Global Event Reflections
Climate Strike
The first global event I ever attended at fountain valley was a memorable one. In mid-september 2019, my sophomore year, I participated in the downtown colorado springs climate strike. Before the event, many of us students prepared by making big colorful signs and protesting posters. When we got there the turnout was shocking to me. There must have been thousands of people, marching the climate strike’s course. For a while we marched, taking turns passionately chanting shared messages, and proudly holding our hand-crafted signs. Then most participants gathered in an area where we listened to a set of speeches. There were presentations from people of all ages, with diverse stories and backgrounds, and a multitude of different inspiring speeches. Most impressive was listening to one of my peers at Fountain Valley get up and give her own speech. It was inspiring firstly to see this diverse set of people come together with the common goal of synergistically and collaboratively fighting to preserve our planet, and secondly, to visibly see the impact of someone my age and the power of her speech ripple through the crowd. I have always been passionate about doing my part to save the natural environment, and hope to maybe make a career out of it hand in hand with my love for biology. However, frequently I feel powerless in my actions, feeling like the little changes I make in my everyday life are meaningless in comparison to huge monopolizing corporations with giant ecological footprints. However, seeing this plethora of people who truly care, opened my eyes to the fact that everyone's actions do have results. It gave me hope in continuing my efforts to be more sustainable, ecologically friendly, and not fall into the trends of mass consumerism, seeing like-minded people with these same goals. All though one person turning off the lights after leaving a room may not do much to save electricity, one thousand people doing the same most certainly will.
2. TEDx Women :
In early December I attended the TEDx event in Manitou Springs about Women. It was overall an amazing afternoon of workshops that I felt lucky to have experienced. The event started with a young woman singing Alicia Key’s “Girl On Fire”, followed by a powerful feminist poet. The poet shared with us her words artistically representing the shared experiences of blatant sexism, over-sexualization, and unrealistic expectations of women. Next, we listened to a speaker talking about her experience being homeless and living in her car. Her story took place right after graduating with a P.H.D and many large academic achievements. It was an inspiring story of hitting rock bottom even when the world thought you were at your peak and having resiliency throughout. Next, there was a presenter who talked about finding your passion and not wasting your time in a profession that didn’t bring joy to your life. She offered a lot of helpful insight on how to pursue a “passion” career, especially with college and life decisions approaching. The last speaker told her emotional story of her husband and son committing suicide and how she still has discovered how to cherish life and find beauty in little things. After, a bunch of women shared a lot of deeply personal stories surrounding the loss of loved ones. Although at the beginning of the workshop I was skeptical if we were going to talk about anything important, by the end everyone in the room was in tears. It was a truly beautiful and connecting experience. There were women from around the world, all of the different ethnicity, culture, sexuality, and religions, coming together on the common goal of female empowerment and overcoming personal battles. To close the workshop we experience a “sound bath” in which an elderly couple performed a musical playing of different noise-making bowls, which was a very calming end.
3. Bipartisanship in Foreign Policy
4. High school Symposium
On September 23rd, 2021, with my fellow global scholar candidates, I attended the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council High School Symposium. The theme of this year’s symposium was “Never Again? Can Your Generation End Genocide? A bunch of students from high schools all over the springs came and participated in the event. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in the whole or part of an ethnic, racial, religious, or racial group, a definition that we learned sometimes gets miscommunicated. Although a lot of mass killings while extremely tragic, shouldn’t be mislabeled as genocide if it doesn’t fit that description because it takes away from the devastation and impact for events that count as a true genocide. We were educated on a lot more about the specifics of genocide such as how widespread the problem of genocide is, why and how genocides happen, how societies recover from genocides, and the hidden genocides a lot of U.S. History likes to purposefully sweep under the rug. We listened to three pannelists John Riley, Roz Duman, and Dafna Michaelson Jenet, each of who had really informative and eye-opening information to share. I was honestly shocked at how little I knew about genocide’s especially ones that have happened in the U.S. not very long ago. Additionally, I appreciated how encouraging they all were in the impact of our generation. We were encouraged to get involved by staying educated, contacting the media, communicating with the government, and engaging within our own communities, and how all of these efforts have a larger impact than we may realize.
