We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits · We Are For Good

686. Learn, Serve, Explore: How Students of Service Is Shaping the Next Generation of Global Leaders - Amir Samandi

·24 min·1 clip

Amir raised $2,000 on GoFundMe in four days and launched Students of Service.

1. We Are For Good Podcast features Amir Samandi and Students of Service, or SOS, a San Antonio nonprofit built around Learn, Serve, Explore. 2. Amir Samandi is the founder and executive director, and Becky Endicott and John lead the interview because his work connects youth development, service, and travel. 3. The episode asks how a study-abroad experience became a nonprofit model for helping young people become global citizens. 4. Amir says his father is Persian-Iranian and his mother is Mexican-American from the Rio Grande Valley. 5. He describes growing up between Houston and the Rio Grande Valley before moving to San Antonio for St. Mary's University. 6. A flyer advertising study abroad in London at St. Mary's University introduced him to international travel for the first time. 7. Amir says that London trip changed how he saw the world and how he saw himself. 8. He names his roommate in London, Dr. Lawrence Scott, as a close friend who is still in his life. 9. After St. Mary's, Amir worked at the State Department, completed a master's degree at George Washington University's Elliott School, and then returned to San Antonio. 10. He says the idea for SOS came from wanting more Americans to see the world through community service and travel abroad. 11. A sixth-grade geography class in a low-income, 87% Latino school pushed the idea into action when a student asked about the Eiffel Tower and said, "I'll never go." 12. Amir says the principal told him a school trip could not happen under district rules but that a nonprofit could make it possible. 13. He raised the $2,000 startup cost on GoFundMe in his kitchen in four days. 14. Amir says SOS has now taken more than 600 travelers to 22 countries and served over 100,000 hours in San Antonio. 15. He explains that alumni now serve on the board, including Christian Valerio, Hannah Jones, and Julian Matthews. 16. Christian Valerio went on a China trip in 2016, later earned a full ride to Notre Dame University, and now serves as vice chair of the board as an actuary. 17. Amir says SOS runs 10 to 15 service events a month and depends on adult volunteers, corporate partners, teachers, and parents. 18. He says he worked eight years as a volunteer executive director and did not go full time until January 2023. 19. The conversation is interview-driven and reflective, with Becky and John pressing for concrete stories, numbers, and operating lessons. 20. Listeners focused on youth leadership, nonprofit scaling, or experiential education will get the most from this episode. 21. Listeners wanting celebrity interviews or entertainment-first conversation may skip it. 22. Amir says their team uses two decision rules: "Is this good for kids?" and "Is it sustainable?" 23. He argues that young people are the antidote to cynicism because they are not limited by adult assumptions. 24. A Make It Happen project led by Tiana during the Flint water crisis shows how students can organize around a distant problem. 25. Amir says a young person in San Antonio can learn to care for people in Flint, Michigan, and that mindset also mattered after the Hill Country floods. 26. He says courage is "acting despite the fear" and that donations of five or ten dollars and kind words helped keep him going. 27. Amir's one good thing is to elevate others so they can live their goals and become their best selves. 28. He closes by saying that better communities come from more empathy, more connectivity, and more people living their best lives.

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