Great applications deadlines. Perfect awesome thanks Maria so yeah application deadlines. We are through rounds one and two residential round three the deadline is March 31. Make sure to get your application in if you're interested before on March 31 because we can't accept applications after that date and we do need all of your materials submitted by March 31. Please don't submit your application incomplete because we can't guarantee that you'll be able to be reviewed and we want to give you a full review. Our decisions are released about a month later so around April 28. We'll be releasing decisions for around three residential. Similarly for blended that round to the application deadline is June 20, like Maria said, please start working on your application if you're interested, and you think you're qualified even if you haven't taken the CFX yet but you're planning to take it in May. Go ahead and start on your application. There's no harm in getting your letters of reference lined up it gives you more time if any issues come up to sort those out. And again, decisions are released about a month later so bullet by July 18. I want to answer a couple questions that were in the chat on those. Someone was asking about international students. It says on our website that you're encouraged to apply around one or two. Does that mean that international students aren't considered for round three. No, that's not the case. The thing with encouraging international students to apply early is really just to give you the maximum amount of time to get through the visa process if there's any issues the visa process starts on April 15 so it's before we've released the decisions for round three. So it gives you the maximum amount of time just in case any visa issues come up, but we do allow international students to apply for round three they are given the same consideration consideration as us students. So there's no, there's no reason not to other than just giving yourself the maximum time to get any visa issues that might come up sorted out. And then similarly, I mean just to clarify, if you are an international student and you want to apply for by for the round three you can do it because this is why we are doing this kind of selection time in advance before we start formally in August. Yeah, in order to have the visa process so then definitely just you can apply and then you should apply. Yeah, according to the figures that we provided. Yeah. Yeah. And same for the blended yeah it's you can apply an either round either is totally fine for international students. Someone is asking if there are any specific requirements for international students, other than the TOEFL if you're not from an English speaking country that the requirements are the exact same for the international students. And then on the TOEFL front someone is asking what is now online you can take the online version of the TOEFL you don't have to go to the test center and take the in person version just to clarify that as well. Alright, there are some also some options for waving the TOEFL but then only very particular cases that are available in the website. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Yeah, my experience we wanted to summarize in a couple of minutes, but you are going to find when you will be here so these are some pictures about what we are doing. For example, the track here we go to the Port of Oakland with other, I mean, empty students in order to visit the operations and also in also also to meet the MIT alumni that are there that are greeting there so then sometimes when we go there, then we have meeting processes on site.  Then this picture of orientation so the one day we go in August, actually is the second day of the orientation period. So, August second day, we want you all of you to all the students to meet to know each other to understand how what is their strengths of everybody and also to enjoy nature. So we go to an island. This is an island that beautiful is close to Boston is a great experience. And then we are doing some team building activities.  Typically with family here. And then there's another experience about the woman in supply chain profiles. Then there we are visiting another location here. So then why to choose MIT. So let me give you some facts here. So then the way that MIT thinks the way that MIT challenge idea progress idea approach the innovation ecosystem is quite unique. There are different features that highlights why MIT so impactful. Of course, MIT is world's number one in the US ranking, I think it's nine years in a row. It's a lot of novel rates you can I mean be in the cafeteria having a novel price close in the in the table that is close to you or you can attend a class of these novel rates which is which is great but not only that I mean, very brilliant minds that are here at MIT. We have been investing a lot on AI. It was a huge investment, not only from MIT but also with different key sponsors like IBM, in order to develop the future of AI, some of us we are working intensively in AI. And this is something that definitely we are firm believers that AI is going to change the world. My preferred feature of I will say fact is this particular one here that if we will be able to measure the impact of MIT global alumni, then we could create the 10th largest GDP in the world. So this is a good figure in order to show what is the impact that MIT is creating all over the world in order to change the balance beams of the of the future. So we are in supply chain, we want to impact supply chain operational logistics, and then if you come here you will be able to join all these impactful effort. So some beautiful pictures of MIT. So these are some of the sport facilities. Then this is the Charles River. This is Boston downtown here. We are around here if I'm not mistaken. So then there we are very close to the city. The downtown we're very close to also to Cambridge, Harvard if you go here. This is one of the main corridors of MIT full of energy. This is part of the gravity of the MIT students. And this is part of the cutting edge development of our campus that we are three minutes far from this building just to give you a nutshell some flavor about MIT. Why to choose MIT key factors I am highlighting here and then we will go to questions very quickly. You can select where it better fits your needs. We can go to the residential demands or hybrid mode with a blended micro master in five months being at MIT with