KNOW BETTER

" Turning truth into power, starts with what you KNOW." - Bill Clinton ********** A social movement for engaging ideas. Because we're no better, until we know better.

[fddsknowbetter]

Diego Aleman: A name synonymous with "role model"

Being fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to attend school on a full ride scholarship at a prestigious institution such as American University, with the support of the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars, a strong and select group of students I am both intimidated and proud to call my peers, mentors and friends, has given me a fantastic chance to reflect on what I stand for and what I want to do with this unique college experience. I remain in a constant state of awe at this fantastic opportunity, and it forces me to question what it is that I accomplished to place myself in a position to represent Frederick Douglass by being a recipient of a scholarship dedicated to him, his work, and his values.

In my high school career, I was a member of Mestizo Arts and Activism (MAA), a leadership and think-tank group that prepares youth to conduct research on issues affecting the predominantly Latino/a communities of Salt Lake City. Since joining MAA three years ago, I have assisted in the maintenance of a website engineered to inform undocumented students about their options for applying to college, written for a Chicano/a community newspaper surrounding issues of systemic racism, and given numerous presentations on a variety of social justice issues.

None of these projects have come without dedication to the innovative ideas and creative process and are often infuriating and frustrating. This work, while difficult at times, has shaped a sense of purpose within me, a burning passion, which is only enflamed further by obstacles, that makes me want to be known as someone who fought tirelessly to give back to his community and had an impact, whether that impact is big or small. Through my collaborations with my peers and my community members, I learned to acknowledge the ways I am privileged as a U.S born, light-skinned son of college-educated and professional parents. I had to build bonds of solidarity across the differences and similarities with students who share my racial identity but also have different levels of privileges and disadvantages in terms of socioeconomic status. The critical awareness, knowledge, and experience that I gained each week from continually self-reflecting, have had a profound impact on my character. Beyond that, I worked to affect the lives of many students by sharing my own story, spreading knowledge and presenting the MAA model of teaching through multimedia productions.

This work has inspired me to continue engage with kids from marginalized communities, in order to help them understand what challenges they face and how they can do something to better themselves. It is the greatest hope of many of the mentors that we will reach a point where MAA can be integrated an official classroom, and eventually, in the distant future, an entire school. As someone who grew into his own under the guidance of this rather unique teaching model, and as someone who helped shape it in my later years, these goals of projecting the MAA model on to a larger scale are extremely important to me. Therefore, I hope to continue with work similar to that of MAA throughout the rest of my life, working in my community to fight issues of systematic injustice and empowering young adults to take charge of issues that are personal to them. Ultimately, I hope to empower them to give back, further the community that has given so much to them and to me.

It is my desire to be remembered as someone who strived to give back to the community that built me up, based on the values that MAA instilled within me. I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference and actually impacted the lives of youth in my community, just like the projects that I worked on in MAA, but on a larger scale. I want my name to be synonymous with “role model,” “community leader,” and “critical problem solver.” All of these skills had were seeded in my experience within MAA, and, it is my sincere hope that with the values of Frederick Douglass guiding me, I can grow these skills so that I can leave that legacy. I am also convinced that without MAA, I would not have been prepared to receive this scholarship nor would I have any sense of confidence in working in a program that bears the name of Frederick Douglass.

With this generous gift comes a great sense of responsibility, to uphold the values of Frederick Douglass, but, while the prospect may seem daunting, I can honestly say that I am extremely excited and passionate to leave my legacy and build from the values of Frederick Douglass and this program.

[fddsknowbetter]

David Curtiss an Initiator of Change

        I firmly believe that no matter how advanced humanity progresses in realms of technology, philosophy, society and all of the many other facets we hold dearly, our work and efforts will always be undermined by our lack of awareness and empathy for others. When I was young, I did not always see life in such a selfless way, but was rather consumed with living in a world where I was the main subject. But in 2012, my life was forever changed; I was invited to go to Uganda. Many would describe a summer trip to Africa as one filled with excitement and adventure, but I am sadly not among that group. My visit to Uganda was nothing short of nightmarish. Witnessing hundreds of individuals helpless to the suffering of HIV/AIDS, mourning mothers who hovered over lifeless infants in their arms, and being berated by crowds of street- orphans who cried for someone to feed them were a few of the many things that haunted me while in Uganda. Why hadn’t anyone told me this side of the story before? I could not understand how one could travel to such a beautiful place and see such unspeakable pain, but only remark on the beauty.

         When I returned home from Uganda, I had decided that I was not to be one of those people. I began valiantly searching for a cause to support or a fight to join, but I soon realized that I needed to be the initiator of the change I now desired more than anything to see. From this place of passion, Building Hope Project was created. Building Hope Project is an organization and student sponsorship that sends disadvantaged youth in Uganda to Primary School, the biggest stop-out portion of the Ugandan education system. Building Hope Project ensures that each sponsored child not only attends but finishes their primary education debt-free: tuition, uniform, school materials, and meal fees are all covered within the sponsorship package. We currently sponsor over 45 school children each year, and at the end of our last academic year, Building Hope Project successfully graduated 12 students who are all pursuing further education. These youth represent the most marginalized students in their school and their communities. Many of them are orphans who are living without both of their parents, and some are even a part of the HIV/AIDS community. Without Building Hope Project, these youth would be unable to afford the fees required for their schooling and would be subjected to the brutal survival practices of the street community: such as prostitution, drug involvement, gang violence, and human trafficking. Building Hope Project empowers youth with seemingly insurmountable circumstances to aspire and ultimately achieve greatness.

         Too often people tend to use the word “dream” to describe their feelings toward whatever it may be that they want. But to see a world completely free of poverty and injustice, I must fuel my goals with a more active approach to change. The only dreams that have ever changed the world are the ones that refused to stay a dream. I believe that Building Hope Project will only be the gateway to what will be accomplished through my life for the world. I will use my life to radically change the disposition of our world’s developing countries; specifically in the areas of youth intervention, mental health, and human rights law. I believe these three pinnacle areas are among the few that are often overlooked in the area of development and lead to many of the perpetual cycles that nations become engaged in. Instead of combating effects, I want to dismantle causes.  I want to bring restitution to the individuals and communities who have been oppressed by exploitive and subjugating institutions. I want to shift the paradigm of the “industry of development” by engaging impoverished groups to not be wealth-pursuers, but wealth producers. When that becomes accomplished, people can be efficient in a way that is inevitably sustainable.

         When I think of legacy, there are two people that instantly come to my mind. The first is Lou Dantzler. His name is not known by most, but because of him there are thousands of at-risk children who will live that were destined to be lost. Lou Dantzler chartered one of the first Boys And Girls Club in Los Angeles, and has helped and healed thousands of vulnerable children. The second person that comes to my mind is Ertharin Cousin, a notable figure in international development. Ertharin Cousin was responsible for feeding over ninety seven million people in the year of 2013 alone; she serves as the chief Programme Director for the United Nations World Food Program. Although these people may not be known widely, they are known deeply. It is through their work that the very fabric of the world has been altered. I want to be remembered in that way. I do not hold the answers to how to solve the pressing and complex issues of our world, and I do not pretend to do so. However, I know that through the education and resources provided to me through the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars program, there is nothing I can’t accomplish. I want to be remembered in a way where not only what I have done precedes who I am, but my life makes such a profound impact that what I have done and who I am are inseparably the same. 

