Educating the world about energy generation and building power stations
While at San Diego State University (SDSU), William Hackett served in the United States Army ROTC as a Cadet Company Commander, training, leading and organizing forty future Army officers. “Conflict drives every aspect of life from evolution to war,” William says. It compels advancement and regression, construction and destruction. It doesn’t stop at the borders of a battlefield but spreads throughout the world. Deeply affected by the extensive American and foreign losses sustained during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the way the conflict spread throughout the world, William hopes to address the problem of energy production as one of the main issues that can lead to war, and thereby bend conflict into positive outcomes.
He is finishing his education at San Diego State University and is about to become a mechanical engineer with another degree in political science. A member of the Associated Engineer Student Council, he served as a designated Researcher, and was later elected executive vice-president. William was awarded a full scholarship from the SDSU Language Acquisition Research Center (LARC) for an intensive one-year equivalent Russian language program, and the following summer a second LARC scholarship for another intensive program to study the Arabic language. A third scholarship through SDSU Associated Students enabled academic study abroad in 2013 followed by a Phi Kappa Psi Academic Scholarship in 2015.
In addition to his strong academics, his skills as a leader will undoubtedly prove vital to the success of his future endeavors. “Leadership has always come easily for me,” he says of his ROTC and other experiences. “In nearly all group projects, I have either volunteered to lead or have been elected to lead groups”—projects like flame propagation in microgravity through NASA BASS II. For his mechanical engineering senior design project, William was chosen team leader. He learned to keep his team on track for completion while ensuring the highest of quality control. He also found it extremely gratifying to teach and help others understand the required concepts. “To know that because of my own doing, another human has learned something brings me much joy,” he says.
William has enjoyed meeting young future leaders from other countries, exploring different ways of thinking, and learning about social entrepreneurship at HSI, and aims to use his new skills and understanding to create his own business and organization. What he most wants is “to educate developing nations in the creation of power and energy generation stations as well as power generation itself.” HSI has “positively enhanced my life and my career goals,” he says, referring to his own future business and the possibility of starting an NGO. He feels more confident to “take the first steps in creating my own organization. As a social entrepreneur, I aim to advance other nations and communities, ultimately affecting the world in a positive way.”