“The Journey: from strong passion to future space leadership”  
   by Mr. Zimichael Damtew Gebeyehu

               “Be the change agents”, a quote from my instructors at the UN Junior Ambassador 2018 summer program, guides my endeavors to take initiatives and help others to reach a common good. When I was ten years old, watching the Apollo 11 documentary ignited a well-fortified passion for space travel and rockets. That moment gave me the ultimate purpose to contribute to mankind’s efforts to explore outer space by advancing rocket technology.  

              To upheld this passion, I started to sketch my own spacecraft designs and engines. I was fifth grader when my general science teacher advised me to join the elite scientific society: The Ethiopian Space Science Society, a community which fostered my passion for space travel. On the first day I joined, the society gave me the chance to present my own design of a “Spy UFO spacecraft”, which at that time I was engrossed with ufology. I was really obsessed with new technologies and speculations about UFO’s flight systems. I even had a “UFO” as a nick at 5^thgrade due the fact that I presented my own articles about UFO’s at class presentation and morning sessions. My presentation at the 5^th General Assembly of the Ethiopian Space Science Society opened a new window for my space science career to grow. From that day, I am a prominent member of the Ethiopian Space Science Society and presented more than 13 researches in aerospace engineering and propulsion for the past 9 years. My reputation and involvement on community outreach activities at the society led me to win The Youth Leadership Award, which is organized by the World Organization for Sustainable Development (WOSL) in collaboration with the Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS). The award enabled me to be part of an intensive research summer program at Claremont Graduate University in CA, USA as UN Junior Ambassador for Sustainable Development. The program changed my whole career to professional level. With multidisciplinary lectures focusing on implementing UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), I got the opportunity to work on goal #9: Innovation, Industry, and Infrastructure. The independence nature of the program enabled me to connect the SDGs to space exploration and elimination of space debris in the end. 

               After the summer program, I continued my work in spreading the voice of the SDGs and the importance of space science in fulfilling those goals. Through this leadership program and my success at the Ethiopian Space Science Society, I was honored to be the Youth Space Ambassador, promoting and creating awareness about the uses of space science in my country. In conjunction with the responsibilities as a UN Junior Ambassador for Sustainable Development, I have been giving public lectures about my research on SDGs and the importance of space exploration to achieve those goals. I have travelled to universities outside the capital, Addis Ababa, and presented research experience on the SDGs and the significance of space exploration to students in the countryside. The UN Junior Ambassador program taught me teamwork and success can be easily achieved through collaboration and partnership. I used this principle to engage the youth in space activities, because I believe that the overall contribution of the youth in space science is crucial to support our space program. I have been able to bring the leadership skills I got form UN Junior Ambassador Program to my internship at ESSS. Overall, the UN Junior Ambassador program is a life changing experience that widened the glasses I used to view the world, and it gave me hope and fortitude to strive and solve global problem. After all, we, the youth are the change agents and future leaders that the world has been waiting for.