This post is part of a series of essays I will be posting.

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

As far back as I can remember, the thrill of learning has excited me. To gain new insight, to take two juxtaposed concepts and fuse them into one, to discover what had been previously unknown to me (and then to share it!)–these are the pleasures I seek. At the same time, I am fascinated by how so many people do not seek knowledge.

Early on, I found joy in learning. I can clearly remember, for instance, in the first hours after I learned to read, ecstatically gazing from the car window at shapes that suddenly had further meaning. Now I had the skill I needed to begin my journeys in earnest.

With the new millennium, I became a news junkie. I followed science, technology, business, and world news daily from that point forward. I discovered Tom Clancy novels, finishing the whole series within a year. I began to read national and international newspapers with my parents and discuss articles, first for content, then for criticism. I relished my new perspectives on the world.

Over time, I became more interested in technology. I would spend hours on the web, learning ever more about how our modern world works. At first, my interest stemmed from curiosity; as I matured, my interest evolved into a quest to discover how all the new things I was learning could be utilized.

In 2003, I discovered my artistic media–digital video, audio, and image–and started my video production business, PAMI Productions, to capitalize upon my technical interests and hone my skills. PAMI has been the commercial outlet for the application of much of the technical knowledge I have collected.

Over the next few years, I invested time in better understanding how I could create useful web-based tools. In 2005, I conceptualized and then designed with my high school’s student government an online hub for clubs and student groups to organize their activities. In 2006, I launched EmeryCentral.com. The site has only seen moderate success, but the lessons I learned in managing and marketing the project and building the system, not to mention the services it has provided for student leaders to manage their clubs, have been invaluable.

In spring 2008, I started working on my next web application, a tool that would put the power of users to work collecting data to help economists calculate the amount of carbon used in food and product life-cycles.

In fall 2008, I began exploring the potential use of wikis (collaboratively editable websites such as Wikipedia) to preserve the institutional memory of groups in which I am active, such as my high school’s student government and the local chapter of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, the Jewish youth group in which I am active. A recurring problem has been how to best preserve the mountains of work put into planning events and projects, as well as the evaluations of their success, for those that follow. Collaborative, open wikis seem to be a compelling solution.

As a result of these experiences, I discovered in myself a passion for applying my abstract interests and technical skills to everyday problems faced by the communities of which I am a part. It is my curiosity that drives me to learn so that I can create. To me, it is natural and exciting to stitch together technology and my management and leadership roles to build more productive organizations.

An all too common behavior that confounds me is not seeking out knowledge, whether in daily life or outside of school. I cannot understand why some do not search for knowledge, why some are not curious, when there is so much to be gained. To inspire others to learn and to educate, I organized mock presidential and vice-presidential debates and elections for the primaries and the general election. I started blogging in 2008 and focused on writing educational, yet accessible posts. Ultimately, I aim to utilize and share my knowledge to improve the communities of which I am a part.

Whenever another person teaches me, I feel compelled to pass it along. I love sharing what I know for others’ benefit. Along these lines, I spent years in Scouting focusing not only on advancing in rank, but on educating younger Scouts in the skills that older members had taught me just a few years before. In giving back to the Scout troop, I hope to repay my debt to those who did so much in helping me earn the Eagle Scout Award. As I continue as an adult leader in Boy Scouts, I hope to inspire a desire for learning in others.

My love of learning is what has directed all the activities I have pursued, and it is part of why I look forward to school each day. My transition from consuming to applying, creating, and sharing knowledge has been enjoyable and fascinating. Learning how to learn has been the most important skill that I have worked to master. My pursuit of knowledge, along with the goal of sharing it with others, makes every day brighter. To that end, I intend to continue seeking out ways to improve organizations and effectively leverage the potentials of the amazing technology of our time.

From Adam Feldman's blog, blog.pamiproductions.com.

This post is part of a series of essays I will be posting.

In the summer of 2007 I attended an international B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (a Jewish youth group) three-week summer experience called Kallah. Kallah focused on learning about the vast spectrum of Jewish thought, ritual, culture, and Judaism’s perspective on modern issues. In attendance was a wide array of Jewish teenagers from all over the U.S., and a few from Bulgaria. As a part of that experience, we participated in an exchange program with a nearby Orthodox Jewish camp, Camp Morasha.

My expectations for the first part of the program, their visit to our camp, were very low. I anticipated a boring evening where the culture gap would prevent much interaction. I was pleasantly surprised at how great the evening went–everyone had a good time, and everyone gained something from the discussions that, while focusing on our differences, also highlighted our similarities. These were also your mostly typical American teenagers.

The next evening we visited their camp. I still consider that night to be one of the most eye-opening nights of my life. We arrived after dinner and joined them for live music and dancing, albeit with men and women separated as per Orthodox tradition. The dancing that night, dancing that was closer to sprinting around the room for fifteen minutes at a time playing crack the whip, dancing where it was okay to let yourself go and be consumed by the energy of the room, dancing that demonstrated such a passion for life, this was the way to celebrate living!

From that evening, I gained an even greater respect for traditional Orthodox customs. Yes, when a typical group of teenage boys decides to dance to techno, they will be wild and have fraternal fun. It does not, however, even approximate the experience that we had at Morasha. Separating the men and the women can make for an amazing time like it did for us that night. It can remove the awkward atmosphere of men and women dancing and reduce it to a simple night of fun. The experience enlightened me to the parts of Orthodox culture that, while superficially may seem outdated and very conservative, actually arise from a very cognizant understanding of human behavior very deserving of respect.

Contributing to diversity are my array of technical creative skills, my experience in Boy Scouts, and my love of learning. I bring to the table experience in videography, video editing, graphic design, DVD production, web design and development. In Scouting, I am one of the few to earn Eagle Scout. My love of learning is what has shaped everything I do, from choosing to participate in Scouting to spending an hour reading world, science, and technology news daily for almost the past decade.

Diversity makes for much more interesting and engaging learning.

From Adam Feldman's blog, blog.pamiproductions.com.