Reflection: Altamash Toor

Contrary to popular belief, the power to make change does not only belong to policy makers. Through Project Citizen, I was able to learn this idea and use it to my advantage. Your voice can be heard, but what I learned is that communication is most important when trying to voice your opinion. Reaching out to policy makers and talking with individuals who are educated on the topic is a great way to become more involved in the field of your interest. This is what our group did during Project Citizen. Truly understanding the problem built a passion within me to help solve it. After hours of extensive research, our group was able to formulate an amazing response to such a difficult problem. Throughout this process I have learned about the impact an individual can have, and the main idea I have taken away from this is that no problem is out of reach and everyone has the ability to change the world.

The idea of educational inequity was very interesting to me because I grew up in Basking Ridge which has a very good education system. Learning about how education can vastly differ from the quality of education in our school district was interesting as well as disturbing. Fighting for a cause that would decreases the gap between school districts is something I wholeheartedly believe in. Having the opportunity to work with so many educated people has been such a valuable experience. The knowledge I have gained has allowed me to broaden my horizons and learn about other parts of the country. This project has made me a more sympathetic and knowledgeable person, thus I am more grateful for the opportunities that I have been given.