[fddsknowbetter]

Nathnael Bulcho: Serving Through Business

My passion for the underserved began on one of my many trips to my homeland of Ethiopia. The summer after 7th grade, my birthday was coming up, and for once I simply could not think of something that I really wanted. A Nintendo Wii sounded nice, but for some reason the fact that it was a “want” and not a “need” deeply weighed on me. With that in mind, I began to think of a creative way in which to spend my birthday money. My family was traveling to Ethiopia and I resolved to cash out the money that would have gone towards the Wii and simply give it to those that were needy in Ethiopia. At first, I was simply content with the impact I had on those I gave to in Ethiopia, but as I reflect on it now, I realize that this impromptu service to the underprivileged was the first event towards me understanding my future career path. Looking at it now, it is not the money that made all the difference to the needy I met; it was the emotional connection –that someone completely random was willing and eager to help them. I relish that feeling, and my drive to help the underprivileged stems from the deep bond I hope to develop with those I impact.  It is this same feeling that led me to volunteer with LIFT-DC during the spring semester of my Freshman year, as I was able to work with Ethiopian immigrants in the DC area, as they transitioned into life in the United States. I can vividly remember the relief on their faces when they realized that they could speak to me in their native tongue of Amharic, as they would no longer have to struggle to describe what it was that they truly needed help with. I feel blessed to have had these opportunities and am excited to continue my career in public service as I move forward.

  As I grew older I began to focus my career path, and I now realize that the best way for me to make a sustainable difference in marginalized communities is through the realm of business. I am currently majoring in Finance and hope to pair that with a specialization in International Development as well, so that I am best suited to tackle the issues prevalent in marginalized communities. My dream is to become a successful investor, and hopefully develop sustainable businesses in underdeveloped areas. I also have an interest in entrepreneurship and would love to establish organizations that put people in the poorest of communities to work, helping them, and in turn growing their local economy. My passion for business is only rivaled by one thing—sports. While many see the glitz and glamour of sports as a pathway towards a lavish lifestyle, I see it also as being an amazing platform to advocate for some of the biggest issues worldwide. If I were able to combine my passion for sports and utilize its amazing platform to bring attention to important causes in the poorest of communities, I would have achieved my ultimate dream. To this end, I will welcome and work towards possibly working for a professional sports franchise or league headquarters in the hopes of having a larger, more meaningful impact on communities that let alone play sports, do no even have the bare necessities to survive.

My motto is to love God, love people, and love life. When I grow old and have time to reflect on the events of my life, I can only pray that I have stayed true to my core beliefs. I would like to be remembered as a family man, who treated all around him with respect, was a joy to be around, and was a tenacious advocate for the oppressed and downtrodden. I want my life to serve as a reminder to others that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive, and that in helping others, we ensure blessings for ourselves as well.  In my heart I know that there will always be someone else hurting and in need of help, and my hope is not only that I am able to impact others, but that I can mobilize those around me to do the same, thereby creating a larger network of change makers for the good of the marginalized.  Ultimately, I hope to be remembered as someone who not only brought hope to the underprivileged, but also taught them how to give back and maintain the cycle of selflessness.  I hope to embody a virtuous life and look back and say that I put God first, loved others, cared for the underprivileged, and was able to spread my passion towards a larger network of change makers.  

[fddsknowbetter]

Eric Vignola, Inspiring Through Tech

I believe that the best way to help marginalized communities is not only by lending a helping hand, but also empowering these communities to help themselves.  Although the phrase about teaching a man to fish may be old, I believe it still rings true and I try to embody those values with my work.  I recently worked as a teacher at a non-profit called Fotosynthesis, where I taught a class at the charter school Ideal Academy.  During the active learning sessions I led, I taught the students how to operate a camera and tell a story through images.  The class focused on cross-cultural communications and dispelling myths about other cultures through photography.

Throughout the class I encouraged the students to be creative and seek answers for themselves. At first the students did not take many risks with their photography, but as time went on the pictures they submitted became more imaginative and personal.  The pictures that I remember most were not the pictures that looked the best; they were the pictures that I had to ask a student why? Why did you take a picture of this or why did you take it in this way? I once administered a prompt asking students to take a picture of something important to their town.  Because these students resided in D.C., I expected to have a bunch of pictures featuring the monuments and other governmental buildings.  Some of the pictures were of the monuments, but other students took pictures of peculiar objects such as wildlife or old train yards. When I asked one the students why he took a picture of an abandoned train yard as opposed to something prettier like a big monument, he replied by stating that the train yard reminded him of travel and going to see his family.  To that student, the physical features of D.C. did not make it home.  Instead, the people in the city and the memories he created with them made D.C. special. It was awesome seeing how critically these students were beginning to think and how proudly they showed their work to each other. As I taught the students, I began to realize the times where I felt like I was making the biggest difference were when the students were showing what they created and were inspiring each other all on their own.

 I think that my work at Fotosynthesis is so potent because it gives students a visible representation of their hard work.  I believe that test and worksheet assignments do not adequately instill a sense of pride in work.  Students may see a letter grade or a high number when they have performed well, but a number does not fully capture the critical thinking and synthesis of information that goes into producing such results.  By using photography or video games, students can see in real time where their work is going.  Students can see what they contribute and how their contribution affects the whole.  In addition, visual representation can also help struggling students.  Seeing that a fellow classmate got a high number written in red ink on a test does not instill a desire to achieve that as well.  However, interacting with a fun program that a classmate created or viewing a really impactful picture can create a desire in others to create something of equal caliber.  It is my belief that through empowering students to create they can not only reaffirm their own success, but create a desire in others to do better as well.  

In the future, I hope to empower marginalized communities through technology and entertainment software.  I once heard a saying concerning the designing of video games. “The game is not the experience.  The game allows the player to have the experience.” To me, this quote demonstrates how video games have the ability to empower players to experience new things.  I aim to create video games where the player’s experience does not begin and end simply with playing. I want my video games to be a vehicle to spur critical thinking, create new experiences, and create more interest in marginalized communities about the tech sector.

The creation of video games and programming in general is a worthwhile endeavor because it teaches an applicable skill, but also how to work in a group.  A large part of programming and software development is working as a member of a team and learning to create connections with new people.  Programmers must work efficiently and effectively in order to achieve a goal together.  One may not always agree with their team, but it is important to learn how to work with other people.  Future leaders are without a doubt the individuals who can sell their vision to others and will certainly need the ability to work in a group.  However, for all the great things that programming can do for individuals who learn it, few minorities or women pursue a career in computer science. 

As a minority it saddens me that the technology field is a big part of our future, yet there are so few minorities and females aspiring to work in STEM fields.  I hope that the software I create will reach a wide range of minorities and will help them foster an interest in these fields as video games did for me.  After I have spent time in the video game industry and created some games of my own, I want to share my knowledge and teach students to develop games as well.  Today and in the future, more and more individuals are spending more and more hours playing video games.  These players are working together to achieve virtual goals all while developing talents such as cooperation, problem solving, and communication skills.  The gaming community has already accomplished so much, but in the wrong arena.  If I can harness all of that collaborative energy and channel it towards solving real problems instead of virtual ones the possibilities are endless.  I hope to create an organization that teaches students in marginalized communities to create games about the issues that they care about.  However, I do not want it to stop there.  I want these games to be widely distributed among the community and elsewhere.  These games can then become a forum for youth to collaborate and try to solve the real world issues that these games are about.  Essentially, these games become a platform to crowd-source the collaborative energy already present among gamers.  In addition, by educating students in marginalized communities and distributing their work it reassures the students who made the games that they are capable of great things. Finally, the distribution of these students work demonstrates to others in the community that programming and STEM are viable career options.    

