Last year, Bottom Line partnered with The Fellowship Initiative (TFI) to provide one-on-one college advising to
40 young men in New York City.
In his essay, “If One Kid Can Change The World,”
Mark shares the importance of role models and self-belief.
In 2014, I received the best news that would go on to change my life forever. “You have been accepted into The Fellowship Initiative (TFI) sponsored by JPMorgan Chase.” Those words turned my life around. During these two unbelievably amazing years, I have been given the chance to learn from thirty-nine other African American and Latino males like myself, and it has made me feel like we could change the world.
Before TFI, I never found anything interesting because I was always a quiet student. I was afraid to try new things or explore. What I do know about my younger self was that the color of my skin made me feel very insecure. It made me isolate myself. Growing up, I had friends who were afraid like me. I would talk to them and tell them of my plans to be a young man who stand I wanted to be more.
When I joined TFI, I was excited to work with other students like myself and have a mentor who would teach us about college and the business world. The moment I knew that I was capable of being a leader was when this mentor, Fernando, asked me to speak at an event for Outward Bound. At first, I was horrified. So many people would be watching me. I was not yet comfortable in my own skin, but I knew I could not disappoint Fernando. He had chosen me and if he thought I could do it, then I did not want to let him down. Right before I went onto the stage, he told me, “Mark, you can do whatever you want to do if you put your mind to it.” Fernando believed in me. He was instilling in me the tools I would need to self-motivate and conquer my fears.
Fernando has consistently believed in my abilities to be a leader and has motivated me to be an example to young men like me. In order to channel this energy and make a positive change in my community, I became a board member for the Neighborhood Advisory Board. This board helps allocate funds for projects within my community like after-school programs, play grounds, and books. Through TFI, I have had the opportunity to speak at other events and be on a panel with accomplished adults. Being able to represent my TFI brothers and JPMorgan Chase at these events has made me very proud. Looking back, I have realized that if I would not have accepted the challenge of joining TFI, I would not be the person I am today.
TFI has empowered me and I feel a duty to give back to my people. My dream and purpose of living is so that I can inspire others to believe in their dreams. I am confident that I will change the world by helping the young people in my community find the best within themselves. All it takes is one person, one thought, or one encouraging influence to help set them on the path of greatness. I am proud of my skin and I am determined and I am ready to reach back and help my community.
Jismaly Mejia: Alumni Board Member
Advice I have for Bottom Line Alumni: “In order to pass along career advice to the Bottom Line Alumni community, it is important for me to reflect back on how I got to where I am today. Throughout high school, college and today, my support systems have always managed to expand beyond my family and friends. Fortunately, my supports included a variety of amazing organizations, such as Bottom Line, where my personal and professional network grew. Within these organizations, I have been able to experience a multitude of roles, such as a student and alum, a volunteer, an intern, a partner, a mentor/mentee, and much more. Through these roles, I have been able to explore educational and career options, collaborate and network with diverse individuals, and inspire youth in a variety of ways.
With that being said, I encourage all Bottom Line alumni to expand their horizons by seeking new opportunities through creating meaningful networks with those that surround them. Growth happens the moment you step outside of your comfort zone!”
Grace Tan: Alumni Board Member
Why I am proud to be a Bottom Line Alum:
“I proudly tell people that I am a part of this network because of all the good work Bottom Line does for its students and the community. I have been through the Bottom Line program from high school until college graduation, and I don’t believe that I would be as successful as I am today without Bottom Line. The staff at Bottom Line truly wants to help students get into college and prosper academically and personally. I’m very thankful that this organization is part of my life and I hope it continues to impact others the same way.”
Advice I have for Bottom Line Alumni:
“My best piece of advice to any alum would be this: If you are faced with an issue that is important to you and there are two solutions presented to you, go for the more difficult one. In life it’s always tempting take the easy way out, but down the line when you reflect on your choices, you will regret that you didn’t try harder.”
Edwin Gonzalez: Alumni Board Member
Why I am proud to be a Bottom Line Alum:
“I really value community and all the aspects that make a strong community. I’m proud to be an alum of Bottom Line because BL is a community organization centered around providing crucial resources in Boston and throughout the country. That’s also why I’m so excited to have joined the alumni board in order to build a community around BL alumni.”
