Written by Tucker Smith
First-year Eyner Roman-Lopez has been named a Future Global Leader. He was designated this fellowship by the Future Leaders Foundation, who award a mere twenty fellowships per year to “exceptional first-generation college students.”
The fellowship is an accelerator for top college students who want to become members of the Fortis Society.
“This internationally competitive three-year Fellowship provides top quality programming to aspiring leaders worldwide who will, upon completion of their fellowship, be inducted into the Fortis Society—the world’s first private network of diverse leaders committed to one another’s success and to a better world,” according to the CC website.
The Future Leaders Foundation was founded by Jean Karoubi, who is a renowned philanthropist. He maintained the philosophy “that leaders are the main actors of change and that talented underserved youth must have equal opportunity to reach the highest possible level of leadership on a global scale, being the ones who would be best suited to implement positive change for a better world.”
That philosophy remains the core of the Future Leaders Foundation and is how the staff selects the students who receive fellowships, like Roman-Lopez.
Roman-Lopez grew up in a small district outside of Lima, Peru and traveled to a multitude of countries and engaged in various international organizations before arriving to CC. He spent time in Peru, Singapore, and the Philippines before deciding to take a break from cities and spend time in the Coloradan wilderness.
Similar to how many of us uncover information in this technological age, Roman-Lopez discovered the Future Leaders Foundation through Skyping with a friend and through Facebook. His friend is a current fellow of the Foundation and fellow Peruvian who went to the international UWC South East Asia School in Singapore with Roman-Lopez.
Roman-Lopez said he was interested in the fellowship because it “offers help to fellows while in college and provides tools and guidance to become more professional. Additionally, it offers internships from professionals in a variety of fields.”
On their website, the Foundation writes that successful candidates of their fellowship include characteristics of, “resilience, guts, limitless global ambition, and commitment to empowering other fellows.” Roman-Lopez exhibits these winning characteristics through his international experience and passion for involvement within those circles. His educational experiences were part of a cultural exchange and, Roman-Lopez said, “always tried to be part of programs that include diversity.”
Roman-Lopez is currently studying architecture at CC and is interested in exploring political science in his future blocks. He said he has an interest in “being involved in how societies interact with architecture.”
Roman-Lopez is excited that the Foundation will help him cultivate this interest and “create a network with other fellows around the world.”