both options with MIT master degree. I mean, if you compare to MBA program, the return investment is much higher in our case. Why, because we only have 10 months in terms program because supply chain is a hot topic. And then also because then we have a huge supply chain management alumni network that leverage all our impact. The residential is open to stem certified. So you have this work authorization. We have a cohort experience of four students per class in the residence plus another 40 for the blended. So in total we have 80 40 residential 40 blended. Yeah, and then the student tracks to Panama to Bay Area, Seattle USA, also to the connection with other I mean centers all over the world with the scale network. Here we have the beauty of our ambassadors that are joining us. So thank you very much, Hannah Jorge Matias for being with us. It's a pleasure. They are right now at MIT very busy because we are at the middle of the spring term so next week with some exams and assignments. But maybe we can start with Hannah. Maybe you can share with our prospects and why did you apply to in your case to the blended program. Happy to good morning. My name is Hannah Sonneberg. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. I decided to apply to the blended program because I thought it was a perfect balance of enhancing my supply chain knowledge, especially with the technology aspect of MIT building my network. All as Maria said with the limited time away from the workforce in my case just the five months. And yes it's been a great experience. Thank you, Hannah. Jorge, how did you leverage your supply chain experience together with the class here at MIT with the experience of the class of the SEM program maybe you can I mean summarize this. Hi everyone. My name is Jorge Olio. I am from Peru. I've been here at MIT has been an amazing experience. What is really great here that my cohort there are people around the world. So they are like around 17 countries in my cohort. I am a residential student with different backgrounds. We have different activities. We also have the capstone. It's a really great opportunity to know your peers and work with that very, very close to industry and now in January, the blended program came and they bring a lot, a lot of more experience. So that combination of residential blended is really great because the blended people are more senior people so yeah they are sharing their experience and it's been so great. The networking and sense of community is really great. Jorge, also you are with your family here. So it's another addition to bring this experience of being in Boston, being in the US for your family as well, right? Yeah, it came with my family. I have two children and yeah it's been amazing. It's a really huge change for my family but everyone is happy here. Yes, a very, very particular and I want to share my son came here. He's seven years old when he came here. He didn't speak English after four months. Now he speaks better than me so it's amazing. Yeah, it's a great experience also for all your ecosystem, right? As we can imagine. Thank you Jorge. Thank you very much. Yes, Matthias was the CTA and the blended program as well so he has been engaged with different angles of MIT. Matthias, could you share the best highlights of your experience so far? Hi, I'm Matthias and I'm happy to share my highlights and what I think is one of the best things we have done so far was the scale conference in the IAPs period, what Maria said is a three weeks period. In the beginning of the semester where so many international students come, we have the students from Luxembourg, we have them from Saragossa and from Columbia and that's amazing. You meet so many people from different backgrounds and we had super interesting discussions. So that's what I really enjoyed and I still enjoy the time here with all those international people from different countries with different perspectives, different experiences and you always meet people who you can learn from. So some people learn from you, you learn from others. This is really amazing. Yeah, thank you very much. Please stay connected because if we have some questions from the audience, maybe then you can also help to answer from your experience, right? So then John, let's open time for questions from the audience. Yeah, so please feel free to submit your questions in the Q&A for us or for the student ambassadors as well. There's one I can just start off with that I see in the program or in the Q&A we've got a question about our applications reviewed first come first serve. No, we don't do rolling out admissions. So once the deadline hits, then we review all of the applications for that round in one go. So we do not do rolling admissions. And similarly, someone is asking about preferences for the GR year the GMAT with hiring and as far as I'm aware that doesn't really factor in the GR year the GMAT is really just for our admissions review and we don't preference one or the other. And again, you can take supply chain analytics as well, but companies are going to be more concerned with your work experience and your performance in the master's program they're not going to be as worried about the tests that you took to get into the master's program. Yeah, let's see. There's one question about the micro master and then with 10 years of work experience and have reached an executive level. So the question is if he is eligible for this blended program. Absolutely, yes, yes, totally. But then you need to finish your micro master degree with the CFX in order to be eligible to apply. Right. So yes, absolutely. Yes, I'm getting contact with us if if you want to clarify more these your particular circumstances. So then there are also if we wait, the micro master performance undergrad GPA and work experience. We review the applications holistically. We are not applying any formulation here right. Again, why because we want to understand why you are as why you are a special why you deserve to to be in the class. So then we analyze of course I mean all these features that you mentioned the micro master performance the grades and the work experience your leadership and leadership potential right is important. And also, I mean there for something in the case of the blended the research proposal that you were bringing. So again, but it isn't a holistic manner we are not putting any weight on one over over the other. And then let's try to bring your best. I know that you to