Advice I have for Bottom Line Alumni:
“Take risks! Challenge yourself by taking on new and interesting opportunities. It doesn’t always have to be about your career either. Take on a new hobby or finally get around to doing that thing you’ve always wanted to do.”
Daniel Figueiredo
Alumni Board Member
Why I am proud to be a Bottom Line alum:
I am proud to be a Bottom Line alum because it means that I am part of a group of people that defied the odds to get where they are. Every Bottom Line student had above average obstacles in their life, but through determination, will, and support from Bottom Line we are in positions to do great things.
What advice I have for Bottom Line Alumni:
Advice I would give to Bottom Line Alumni is to get involved with Bottom Line and with your community. It’s important to stay grounded in what helped you get where you are today and to help others have similar opportunities.
BL Alum & Access Team ManagerShaCara Telemaque
What is your experience as an alumni who is now working at Bottom Line:
“Being a former student, counselor, and now a manager Bottom Line has shown me that the interactions that we have with our students today, can greatly influence who they become later. As a student, my relationship with my counselors were the highlights of the program, besides the financial aid support. Bottom Line has done an amazing job of picking staff that genuinely want to support students—and that’s exactly why I wanted to work here. It’s an amazing feeling to see a student’s relief when they know they’ll be taken care of at Bottom Line, just like I was.”
What advice do you have for Bottom Line Alumni:
“Share the knowledge and skills that you further developed while being involved in Bottom Line and after. If your job involves recruiting, tell Bottom Line. If you want to do some volunteer hours, tell Bottom Line. Remember, current students are looking for life experiences and professional development just like you were. No one is a better expert at life beyond high school than you, so share your story!”
Help support Sarah and Bottom Line!
Sarah has been with Bottom Line in a variety of functions for over 10 years, and is currently our National Access Program Director. She is also running the Boston Marathon for us in April!
If you wish to help Sarah reach
her fundraising goal, you can do so .
A donation of just $15 will fund a care package to a Bottom Line student!
Sarah’s favorite part of working at Bottom Line:
Sarah Place Bottom Line’s National Access Program Director
I love that Bottom Line has a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.
Staff at all levels are constantly asking, “how can we do this better?” and take an active role in improving the way we serve students.
We strive to be the best at what we do because Bottom Line students deserve to receive the highest quality services.
I also live for reading college essays!
Sarah’s advice for alumni:
Please stay in touch!
Not only do we love hearing updates about alumni, but it could also benefit you to stay active in our network if we ever have the chance to connect you to opportunities.
Our current students are always looking to expand their networks so you could also have the chance to give back to your community by being an active part of the Bottom Line community.
We want to continue seeing you go far!
Yaritza Pe?aAlumni Board Member
Why I am proud to be a Bottom Line Alum …
“Bottom line values developing meaningful relationships with their students and other stakeholders, and I am proud to be a part of an organization that genuinely cares about the success of all its students. I can personally attest to this as I have always felt supported and encouraged by the staff and my counselors. I also owe a lot to Bottom Line for noticing systemic injustices and actively doing something about it. As an alum, I have witnessed firsthand the powerful impact of the organization’s mission and alumni. Bottom Line boldly provides a voice to those without a microphone.”
What advice I have for Bottom Line Alumni …
“Take the time to learn about yourself, and truly figure out what you want to do, and what your passions are. From there, develop short and long term goals, and push yourself to find concrete ways to accomplish them. Lastly, never forget those who helped you along the way, and be there to help push them in the direction of their dreams as well.”
Idaliana Medina
Alum & Career Counselor
Q: What is your experience as an alum now ?
A: “I think as an alum of Bottom Line who came back to work for the organization, I realize how important the work that Bottom Line does is. As a student, I’m sure I didn’t always come to meetings (Sorry, Yorky, Ali and Michelle) or I didn’t listen to what my counselor had to say. I realize now that they were just looking out for me, and they had my best interest in mind. It feels good to be working for the company that helped me become who I am today.”
Q: What advice do you have for Bottom Line Alumni?