After my work is done I want to be remembered as a creative and loving person.  I hope that I can be responsible for creating  new interesting game genres and also revolutionizing existing genres.  I would like to see some of the games I make hailed as examples of fun yet positive games and I want to show the world that video games can be more than entertainment.  I hope that after my work is done, video games are seen as a more legitimate medium for conveying ideas and fostering social change. I hope to advocate for the representation of minorities in the tech sector even after I have stopped working myself.  Apart from my professional legacy, I want my personal legacy to center around the word love.  Love for family, love for friends, and love for others.  I want to do many things with my life but I do not want to sacrifice meaningful connections in the process.  I hope that at the end of my time I have improved life for marginalized communities as well as my family.  Whether improvement involves small or large jobs I want to be there for the people and communities that I can make an impact on.  

[fddsknowbetter]

Isobel Araujo and Urban Planning

Everyone has dreams of leaving a legacy, of having a permanent place in history as someone that mattered, someone that made a difference, someone that altered the course of humanity. But what we all forget is that every big change that has ever occurred has been through the work of individuals. Every symphony is composed of individual notes, every chemical reaction requires individual molecules, every dish is a blend of individual ingredients and every community is made up of individual people.

I am passionate about being a catalyst for these reactions. I want to be able to work on small-scale projects like building community gardens or registering young people to vote, develop personal relationships with others, and watch the communities that I am involved in become independently run and self-sufficient. I got a taste of this type of work one summer in particular when I became involved for a short period of time with a program that encourages young people to explore urban planning as a career path. Of the many things I learned that summer, I learned that urban planning is a process that involves politicians, economists, local business owners, scientists, architects, public health professionals, and residents. The planners just try to tie them all together in a way that makes the community smarter, more sustainable, and more cohesive. I can’t pretend to know what is best for the world, my nation, my city, or my neighborhood, but what I can do is enlist the help of individuals to empower struggling populaces.

Unfortunately, underprivileged communities are taken advantage of by companies and industries that are solely interested in private gain, and not public health. Growing up in Chicago, I have seen highly industrialized districts compete with poor neighborhoods for resources. For example, in my hometown of Chicago, there is a traditionally Mexican neighborhood called Pilsen that was facing an ecological dilemma a few years ago. A coal-fired power plant had been polluting the area for years, so much so that the numbers of young people that developed asthma skyrocketed over the years. Because the neighborhood was not very affluent, and the parents of many of the children were mainly working class, it took a lot of time and effort before the plants could be closed. Many victims argued that the low socio-economic status of the neighborhood prevented their voices from being heard politically. This type of injustice is something that I aim to help eradicate, through grassroots advocacy and organizing political events.

Apart from working occasionally with Chicago Metropolitan Area for Planning on urban planning projects, I also have devoted a good deal of time to developing a small, not-for-profit project that I started as a freshman in high school. The project is called Message in a Bottle, and aims to reduce plastic water bottle waste by selling stainless steel, reusable water bottles. All of the profits from the Message in a Bottle project are used to purchase educational materials, water quality test kits, and public health equipment for student use in partnership with the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Apart from integrating myself into a multitude of communities by selling water bottles at farmer’s markets, school events, and church and synagogue sales, I also realized the importance of education when it comes to improving under-resourced communities. The students that participate in the beach clean-ups and investigative field trips that the Alliance for the Great Lakes organizes have often never seen Lake Michigan before, despite living just a few miles away from it. Being able to provide the resources for the education of young people is one way in which I feel that I have been able to give impetus to a movement towards sustainability and environmental literacy.

Lao Tzu, the famous Chinese philosopher, once said that  “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” I want to be an invisible leader. I want to work behind the scenes, organizing, inspiring, and ultimately empowering other people to take charge and reclaim their communities.

[fddsknowbetter]

Nkemdilim Chukwuma: Combining Business and Education

In one of my favorite movies, The Best Man Holiday, Taye Diggs’ character Harper asks his old friend, Lance (played by Morris Chestnut), what his three tenets to life are. He responds, “God, family, football... in that order.” I have always thought about that moment and I wondered if I was in that situation, what I would have said. But now I have the opportunity to sort of make that instance my own.

If someone asked me about my three guiding tenets, I would say they are: God, family and education. Within each tenet, however, what really drives me is: altruism, my mother, and youth empowerment… in that order.

From a young age, I have valued education as a gateway – one that provides individuals with the opportunity to transcend their sometimes limiting socio-economic circumstances. My mother, for instance, demonstrated education’s ability to open up previously unavailable doors. My mother was the only one of her siblings sponsored to come to the United States and receive a college education because of her academic achievements.  Although the valedictorian of her class, as the youngest of seven children, my mother never dreamed that such an opportunity would be awarded to her.  Soon after she graduated college and established herself as a certified public accountant in the States, she afforded the same opportunity of higher education abroad to many of her family members still in Nigeria. Just like my mother, I hope to be someone who uses my life to help others, especially young students, make the most of theirs.

Being a young student myself, I try to get involved in many different clubs and events that allow me to reach out to fellow students.  Freshman year, I had the privilege of being exposed to Fotosynthesis, a start-up (created by former FDD scholars) that uses photography and social media to demystify stereotypes by increasing cross-cultural communication and understanding among middle school students. I currently serve the organization as Chief Financial Officer and a volunteer teacher. As a Business Administration major (concentrating in accounting and management), I enjoy working with budgets, financial statements and others. So as the CFO, I get to combine these interests and skills of mine while assisting a great organization “eliminate stereotypes [and] capture reality.” As a teacher, I get to play a more hands-on role in the organization by engaging a class of about 15 students at Ideal Academy Public Charter School in Washington, DC. In the classroom, we discuss a host of topics rooted in developing cultural understanding and appreciation, critical thinking skills, and thoughtfulness. By teaching students to clarify cultural misunderstandings at a young age, I hope to better prepare these students for a bright future and improve the quality of their education by focusing not only on academic, but social needs. Who knows, maybe by the time these kids enter college, culture shock will be less of an unwelcomed disorientation and more of a happily anticipated learning experience.

In addition to working with middle school students, I’ve also had the privilege of working with elementary school kids my sophomore year as a DC Reads tutor.  Tutoring first graders at Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) Powell, a bilingual elementary school, has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at American University. I wasn’t expecting it to be much of a give-take relationship but as I helped these first graders improve their English and math skills, they taught me patience and showed me what it really meant to persevere against all odds. At Powell, I was able to continue the trend of engaging and empowering young students by providing educational (and at times emotional) support — but I feel I received so much more in return.  

When I graduate from American University, I hope to use my career to provide students (particularly in the United States and on the African continent) with an opportunity to secure a better life for themselves and their families through education. I can picture myself combining my business major and education minor into many different, plausible careers choices: education (management) consulting, accounting (like my lovely parents), school administration, education management; the list goes on.  But whether a direct or indirect contributor, I want to know that, whatever path I decide to take, I am making a sustainable difference in children’s lives.

[fddsknowbetter]

Daniel Mark's Transformative Experience in South Africa

I have often viewed my life as unexceptional. Not because of the opportunities I have been afforded, but because of how I approached life.  I feared honesty and lacked self-acceptance.  Yet, at the end of my first semester as a Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar I reached a breaking point. In order to fully access my potential, I needed to be open with my friends and family. On January 8, 2013 I came out as gay to my family and – for the first time – chose to be happy. And through happiness, I was more open to new experiences and took more academic risks. In March 2013, FDDS director Larry Thomas encouraged me to apply for a month long community service trip to South Africa. Little did I know that this trip would have a profound impact on my life. South Africa is where I found purpose.

I remember boarding the plane with so many mixed emotions. It was my first time traveling abroad for an extended period of time. I was excited, anxious, and nervous all at once. When I arrived in Cape Town, the city was different from what I had imagined. The geographic landscape was unearthly beautiful, but the disparity of wealth was jarring. Townships – more commonly known as informal settlements – surrounded both sides of the highway and were juxtaposed with large, postcard-like mountains in the distance. “Life for these people seems so unfair, “ I thought. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to live there.” But over those five weeks, I learned that my western perception of “proper living conditions” was completely skewed and one-sided.  