know, again, who you are in the video who I mean very naturally who you are with the with your yeah with your best smile but but not try to package the videos as we mentioned. There's one question Maria that I wanted to address that I saw set come up in the chat about employment for international students with the residential versus the blended class so to clarify the blended class is not eligible for OPT work authorization that's the extension of work authorization in the US this is based on US regulations. So if you're interested in working in the US after graduation and you're an international student, you should apply to the residential program don't apply to the blended because you don't have that US work authorization residential students are eligible for up to three years of work authorization with OPT and a stem extension. And I don't know if Jorge and Matias I believe you're both international students and Matias you're in the blended program, Jorge, you're in the residential program can you talk a little bit about sort of your looking forward your plans for work and like Jorge I'm not sure if you're planning to work try and work in the US after graduation or not but just talk a little bit about your kind of career journey Yeah, I can move by family because my plan is to take advantage of the OPT, the three years of the same, but basically just to summarize that a hearing the residential program. The application starts at the beginning of the program so it was it was amazing there were some people that was applying. We started the program in almost 15th and there were people that applied just two weeks. After we start the program and it was amazing because one of my friends, she got a job like two weeks after we start the program. And there are differences in November, then first in September, October they're consulting companies then comes tech companies and there is a lot of options here so yeah that is amazing. And of course I mean they start working when they finish right so even they receive the offer let's say, I mean beginning of September the case that Jorge mentioned but they just start working after graduation yeah. Thank you Jorge. Yeah. And also to comment something quickly. I mean if you have if you are a micro master holder, you can apply both residential and blended. If you apply to the residential. This means that then you can wave some courses so then you can expand your exposure will recognize your knowledge of micro master. But I mean the more natural way will be the blanket, right, in which you come in January here and then you have more scale and and and the electricity is free. Mattias maybe you can elaborate a little bit more. Um, so on which part. I mean in terms of the job search. Yes, so I'm an international student in the blended program. So I'm not eligible for work in the US since I'm from Germany. I mean there are some exceptions if you have certain citizenship you can get a visa but Germany is not part of that. So I will go back to Germany and or basically look for jobs in the European Union with my degree in the end. So this is where I'm authorized to work and they will value the masters there. So, and that's what I'm going to do. And also the, the recruitment office, the professional development office helps both cohorts residential then you will start from the very, very beginning even earlier, because you start filling the surveys for leadership and for all this, I mean, recruiting profiles earlier even in August, right, but if you join the blended you will start to fall, filling all the profiles and then they will provide the service while you are here but not only when, when you leave, right, even the recruiting service will continue providing service, long life, right, so you belong to the MIT family, and then you will get access to the recruitment service for all your life. Yeah. Maria, can I can I add something. Yes, please absolutely. Yeah, just to mention that there are different different career first. So even though you don't have the option to work here their career first from Europe from Asia, and regarding Latin, there are the, the most important companies came here not not to Boston but there are some recruiting process, for instance, for the bailout McKinsey and what is really what you have to consider that we apply to jobs that also the NBA people apply so even though we just have one year of program, we can apply to those to those jobs. So we are, yeah, we are basically taking advantage of the master and we just one year program as Maria says, said so. Yeah, that's that's really good for us. Thank you, Jorge. We have a couple of questions. Then, most of all, it has been working that have supply chain manufacturing systems for several years is this considered a spirit. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah, we want to bring your supply chain experience into the class. Yeah. John, any answer. Any question you want to answer. Oh, I think we're just about out of time it's 1103 actually just got a few minutes over. So I don't want to hold anyone up, but I think this, we've covered sort of the basics if you have more questions again feel free to reach out to our email or give us a call, or happy to field your questions and others a lot of specifics around the application details that you might have some questions about and feel free to explore the website. And as well, since everything should be on there. This session was recorded there was a question about that so we will make that recording available we should put it up on our website. It'll take a little bit of time for us to get a process but as soon as it's available will post it to our website. If you want to revisit or if you joined late and want to catch the beginning of it. And I'll just think our same ambassadors Hannah Matias and Jorge thank you so much for joining us really appreciate your insight on the program. And, and also your future contributions as an alumni which is coming right up right around the corner. So, thank you again for joining us. Yeah, thank you very much everybody thank you. Thank you. Thank you john and thank you the ambassadors to all of you. Hopefully we will, I mean review your application soon. Let us know if we can be a further help. Bye bye. Have a good weekend, everybody. Bye. Okay, have a good weekend and reach out to us if you have questions want to know anything. We are here to answer questions, and we'll be happy. Have a good weekend everyone. Thank you.