A: “Take advantage of the ! We have a lot of connections with different companies and are always posting new jobs on our . These can definitely help you in your careers! We also have alumni events that are great for reconnecting with your fellow alumni and for networking! Take advantage!”
Melissa PenaAlumni Board Member
Why I am proud to be a Bottom Line Alum …
“When I reflect on all I have accomplished to this day, I feel a sense of appreciation in my heart knowing all of the support I received along the way. Throughout high school and college, my support system not only consisted of an amazing group of family and friends, but also of incredible organizations such as Bottom Line.”
What advice I have for Bottom Line Alumni …
“My advice for alumni is to continuously dream bigger, take risks, share wisdom gained through experiences and sacrifices made, and expand your reach by paying it forward. There is always a generation to learn from before you, as well as a path of influence to leave for those after you.”Remember Me
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GRAND RAPIDS — The war against Iraq will have an effect on West Michigan businesses looking to work with international companies and on international companies looking to come to West Michigan.
The question is, what will that effect be?
Over the years, companies have come to West Michigan from Germany, France and Mexico, among other countries, to work with American counterparts and further expand business. Birgit Klohs, president of The Right Place Inc., is one of the people who facilitates these integrations.
Klohs said that while some companies that have been considering coming to West Michigan have decided to wait out the war, it always is a long process to bring a foreign company here.
“Attracting a company is a one- to three-year process, and while we could have a company in the pipeline, they are still 36 months out,” she said. “Many of the companies that we are prospecting with right now have the ability to look long term.”
What it boils down to, Klohs said, is that this is a business decision and not a political one. She noted that while many European countries have differing views on what the United States is doing politically, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will change business decisions.
“We recently had a reception with members of some of the German companies in West Michigan and we discussed the issues ahead,” said Klohs. “Many people agreed that on a personal level they don’t agree with the U.S., but to further their business and move forward they must be in North America.”
The same seems to be holding true for West Michigan companies doing business overseas.
Jeff Meyer, executive director of GVSU’s Van Andel Global Trade Center, said the general feedback he has heard has been that if there is a downturn in international business it doesn’t necessarily mean it is because of war.
“It is hard to separate a bad economy from war,” Meyer said. “The economy here has been bad and when these international companies don’t have any money, you can’t sell to them.”
He said there are companies that still want to expand into other markets, and just as Klohs said, that will remain a business decision, not a political decision. He added that because there has been a buildup to war, anyone who had jitters has already built that into the equation.
“My overall feeling is that as of now, people will carry on with business as usual,” said Meyer. “We will, however, know more within the first few weeks (of the war).”
One thing he wasn’t sure about was the effect the war would have on international business travel. He said there was a short blip after Sept. 11 but a fairly quick recovery, at least on the business forefront.
Jim Hettinger, president and CEO of Battle Creek Unlimited, echoed Klohs’ and Meyer’s feelings in that businesses are looking and functioning more from the bottom line than from the front line.
“I haven’t seen too many changes in behavior but I have heard some foreign people, in doing business with their American subsidiaries, who said their family was quite reluctant to come to the U.S.,” said Hettinger. “Once they are here they understand that this is a big country, and most likely Grand Rapids and Battle Creek are not big targets. But I do agree that travel might see a slowdown. Especially if something happens to an aircraft during the next few weeks or months.”
If that should happen and travel becomes difficult, Hettinger sees an emphasis on telecommunications and an entirely different view of communication methods.
“In the end you have to differentiate between relationships between governments and relationships between people,” said Klohs. “For the most part I think we are able to ignore the sniping back and forth and make it work.”
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There are two sealed boxes up for auction, box A and box B.  One and only one of these boxes contains a valuable diamond.  There are all manner of signs and portents indicating whether a bo but I have no sign which I know to be perfectly reliable.  There is a blue stamp on one box, for example, and I know that boxes which contain diamonds are more likely than empty boxes to show a blue stamp.  Or one box has a shiny surface, and I have a suspicion—I am not sure—that no diamond-containing box is ever shiny.
Now suppose there is a clever arguer, holding a sheet of paper, and he says to the owners of box A and box B:  "Bid for my services, and whoever wins my services, I shall argue that their box contains the diamond, so that the box will receive a higher price."  So the box-owners bid, and box B's owner bids higher, winning the services of the clever arguer.