It wasn’t until I entered several townships that I grew such strong appreciation for life there. I worked primarily with Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA) – a nonprofit situated in Khayelitsha, the third largest township in South Africa – that uses grassroots organizing to bring strong awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention to civilians while increasing a sense of community to those affected by the virus.  I felt culture shock the first morning my group and I drove through Khayelitsha. I became extremely observant of the Khayelitsha civilians, especially the young men in their twenties hurdling into overly packed white vans on their way into the business district, Xhosa kids neatly dressed in uniforms going to school, and elderly women in knitted traditional sweaters walking slowly across busy paved streets. Everyone I saw was black like me, and appeared to be living a purpose-driven life. Every western stereotype of the “African shantytown” shoved down my throat in advertisements seemed falsified. And I couldn’t help but widen my eyes and smile.

When I arrived to the GAPA facility, many of the grannies greeted us with a kettle of hot water, a glass container of fresh milk, and a cup of sugar to make traditional rooibos tea. They treated me like I was their grandson, an experience I had never felt back at home. As I drank the rooibos tea, a loud woman with a powerful presence entered the room named Vivienne Budaza. She is the executive director of GAPA. I could talk to Vivienne about anything. Although she was constantly busy organizing events and dealing with stakeholder engagement for GAPA, she always made time to converse with me about anything – from sharing stories about our family members to talking about our favorite South African cuisine like boboti and pap.

No task ever felt too small when volunteering for GAPA. From helping Florence pick weeds in the vegetable garden, to coloring pictures showing job opportunities for the children’s after school program with Hanmarie, every task impacted the organization. GAPA showed me how a strong nonprofit functions despite stakeholder setbacks or personal issues. After leaving GAPA every afternoon, I felt like my small contribution was valued. Nothing I have learned in a textbook or experienced in an office building has yet to match the sense of fulfillment as I had then.  Every day, the women of GAPA dispel stereotypes developed against them during Apartheid. The grandmothers and Vivienne realize the importance of sexual health and promote it with strong unity between different communities, including women, men, youth, and people of diverse sexual orientations. Even more powerful, many GAPA women never let their HIV status define them or limit their aspirations in life. As a gay black man, I often believed my “double minority” status limited my ability to succeed. Through volunteering with GAPA, I learned to hone in on what makes me unique.

Saying goodbye to the GAPA staff was almost as emotionally taxing as coming out to my family earlier that year. With the thousands of miles between GAPA and me, I feared that I’d never get to see Vivienne, Florence, Hanmarie, and the other lovely women ever again. However, I was overcome with a sense of calmness as my student group walked toward our white van. Vivienne and the grannies began to sing a traditional Xhosa religious inspirational song. And although I didn’t understand what they were saying, I knew I was loved. In that short amount of time, I found a greater understanding of what made me happy. I felt like I was on my journey toward a purpose-driven life.

When I returned to Washington D.C. my sophomore year, I felt inspired to take classes I was genuinely interested in, rather than take on a course load that could potentially get me ahead in a career I thought I wanted. Still, I felt indecisive and confused with how I could best utilize the skills I obtained from GAPA. I knew service work made me happy, but – like many millennial college students – felt the stinging pressure to pursue a career that is traditionally lucrative. I chose to study public communication to get a better understanding of how to advocate on the behalf of under-represented organizations like GAPA. My love for image development and advocacy could lead to a career in public policy for HIV/AIDS prevention in the United States. The undervalued beauty of college is getting the opportunity to explore what makes me feel inspired and excited to learn. Now that I am leading an alternative break to Cape Town in January 2015, my purpose is to educate fellow students through service-learning. I choose to strengthen American University’s relationship with GAPA because they invested in me. It is my obligation to give back to them.

[fddsknowbetter]

Rodrigo Futema on his Passion for Soccer and Social Change

“A short, stocky Asian businessman walks out onto the construction zone and stops mid-step to assess the site’s progress. With a year left before the beginning of the controversial 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup, the entire country is working at maximum capacity to finalize infrastructure projects. Rodrigo Futema, the head coordinator at FIFA is in charge of ensuring timely completion of all the necessary physical preparations for the global competition. A dedicated supporter of ethical soccer, Futema has used the beautiful game to promote youth education and the decreased use of indentured labor in Qatar.”

I hope to be remembered in that fashion over the next decade. The Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars (FDDS) Program at American University (AU) has elevated my success so that I may one day attain my dream position in soccer administration. A challenging, but endlessly rewarding undergraduate experience, I was inducted into the FDDS second class in 2011 with the hopes of giving back to the world through a career in international service. However, the eighteen year-old freshman, Rodrigo Tamashiro Futema, has grown to become the twenty-one year-old senior. Over the course of my four years in FDDS and AU I have learned to distinguish quality liquors, think critically, select lifelong friends, and gained greater self-awareness.

When I arrived at American University my interests lied in the field of International Relations and Political Science and my future goal was a career in Diplomacy. However, as I began my coursework and spoke to my professors I quickly realized that politics, in the traditional sense, was not my calling. I then ceased my Political Science major and searched for an alternative field of study. With the help of FDDS Innaugural Director Thomas and his diligent mentoring I stumbled upon a major in Sociology. At the end of my freshman year I was sure that I wanted to pursue an international career and continued my International Studies, but was in academic and professional limbo. It was amidst this conflict that Director Thomas suggested that I participate in an Alternative Break Trip to Rwanda.

Award winning movie Hotel Rwanda is perhaps the best exposure the small Sub-Saharan African country of Rwanda has received in the international scene. Based on a true story, the movie gruesomely portrayed some of the horrific scenes that occurred in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Unfortunately, the movie was also my only background to the country prior to my arrival. Throughout my three weeks in Rwanda our small group of American University students travelled the country learning about the reconciliation process amongst those affected.

At first, adapting to a new completely different environment and culture was difficult. Considering my only extended stay in any location was the East Coast of the United States and my birth city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Rwanda was a dramatically dissimilar place. However, I soon discovered a similarity: soccer. I fiercely debated, played, and watched soccer for three weeks and realized that I needed to change my passion into my dream.

During my stay in Rwanda I witnessed how a simple soccer ball can unite the sons and daughters of both genocide perpetrators and victims. Soccer was a form of reconciliation. Additionally, the sport brought Rwandans, Europeans, and Americans together. These experiences were replicas of the scenes I saw in Brazil. How could I not fall in love with the sport? I found my calling. I knew that I needed to use soccer to unite and uplift marginalized communities.

Upon arrival, Director Thomas and the FDDS program adjusted to better help me attain my newfound objectives. Director Thomas mentored me for a year as I worked closely with him in the program’s office with marketing and general administrative duties. He then helped me attain my first undergraduate internship at the Case Foundation and attend the Yale Pre-MBA program.

Soon after those experiences I began my junior year at American University whereby I was fortunate to intern at the multinational, social entrepreneurial organization of Ashoka. Cumulatively, at the Case Foundation and at Ashoka my work benefited social entrepreneurs around the world who then elevated a diverse range of marginalized communities. I have learned both professional and personal values from these internship experiences, but it is my volunteer experiences in soccer that have left the most rewarding memories.

In the Fall of 2013, I served as a Volunteer Assistant Coach for the DC chapter of the national NGO America Scores. This organization guides at-risk youth in urban areas away from negative influences through afterschool programs in soccer and poetry. For three months I coached middle school soccer. Although a short experience, I was able to see tangible results with my players as they grew both personally and athletically. It was this experience that affirmed my dream of working in the soccer industry as I experienced first-hand the positive effects of soccer on society. I continued this journey in the Spring and Summer of 2014 by serving as a operations volunteer at the local soccer club DC United.