This event was also eye-opening in a vastly different way than just the education on genocide. At Fountain Valley, the majority of the student body and all people on campus are very open-minded, progressive, and have strong productive communication skills when encountering differing viewpoints, beliefs, ideas, etc. At this symposium during the question section, there were a few students who did not embody this open-mindedness and kindness I am used to. One girl started yelling at one of the guest speakers claiming that it was wrong for her to assume that all countries want to solve genocide, and when the speaker tried to explain the problematic nature of her question, the questioner interrupted her and proceeded to yell again. It was a bit of a culture shock and a reminder of the difficulty to make a social change sometimes when people lack a lot of respect and open-mindedness. However, overall, I was really glad to attend this event as I became more aware and educated on an extremely crucial issue and was reminded of how grateful I am for the communication and open-mindedness skills I have learned from my environment.
5. Chasing Coral
Chasing Coral is a Netflix documentary made in 2017 that shows the evolution of coral reefs from over 30 countries around the world over the course of three and a half years. Most importantly, it tells the story of coral bleaching through the drastic comparisons of the ecosystems first bursting with vibrancy and life, later barren and white within a short period of time. The movie first scientifically educates about coral reef composition, and how it is a keystone species. More than just vivid formations or coral and dramatic fish, these reefs are a crucial habitat to millions of different aquatic species. However, as they turn lifeless, bleached, and inanimate, all with it comes with the millions of creatures dependent on it. I also learned the importance of reefs other than just the obvious ecosystem and oceanic habitat, but that many coral reef plants and animals are crucial sources in a lot of newfound medications being developed that treat a variety of diseases such as cancer, arthritis, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. It was heartbreaking to see this team of photographers and scientists all of who are clearly passionate about preserving underwater biodiversity watch the beloved reef disappear so rapidly. It was honestly very moving, especially considering my own fascination with marine life. I’ve had a few opportunities to snorkel in different parts of the world and absolutely fell in love with the intricacy and beautiful symbiosis that coral reefs possess. I always knew that the coral reefs were dying but I didn’t know the urgency of this dire situation. The first time I watched this film it was actually the reason why I started the Marine Biology club. Taking a bit of action locally just to raise awareness and educate my peers on our dying reefs reminded me of how many people care about our global climate when actually educated. I got to lead unique opportunities like teaching a shark dissection to a class and discussing ways in which we can synergistically collaborate to mitigate the negative effects climate change has on coral reefs. Overall, although this was a tough documentary to watch, it definitely continued my love for marine life and inspired me to help spark a passion for coral reefs in other people as well.
6. My Octopus teacher
The documentary My Octopus Teacher features Craig Foster a man who returned to his childhood home of Simon’s Town in Cape Peninsula and befriends a curious little octopus. Craig was feeling numb in life, unsatisfied with his job, and absent in his relationships. He began diving bright and early every morning in the freezing ocean waters. One day in his dives he discovered a friendly wild octopus that captured his attention. He started coming back to the same spot every day to visit his little friend, and over time developed this beautiful relationship between a human being and a wild octopus. The octopus would come up to greet him every day, climbing up on to his stomach giving him hugs, clearly just as curious about the human than the human of the octopus. Craig studied her behavior, watched her complex hunting tactics, and watched her nurse herself back to health after a near-deadly shark attack. She was smart and an emotionally intelligent creature. But after a full year of visiting the octopus, she met a mate and became pregnant. However, octopus females are semelparous meaning they reproduce only once in their life and die right around the time their eggs hatch. Although Craig’s time with his octopus friend was over, their relationship had a huge impact on his life. It pulled him out of a dark place and allowed him to open up and bond with his son, who too became a diver. Now the father and son explored the shallow kelp forests on the Cape Peninsula together, and work on the Sea Change Project that Craig founded to protect the biodiversity of the ocean. This story was so touching to me as someone who has always had a strong relationship with animals. Two summers ago I fostered two adorable little ducklings. They were fascinating little creatures that taught me so much about responsibility and caring for another living being, patience, empathy, and love. I really resonated with this story because I had shared such a similar bond with my ducklings. And although I had to give them back to the farm, I will never forget the impact they had on my life and bond I never suspected was possible with an animal, similar to Craig and his octopus teacher.