The clever arguer begins to organize his thoughts.  First, he writes, "And therefore, box B contains the diamond!" at the bottom of his sheet of paper.  Then, at the top of the paper, he writes, "Box B shows a blue stamp," and beneath it, "Box A is shiny", and then, "Box B is lighter than box A", and so on through man yet the clever arguer neglects all those signs which might argue in favor of box A.  And then the clever arguer comes to me and recites from his sheet of paper:  "Box B shows a blue stamp, and box A is shiny," and so on, until he reaches:  "And therefore, box B contains the diamond."
But consider:  At the moment when the clever arguer wrote down his conclusion, at the moment he put ink on his sheet of paper, the
of that physical ink with the physical boxes became fixed.
It may help to visualize a collection of worlds—Everett branches or —within which there is some objective frequency at which box A or box B contains a diamond.  There's likewise some objective frequency within the subset "worlds with a shiny box A" where box B
and some objective frequency in "worlds with shiny box A and blue-stamped box B" where box B contains the diamond.
The ink on paper is formed into odd shapes and curves, which look like this text:  "And therefore, box B contains the diamond."  If you happened to be a literate English speaker, you might become confused, and think that this shaped ink somehow meant that box B contained the diamond.  Subjects instructed to say the color of printed pictures and shown the picture "green" often say "green" instead of "red".  It helps to be illiterate, so that you are not confused by the shape of the ink.
To us, the true import of a thing is its entanglement with other things.  Consider again the collection of worlds, Everett branches or Tegmark duplicates.  At the moment when all clever arguers in all worlds put ink to the bottom line of their paper—let us suppose this is a single moment—it fixed the correlation of the ink with the boxes.  The clever arguer writes in non- the ink will not change.  The boxes will not change.  Within the subset of worlds where the ink says "And therefore, box B contains the diamond," there is already some fixed percentage of worlds where box A contains the diamond.  This will not change regardless of what is written in on the blank lines above.
So the evidential entanglement of the ink is fixed, and I leave to you to decide what it might be.  Perhaps box owners who believe a better case can be made for them are more liable perhaps box owners who fear their own deficiencies bid higher.  If the box owners do not themselves understand the signs and portents, then the ink will be completely unentangled with the boxes' contents, though it may tell you something about the owners' finances and bidding habits.
Now suppose another person present is genuinely curious, and she first writes down all the distinguishing signs of both boxes on a sheet of paper, and then applies her knowledge and the laws of probability and writes down at the bottom:  "Therefore, I estimate an 85% probability that box B contains the diamond."  Of what is this handwriting evidence?  Examining the chain of cause and effect leading to this physical ink on physical paper, I find that the chain of causality wends its way through all the signs and portents of the boxes, and is depe for in worlds with different portents, a different probability is written at the bottom.
So the handwriting of the curious inquirer is entangled with the signs and portents and the contents of the boxes, whereas the handwriting of the clever arguer is evidence only of which owner paid the higher bid.  There is a great difference in the indications of ink, though one who foolishly read aloud the ink-shapes might think the English words sounded similar.
Your effectiveness as a rationalist is determined by whichever algorithm actually writes the bottom line of your thoughts.  If your car makes metallic squealing noises when you brake, and you aren't willing to face up to the financial cost of getting your brakes replaced, you can decide to look for reasons why your car might not need fixing.  But the actual percentage of you that survive in Everett branches or Tegmark worlds—which we will take to describe your effectiveness as a rationalist—is determined by the algorithm that decided which conclusion you would seek arguments for.  In this case, the real algorithm is "Never repair anything expensive."  If this is a good algorithm, if this is a bad algorithm, oh well.  The arguments you write afterward, above the bottom line, will not change anything either way.
Addendum:  This is intended as a caution for your own thinking, not a Fully General Counterargument against conclusions you don't like.  For it is indeed a clever argument to say "My opponent is a clever arguer", if you are paying yourself to retain whatever beliefs you had at the start.  The world's cleverest arguer may point out that the sun is shining, and yet it is still probably daytime.  See
for more on this topic.
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