As a DC United volunteer, I was not only able to watch home games, but I was also able to personally partake in the operations of a soccer club. Consequently, I expanded my view of the sport from a social aspect to a more direct business operations perspective. This experience was supplemented by a summer filled with World Cup Soccer as I enriched my international development background at an NGO called the Global Business School Network. Now, in the fall semester of my senior year, I am studying abroad in Madrid, Spain to learn about the international business of soccer.

The largest global sport, soccer, is deeply entrenched into a majority of cultures around the world.  Thus soccer has been used to widen the social inequality gap, foster public support for autocratic governments, and act as catalysts for senseless murders. On the other hand, soccer has acted as a means for citizens to exercise political freedom, enhance social programs, and even completely cease bloodshed. With such immense social influence I believe it is the responsibility of players, administrators, and regulators to ensure that the beautiful game is not only accessible to all populations, but that it does not come at the cost of others’ liberties. FDDS and AU has provided me an exemplary undergraduate experience. As a passionate fan and supporter of soccer for social progress programs, I aspire to use these teachings to pursue a career that uses soccer as a means for social justice.

In a blatant violation of worker’s rights, the Daily Mirror stated in March 2014 that the preparations for the 2022 Qatar World Cup has already led to the deaths of over 1,200 people. Instances like these showcase the very urgent need for ethical and effective soccer leadership. There is a responsibility in the new generation of global soccer leadership that exemplifies the positive influences of soccer. Soccer needs to cease immoral initiatives. The pitch is not where blood should be shed, but a platform for dreams to be made and realized. It is a place where nations converge and share a common passion; the passion for the beautiful game.

[fddsknowbetter]

Justin Morgan: A Man Who is Always Willing to Help

I want to help. I think it’s one of my best qualities. I’m not as politically savvy as some of my peers here at American University; I don’t have the necessary social skills to mingle with the Washington, DC elites; I don’t often win awards or get called back for interviews or shine in the way some of my FDDS cohorts have managed.

  But I want to help.

  You see I grew up very privileged. My parents were extremely well educated and hard working, and managed to move my brother and me from East Baltimore when we were babies to Howard County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country. I grew up in one of those suburban neighborhoods where race, class, inequality, and privilege weren’t things that you would learn about in school. You had to be taught outside of class, which I was. My parents instilled in me at a very young age the importance of recognizing how lucky I am to be where I am and have what I have. This also included the importance of recognizing that all of it needs to be returned in kind. So even when I’m not quite sure what to do, or how to do it, I want to help. So when my dad said he knew somebody who was donating computers to a middle school in rural Jamaica, but they didn’t have anybody down there to show them how to do it, I went. Or when my French teacher told me that there were kids in her other classes who needed extra help, I stayed after school. Just little things here and there, putting up a fence, coaching a kids soccer camp; small things until I could find something to really give back in a big way.

  And I think I’ve found it.

  I thought I might be a doctor. It’s what my dad does, and it’s what my grandfather did. It seemed like the natural family progression, and a great, if clichéd, way of giving back to the community.  So when I went off to college, I started on the pre-med track and chose public health as my major. That’s when I fell in love with research in public health. The idea that I could help people be healthy before they entered the doctor’s office hadn’t occurred to me until then, but it has all but consumed my ambitions. I could do research that provides doctors, patients, policymakers, and government officials with the tools to make people healthier and reduce the inequality in the healthcare system. So that’s what I started doing. I got an internship at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions looking at how things like socioeconomic status in communities can affect standard health measures. Not too long after that, I worked with the Center on Health, Risk, and Society at American University, writing literature reviews and learning more advanced statistical methods to aid HIV/AIDS research amongst prisoner, probationer, and parolee populations. This summer I’m helping to start the American University Public Health Association, so that people who shared my interest could get together and find ways to give back to the health of the community. I think as my life moves forwards, I’ll want to find a niche where I can do this kind of research and disseminate information on my own terms. I want to do research that helps those who can’t help themselves. It’s what my parents taught me.

I want to help. And that’s what I hope to be remembered for. I think that’s all I’ve ever really wanted to be known for. I want people to look back and say that Justin was always willing to try and help solve the problem.

-Justin Morgan, Junior (CAS)

[fddsknowbetter]

Winter Brooks: Leaving Things Better for the Upcoming Generation

At my high school graduation, our class speaker challenged us to discover what  footprint we wanted to leave on the world.  When asked this question, I immediately thought of giving back to the people and programs that have inspired me to break away from the stereotypes that society had placed on me and reach for my dreams. I remembered all of the countless hours I spent  in the offices at my primary school in Detroit, the summer I spent tutoring students in the Horizons Upward Bound program, and the times I was given the opportunity to volunteer at numerous organizations around southeastern Michigan. Then I thought of my most recent internship at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The Institute is known for their outreach to underprivileged schools in the metro Detroit area. A couple of times during that internship, I was able to lead tabletop activities for family science nights at different schools.  I led numerous educational activities regarding science, including the life cycle for plants and constellations. Although many of the children had never heard of constellations before or knew what a plant life cycle was, they interacted with the activities, did their best to learn and by the end of the activity they could recite what the lesson back to me with enthusiasm. Working with these children and seeing their genuine interest to learn, despite their economic and social challenges was inspirational to me. For a while, I have known that I have wanted to improve the quality of education for students in underprivileged communities, like my own city, Detroit, and working at the Institute just made my passion stronger.

I believe that if society could find a way to improve the quality of education, expose children to diversity at a young age and encourage them to reach for goals that are beyond what is expected of them, many of the social and economic issues that exist today would decrease dramatically. In high school, I was given the opportunity to attend a boarding school with students from all over the world and learned to coexist with students different from myself. I attribute my current successes and my ability to interact with all types of people to being able to attend Cranbrook. Lately, I have wondered if other students were given the same opportunities to broaden their horizons and get out of their comfort zones, would they be more motivated to learn and reach for their goals. That is why I am dedicated to not only improve education, but more importantly to change the outlook many children in these racially segregated communities have on other children of a different races, classes and cultures. Where I am from, many students have the potential to learn and go to college, however they do not because the school systems are not always encouraging them to be ambitious and exceed their expectations. Many students do not know what lies beyond their own backyard and are afraid to discover and explore. In my life, I have met many intelligent people that have gone off to college and ultimately dropped out because they were unable to assimilate in a society that was different from their own. If we give these students the opportunities to travel, meet people from different socioeconomic classes and broaden their horizons they would be intrigued and more comfortable going off to follow their passions. Before we can change the education, we have to work towards changing the mindset of the youth. I hope to one day be able to start a non profit organization to help bridge the divide between different social and economic classes by exposing students to areas beyond their own backyard whether it is a town thirty minutes away or in another country. Through this, I hope to inspire children to learn and send them the message that even though they are not as privileged they still have the same amount of potential to reach success. I also want to improve the quality of the education taught in schools, by making sure students are given the same opportunities to learn. Even if it is just starting a book drive to encourage reading, I will do what I can to improve the schools.

The footprint I want to leave on this world will be to the benefit of the upcoming generation. I want to be remembered as not just a successful person, but one who can feel proud of what she has done with her life. Success is not just measured by how smart or wealthy you are, but what you did with that wealth and those smarts. I hope to use whatever assets I am given to pay it forward through volunteering and working for the greater good. So far in my life, I have been given numerous opportunities that allowed me to get out of the city and follow my dreams. Those people that have helped me throughout the years are my role models and I strive to make them proud by working to reform the educational system and being a mentor to the next generation of students.

