An injured horse and a divided university. Turning challenges into opportunities and making a large-scale impact. Last Friday at the 2020 Splash Homecoming Day, Stanford OHS alumni Charlotte Novy and Bryce Robinson shared their experiences pursuing notable achievements and the lessons they learned along the way. Charlotte is currently a sophomore at Vanderbilt University with a pending patent for a horseshoe tailored to aid injured horses. Bryce, a junior at Georgetown University, is part of the U7+ Worldwide Student Forum and works to erase the divisive boundaries in higher education relationships such as student-teacher and cross-department relationships. Check out the key takeaways and advice from Charlotte and Bryce’s event below!

Key Takeaways:

• If you have an idea, go for it. Turning your dreams into reality isn’t as complicated as you think. 

Charlotte repeatedly emphasized was how the process of designing and getting her horseshoe ready for a patent was actually “super basic.” At first, the path to your goals might seem “super intimidating” but Charlotte shared how taking it “step by step” and just using the seemingly simple resources around you “can take you really far.” 

• Use the amazing network of people at OHS!

Charlotte and Bryce both brought up how many talented and well-accomplished people are concentrated at OHS. Charlotte emphasized how it is highly likely there is somebody who has done the “cool and crazy” thing you want to do or at least something similar. Case in point, Charlotte found peers that had applied for patents before and gained helpful guidance. 

• However, don’t limit yourself to just your peers.

Bryce mentioned that valuable insight can also come from people of different ages and statuses than yourself. This includes teachers, parents, the nice guy at the coffee shop, and many others. Bryce pointed out how he is friends with his dean and “the random guy in the business school” even though he is not even in the business school. Learning from all sorts of perspectives can bring about brilliant ideas you haven’t thought about before.

• Be open-minded and take opportunities as they come to you, even if it’s not the opportunity you’ve been dreaming of.

Charlotte and Bryce encourage OHSers to not be so strict on what their future needs to look like. Bryce says he was passionate about the government in high school but is certainly not going down that path today and Charlotte has changed majors at least three times. That’s okay — “awesome even” as Bryce assures. Bryce adds, “You’re gonna get a job after college. And that job, it’s not your end all be all, this is all you’re doing in life.” Keep trying things out and find what makes you truly happy.

Advice To Current OHSers:

• “School is meant to prepare you for making that larger impact in the world.”

Bryce advises that OHSers remember why we are going to school in the first place. The true beauty of receiving an education is to take the skills we’ve learned and apply them to create something that can help make the world a better place.

• “Your academics are not everything. There is so much to learn outside of the academic world!”

Bryce shared how he “tried really hard to get straight-As” during his OHS years. Once he got to college, he discovered there is much more than just his classes like the social aspects of higher education. Charlotte talked about a similar experience. It’s important to “step outside of the box that is purely academic.”