British Council Global Changemakers with Clinton Global Initiative University conference director Keisha Senter Photograph: British Council Global Changemakers

Last week I, along with four other British Council Global Changemakers (from the UK, Armenia, Palestinian Territories, South Africa, and Sweden), attended the third annual Clinton Global Initiative University (GCIU) held at the University of Miami in the somewhat sunny state of Florida (although we didn’t really see much of that sun what with the rain).

The conference itself brought together over 1,200 students. However, we Changemakers were the only international delegation.

Whilst we were there, we met with former US President Bill Clinton whose main message was that ‘the key to success is PASSION’.  

We presented him with one of our T-shirts and had an interesting conversation about climate change. This was a prelude to conversations we had with the actress Heather Graham,  Pharrell Williams,  Dr Regina Benjamin,  Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Kalpen Modi (Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement).

I definitely took a lot of knowledge away from the plenary and skills sessions and I’m now working on how I can implement these tools.  It was also great to connect with other young people whom I shall be staying in touch with and continuing to share best practices and ideas with.

CGIU was an unforgettable experience and one that will stay with me and the other four Changemakers for a long time to come. We’re thankful to have been given this opportunity by the British Council.

As we return home to our respective countries we are better equipped to continue to do what we’re passionate about – creating CHANGE!

Scott Forbes is a UK Global Changemaker. To find out more about the programme visit http://www.global-changemakers.net