-Winter Brooks, Freshman 

[fddsknowbetter]

Shyheim Snead: Being the Change He Wants to See

"Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future." I encountered this quote in a high school British Literature classroom; little did I know that a quote from eighteenth century poet, William Wordsworth would adequately describe the course of my life to this point. As I embark on my journey as a Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar, the experiences that have molded me into the person who I am today immediately come to mind.

  I didn't always have the utmost concern for the world around me or the problems impacting communities across the globe. As a matter of fact, until my sophomore year in high school I had little to no regard for anything that wasn't television. This apathy quickly dissipated after I returned from the two weeks that changed my life. Immersing myself into my community through service earned me a ticket to opportunity that would forever alter the person I am. BuildOn is a nonprofit organization that works both nationally and internationally to break the cycles of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education.  This life changing organization provided me with the chance to travel to Malawi, Africa and aid in the construction of a school. Not only was this the first time that I left the country, it was also the first time that I was exposed to the legitimate issues impacting destitute communities abroad.

  This trip did more than provide me the opportunity to travel to a foreign land; it changed my perspective on life. I learned that hope exists in the darkest of hours. I learned that where you are brought up doesn't determine where you will be. I learned that I have been blessed with the fortitude to help improve the quality of life for people all around the globe. These invaluable lessons have shaped my destiny and will forever have an impact on the person I am. Seeing my host brother, Kwazi walk more than four miles in one shoe to a school with a bamboo mat for a roof at the young age of nine showed me the true meaning of dedication. After he explained his situation to me in the bits of English that he learned at school, I determined that it was my obligation to lend a hand in marginalized communities around the world.

  Upon return to the United States, I made it a personal mission to continue to learn about and help my own community. I was shocked to find out that residents of Bridgeport, Connecticut experience the same issues as villagers in rural Africa. Poverty is omnipresent, unemployment rates are higher than ever, and more of our young people are walking away from school desks and turning to lives of crime.

  Barack Obama articulated that "we are the change that we've been waiting for". If I don't exercise the change that I wish to see in the world, then there is no meaning to being passionate about improvement. Seizing the day is the first step in being that change. Everyday I volunteer. I help at food pantries, community suppers, plant food in community gardens, mentor inner-city youth, and intern on campaigns and with organizations who share my beliefs of equality and eradicating poverty. The experiences are most rewarding because of the memories and relationships that arise from them. Whether it be a six year old who clutches the bottom of your shirt and calls you their father figure or the single mom who recognizes you as the young man that helps her children find donated clothes from a clothing closet, connections and the impact you have on others is what is truly long-lasting.

  The past few years have helped me to learn so much more about who I am and the person who I aspire to become. They have also helped me to look toward the future and plan to use the lessons I will learn as a Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar to help bring about true social change for impoverished and under-resourced communities.

  I am majoring in Political Science with a concentration in law and policy. I am ready to use the invaluable resources that both American University and the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars program provide, to gain experience and knowledge. Hopes lie in me continuing onto law school and entering a career of public service. My ultimate goal is to combine a way of solving societal problems through legal means and having a direct impact, mediation, and an active hand in changing the lives of people all around the world. Very simply, I want to solve the causes of the problems in society. Often times, it's easier to place a temporary fix on an issue, as opposed to looking at the root of the problem and looking at ways to solve that. For example, incarceration rates are increasing for young men of color. Society's response to this issue is to help youth while in prison. While this is contributing to their rehabilitation, wouldn't it be easier to ask ourselves why young Black men end up in jail in the first place? Is it because of the criminalization that exists, or unjust policies like "Stop and Frisk", or the lack of educational motivation, or the absence of extracurricular activities to keep inner city youth productive? Is it none of these things? Is it a combination of these things? These questions can't be answered if people aren't willing to ask them. I'm willing to ask them, in addition to the other tough questions about other injustices that exist.

"I want to leave a footprint on the sands of time." I want to touch the lives of other people. If one person can attest to my having even the slightest positive impact on their lives, I will be happy. My grandma reminds me everyday that I can't take my accomplishments or possessions to the afterlife. However Grandma, I can leave an impact so big that the world remembers me as an advocate for social justice and equality. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.  

-Shyheim Snead, Freshman  (SPA)

[fddsknowbetter]

Mehvish Jamal: Leaving a Legacy within the Development Field

Upon entering high school, I began volunteering with the Friendship Circle, an organization that pairs special-needs children with teen “buddies” to serve as friends and mentors. When I first began playing with Nicole, a nine-year old with Asperger’s Syndrome, I had no idea what impact she would have on my life.

  Math worksheets and research papers called my name every Saturday afternoon during tenth and eleventh grade, begging to be completed. But the look on Nicole’s face each week at 1pm while she watched my mother’s minivan pulled into her driveway through her front window always kept me eager to come. As soon as I walked through the door, she would rattle off the list of activities she wanted to do that day – play piano, Chutes & Ladders, multiplication tables, Call of Duty, basketball, and more. With only an hour and a half together each week, we rarely had time for more than two activities per visit, but that never stopped her from dreaming big.

  Over the year and half that I was Nicole’s “buddy”, we both made a greater difference in each other’s lives than I could have ever imagined. Nicole’s enthusiasm for everything she did forced me to appreciate the blessings the smaller things in life. Meanwhile, I pushed her to expand her horizons.

  Once a month, we would attend a Friendship Circle arts-and-crafts and bowling event where Nicole would have the opportunity to interact with other special-needs children as well as their buddies. Although Nicole stuck to my side at the first few events, hesitant to talk to any of the others, I encouraged her to gradually step out of her comfort zone. We began by inviting other groups to join our bowling lane and offering to share art supplies, and soon Nicole had made friends she was eager to play with each month.

  I am grateful to have been Nicole’s buddy not only because I made a beautiful connection with an incredible young girl, but also because I learned at an early age that with a little compassion and dedication, it is possible for a single person to make a great difference in the life of another. It is through this experience that I discovered my passion for improving the quality of life for underserved, under-resourced populations, and it is through this discovery that I was able to eventually find my way into FDDS.

  Since this experience, I have further explored my service interests and realized that working towards the development of underprivileged communities is my calling and true passion in life. With the ultimate goal of witnessing the worldwide eradication of extreme poverty within my lifetime, I would like to use economic empowerment as a means of permanently lifting communities out of poverty.

  During my short time at American University, my views on development have shifted greatly. While I once thought that donating to charity was a foolproof way to help underprivileged communities, I have since learned that the answer lies not in aid and handouts, but rather in education and empowerment.

  Although I am unsure about the specifics of my future career, I am sure of my commitment to using economics and financial knowledge to empower communities to lift themselves out of poverty. By increasing investments in underprivileged communities and teaching individuals how to manage their money, make business decisions and think like entrepreneurs in order to generate their own sources of income, we can help communities create change in their own lives – change that does not rely on the wallets of donors.

  After reading Muhammad Yunus’ Creating a World without Poverty, I became enthused by the idea of a social business and using investments, rather than donations, to eradicate extreme poverty. The inspiring difference in the various Grameen companies’ approach is that they have been able to create a lasting difference across a country rather than a dependence on aid. While many individuals are driven to feel useless and inferior waiting for handout after handout from international aid agencies, Grameen’s companies instill a sense of worth, ability and hope across communities.

  I would like to be remembered as someone as revolutionary and successful in the development field as Yunus, one of the top global thinkers. Efforts at development and poverty eradication are nothing new. What is unseen is poverty’s definitive end. Although I do not believe a single person can lead the world to eradicate poverty, I strive, within my lifetime, to develop a sustainable, successful and replicable model for ending poverty one community, one country and one region at a time.

Yet in addition to leaving a remarkable legacy in the development field, I would like to be remembered by my family and friends as someone whose kindness was unassailable. I hope to one day be thought of as a person who always went the extra mile to help those around her, as well as those in need, and as someone who touched the lives, deeply, of all the people that she met.

