ACCESS 3/52: To me, Open Dreams was my own school | Triumph Kia Teh
- Open Dreams
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In 2021, someone asked me, "Triumph, shouldn't you be in school?"
I was at Open Dreams in Yaoundé. 3rd gap year. No tuition money. But I showed up every day like it was campus.
I didn't know the difference between "school" and what I was building. To me, Open Dreams Educational NGO was my school.
That confusion saved my application three years later.
Every session at Open Dreams I took notes. Essay workshops. Virtual mentor calls. U.S. Embassy visits. Detailed notes.
Not because I thought I'd need them for college. Because I was internally displaced and writing things down made me feel like I was building toward something.
Mr. James Akaba, the Country Director, started asking me for meeting notes after sessions. He'd turn them into blog posts. I started collecting certificates for every workshop I attended or helped organize.
By 2022, I had a Google Drive folder I didn't know I was building. Community outreach photos. Volunteering records. Leadership training certificates. Public speaking session notes.
I wasn't preparing for admissions. I was keeping track of my own learning because no one else was going to do it for me.
Here's what I'm realizing in 2026. College applications aren't asking for more proof because they don't trust you. They're asking because impact is specific.
- "I helped my community" tells them nothing about how you think.
- "I organized 12 solar energy workshops serving 100 students, tracked attendance, and used feedback to design the next training cycle" shows how you work.
The difference isn't exaggeration. It's documentation.
If you're building something right now, you already have proof. Leading a club. Organizing events. Tutoring students. Running a project. It's in your phone. Your emails. Your group chats.
You just haven't organized it yet.
One folder. Title it whatever you want. Every time you do something worth remembering, drop one file in there. A photo. A note. A certificate. A screenshot of someone saying thank you.
Not for colleges. For yourself.
So, when someone asks what you've been doing, you don't have to reconstruct it from memory.
I didn't know I was preparing for Dartmouth College when I saved those notes from 2019 to 2022.
I was just trying to prove to myself I wasn't wasting time.
The folder became my application.
If you're building something right now but not documenting it, comment on one thing you would do now to start.
Tomorrow at 9:00 AM EST: EXCELLENCE 3/52 🚪
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