-Mehvish Jamal, Sophomore (CAS)

[fddsknowbetter]

Ana Santos: Giving Back through Journalism

A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it. My high school teacher introduced me to photography when I was fourteen, and I used photography all throughout high school to express the deep feelings when I couldn’t express in words. I first was fascinated with creative, abstract self-portraits. But as I got older, I gained more political awareness and I was more and more interested in current events, which brought me to discover the vast and growing world of photojournalism.

  So I started running with this new fascinating passion I stumbled upon. I found clarity of purpose when I started moving forward, and I used my skills, passion, and newfound love to make a difference and improved the quality of life for underserved, under-resourced populations. And a body in motion will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force

  And a body in motion will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force. My interests aligned with the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars program because the program connected me with other student leaders from diverse backgrounds. During my time at university in the program, I applied the lessons I learned about responsibility, leadership, and giving to my studies, internships, and experiences.

  One of my most treasured experiences was developing and managing the Photo Collective, a joint effort between all American University Student Media Board organizations to elevate the quality of photography and journalism in all publications and cultivate strong relationships between students, professors and professionals at American. The community of photographers in my university was active, but was small and without central leadership in the community. With guidance from my mentors and faculty advisers, I helped bring the possibilities and potential of the community to life and created a community that continues to thrive even without my presence and leadership even with me halfway around the world.

  I aimed to reveal social issues and instigate understanding and dialogue through strength, wisdom, and open-mindedness. I chose media as my medium because I wanted to push my boundaries, set me on a course of life-long learning, and transform myself into a bolder, more intelligent, and more creative person.

  I like photography because it compels me to travel, and I like how travel politely reminds me of the very small space I occupy in this world and comforts me of how I very much I belong. I like photography because it is a challenge. I have to fit the secrets of the world into a tiny machine that I use to make matters important.

  That is why journalism is the way I give back. I didn’t chose my passion, my passions were lying inside of my for years waiting for the right moment to spark and take ahold of me and push me to excel and improve and run in the direction these tiny strings were pulling me. To give myself, to serve, to lay myself down for something bigger and better than myself. I didn’t choose what I love, but I chose to act.

 -Ana Santos, Alumni, Class of 2014

[fddsknowbetter]

Tamaara Bostwick's Eye Opening Experiences with Public Health

My passion to help people was instilled at a very young age. As a first generation immigrant from a small third-world country, I learned of the many sacrifices my parents made to provide better lives filled with opportunities for their children. One of those opportunities and arguably the greatest was good health. Growing up, I never worried about not being able to see a doctor if I was sick. Simple doctor visits for vaccines and checkups were routine for me. However, I knew that everyone did not share the opportunities I had. There were people living in my community who I passed by everyday that probably didn’t see a doctor or dentist annually. In fact, I had blood relatives living in what many would consider the “middle-class” areas of Guyana yet they didn’t have the “middle-class” healthcare that I had.

Prior to arriving in Washington, DC, I was naïve about the state of health for most residents. To my surprise, the CDC found that at least 3% of Washington, DC residents have HIV or AIDS. That percentage may seem small, but is actually considered a severe epidemic. That statistic may also surprise people who have visited the tourist areas of Washington, DC without understanding that the areas most affected by health are hidden in the eastern corner.

Two organizations that I’m so grateful to have worked with are Global Medical Brigades and Peer Health Exchange. The experiences from both organizations allowed me to work with individuals in two very different communities: one in eastern Panama and the other in eastern Washington, DC.

Although my time with Global Medical Brigades was brief, it was very special. I spent a week in the rural region of Panama in an area known as Higueronal. The residents of Higueronal were in need of basic health care and many knew the severity of their ailments. Using my limited Spanish, I consulted patients with a Panamanian doctor and tried to grasp what their medical needs were. Many children weren’t receiving essential vitamins and nutrients. We prepared packets of things many of us in America take for granted: floss, toothpaste, vitamins, soap, and aspirin. An elderly woman came into the clinic and told us she had pains in her foot. The doctor, working without an x-ray machine, suspected that she broke her foot and had been putting pressure on it without letting it heal. Our clinic didn’t provide strong pain relievers and because we were set up for only 3 days, the doctor couldn’t prescribe anything without following up with patients. Despite all of this, the woman was grateful for the packet we gave her and said she was sure it would help her. Her expression of gratitude inspired me to continue supporting organizations that help work to improve the health of communities across the world.   

In Peer Health Exchange, I was a Drugs Health Educator to ninth grade students living in areas where more than 50% of residents were at or below the poverty line. For me, the role was intimidating at first but quickly became second nature. About once a week, I travelled by bus or train away from the affluent area of Washington, DC to areas where the residents looked more and more like myself. Although I looked the part, my first day showed that I and several other Peer Health Exchange Educators didn’t quite fit in. Despite the age difference – we undergraduates and our students as mid adolescent children – we also looked like a group of students who weren’t accustomed to walking through metal detectors before school.

On my first day, a student asked me what I personally knew about drugs. He didn’t want to hear about the science or the facts, but wanted to hear personal stories. Although I didn’t share any personal stories since there were none, I was glad to see the students opening up and engaging in the workshop. Surprisingly, many students knew a lot of the science behind drugs and didn’t just rely on what they heard from friends or on the street. My favorite part of the workshop was when we discussed how health relates to a person’s future. Many students shared that they wanted to go to college and knew that being arrested for a drug related crime or overdosing could hinder those dreams. Others spoke about how they are already working part-time jobs with the intentions of moving up the ladder – something that is much more difficult with a record or debilitation.

To my surprise, I enjoyed teaching about health and drugs with Peer Health Exchange so much, that I pursued a research opportunity in the American University Psychopharmacology lab to learn more about drug mechanisms and the role adolescent drug experimentation has on life-long addiction and dependence.  My undergraduate research in the psychopharmacology lab has shown me a great deal about how the aversive and rewarding properties of a “soft drug” such as nicotine can predict drug abuse of “hard drugs” such as cocaine in adulthood. At this point I’m unsure if I would like to complete an MD/PhD program, which would allow me to conduct more intensive research regarding drug abuse, which is very present in many lower income and marginalized communities.

Since coming to American University, I’ve learned a lot about how health relates to so much more than just a person’s body. In my public health classes, I learned more about how health affects a person’s family, safety, education, and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the health of populations can go on to affect economies, politics, and mindsets. Knowing how essentially anything can be connected to health has reassured me that it is the career field I would like to pursue. In the future, I would like to be remembered for giving others the opportunity that was given to me which would allow them to have more opportunities of their own.

[fddsknowbetter]

Jessica Rothman: A Champion for Public Health

Throughout high school, I contributed back to the underserved and under-resourced populations both locally and globally, through fundraising and spreading awareness.  The common thread in my experiences was that my efforts all revolved around public health and education – the two areas that I am most passionate about.  I strived to either enable someone to receive an education or educate as many people as possible about what I considered to be some of the most pressing issues facing underserved populations.

My contributions started during my freshman year, when I became involved with Unified for UNIFAT. We worked to provide tuition for students in Uganda to be able to attend high school. Many of the students who attend the UNIFAT school, have one or both parents afflicted with AIDS, and wouldn’t have the opportunity to attend upper-level school without our contributions.  In my sophomore year, I contributed locally and founded the Hope Holds Strong Scholarship for seniors who have lost a parent or guardian.  The scholarship helped these students afford books in college.

During my senior year, I decided to focus my efforts towards raising awareness and educating students and their advisors about the issues facing under-resourced communities. I was selected to be the Secretary-General of the South Jersey Model United Nations Conference, and in this role I organized a conference for over 150 high school students from the tri-state area.  Recognizing the prime opportunity presented to me, I designated the conference theme to be global health and created a day filled with learning about some of the world’s most pressing global health issues. The conference attendees were exposed to the themes of poverty caused by the food and water crisis in East Africa, the oppression of child marriage, as well as topics that face all of us such as emerging medicines, public health action during crises, and drug control.  By exposing my peers and their teachers to these issues, I hoped to educate them about the necessity of solving these problems and maybe even inspire them to be part of the solution.

When I started college, I began working as the Director of Operations for Fotosynthesis, which is a nonprofit based out of American University.   The mission of Fotosynthesis is to spread cultural awareness and eliminate stereotypes among middle school students in different countries.  We are currently partnered with a school in Washington, DC as well as a school in Mexico, both of which serve under-resourced children.  The students receive prompts and are given cameras to post pictures in response to the prompts on social media. Through my continued work with this organization, I have been able to help provide cultural education to the children at these schools. I’m excited to keep working with this organization as it continues to grow, and I can’t wait to be able to spread cultural awareness to more students, who don’t have this in their school curriculum.

As a public health and statistics major in college, I have strived to gain experience so that in the future, I will have a solid foundation to improve the health of underserved communities. After my freshman year, I had the opportunity to participate in the FACETS program at Harvard School of Public Health, where I learned the mathematical foundation of advanced public health work and also about research being conducted to improve the health outcomes of marginalized communities.  I also interned for the Community Health Council, which is a nonprofit that works to provide healthcare for those who cannot get it around the world.  This experience has educated me about the health problems underserved communities are facing globally, and has given me the opportunity to help improve their medical care.  During the fall of my sophomore year, I will be interning at the National Center for Health Research, which is a nonprofit that works to promote the health of women, children, and families by analyzing the health information available for diseases and then presenting these facts in a way to be implemented into policy.  I hope to learn the process that is necessary to translate the results of health research into policy that can improve the lives of those most adversely affected.

As I advance in my education and eventually embark on my career, I plan to continue to help improve the lives of underserved communities by improving the public health and education of these populations.  I want to become an expert in public health and more specifically epidemiology.  Through attaining my doctorate degree in epidemiology and working to gain influence in the field, I hope to use my expertise to advocate for solutions to the health issues that are disproportionately affecting under-resourced communities.  I want to focus on modeling diseases, so I will be able to understand them better and thus learn what measures need to be taken to best prevent populations from developing different diseases. I also would like to expand my scope to working on creating pandemic and outbreak preparedness measures especially focusing on the measures that need to be taken to best prepare underserved populations.  In essence, my ultimate goal is to be able to add a health disparities lens to the work being done in disease modeling.

When I think about my legacy, I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference in as many people’s lives as possible.  I feel the way that I will be able to accomplish this is through a career in public health.  Through understanding diseases and how they spread, I feel I will be able to make a difference in many people’s lives and through a way I feel most passionate about: health. Diseases know no boundaries, but often times they disproportionately affect underserved and under-resourced communities.  Without access to medical care or the ability to afford treatment, seemingly common diseases can claim the lives of far too many victims.  Ultimately, I want to be remembered as a champion for public health, who not only spread health awareness, but also aided in the prevention of diseases in underserved communities worldwide.

- Jessica Rothman, Sophomore (CAS)

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Julien Blaney on Patience, Discipline, and Helping Others

                               For as long as I can remember, patience and discipline have been the most important virtues in my life. During my short time on this Earth, I have seen how having or lacking the two can spell the difference between success and failure. This undeniable truth I’m sure is common knowledge. From a very early age, our parents have cautioned us against being impatient and undisciplined. And we too have at some point witnessed the benefits of making wise and calculated choices. While I would never dissuade anyone from being patient and disciplined, my life’s journey towards achieving my dreams and making the world a better place has given me a new and improved perspective. That new perspective has revealed to me that patience can sometimes inhibit progress and that discipline can discourage out of the box thinking. It has also informed me at such a young age that my greatest test in life will be determining how and when to embody these virtues.

            I am not embarrassed to say that from a very early age, I have desired to be the best in everything that I am passionate about. My competitive spirit has given me an unshakable confidence in abilities, but has also given me an unhealthy tendency to lose faith in activities that I do not immediately excel at and abandon ideas that do not quickly come to fruition. The paradox of my well-intentioned, but nonetheless flawed thinking is that while I hope to be the best, I am too often unwilling to put in the work and time required to reach my destination. I have seen this trend in my attempts to help others.

            Starting in high school, I took great interest in helping communities who needed a voice and the resources to succeed. With help from my grandmother, I started a two-week summer camp for children in Anse Pirogue, Haiti. Although I was able to secure some supplies for their daily activities and really connected with the kids, I failed to reconnect with them after the camp was finished and have not been back since. During my time in high school I was elected president of the student council for three years running. While I was never short of ideas and we did manage to do community service in the youth and elderly communities, much of what we planned was not accomplished. Similarly to Haiti, I left that experience feeling like there was so much more that I could have done, but for some reason didn’t.

            In college I continued to try and serve under-resourced communities. I took on internships with a couple organizations that advocated for those that lacked a voice, but so desperately strived to achieve the American Dream. In one internship I wrote several memos in support of government sponsored enterprises that worked to secure housing for low-income families. At the other, I worked with a team of brilliant individuals as we attempted to register Latino Americans to vote and educate this country about the importance of embracing them as an essential part of our nation’s fabric. Apart from interning, I had also volunteered on several occasions with organizations as a part of my community service commitment. While I knew that the work I was doing was meaningful and imperative in elevating our national consciousness, I still felt my excitement waning and the urge to move on to something else. Unfortunately, my lack of patience prohibited me from digging in, following up and pushing myself to see the connection between all the things that I was doing.

            I did not realize it then, but I was also too patient and allowed many opportunities to fly past me. I foolishly used the justification that I was young and would have the opportunities again at a later point in life. In certain circumstances (not all) I was too disciplined. I say that in the sense that I was too quick to conform to methods that I had seen others use to achieve their goals instead of thinking outside the familiar path and finding my own way. I read a book this past summer by David Brower, former president of the Sierra Club, who argued that a practical way of thinking is often a flawed way of thinking. His reasoning was that most people believe that practicality is thinking the same way that others have thought in the past. As a history major, I know for certain that us thinking the same way as those who came before us also leads to us achieving the same mistakes they made too. For that reason, I see many parallels between Brower’s view of the practical mind and my version of the disciplined one.

            It has taken me half of my college career to at least appreciate the importance of being patient and impatient, disciplined and undisciplined. These two years have been a very revealing time for me. In fact, my whole life has. I suppose that it took coming to college to realize that. I understand now that everything that I have done to help others is connected. Since I was little, I have loved people and being connected with them. I have also had the unfailing urge to ensure that all people are included. From my time in Haiti when I worked to make sure that the young children could share the same experience as American kids in an activity as basic as summer camp to my work in college ensuring that ordinary folks could have the extraordinary and not restricted opportunity to achieve the American Dream, I have always fought for togetherness.

            I hope that now as I fight to find ways to improve the circumstances of the impoverished through green technology, housing security and economic empowerment, I will remember my journey, which has been filled with successes and many failures. I pray for the patience and discipline to not lose faith in what I am doing, but also for the courage to take what is rightfully mine and help others do the same. I know there is so much for me to do and yet, I am so excited by a new set of challenges that I will certainly face. I am no longer afraid to be great and it will be my mission to help others realize that they too possess that same fearlessness and tenacity. I may not live to see the realization of that dream, but am comforted to know that we’ll be on the right track as long as we invest in each other and ourselves. 

-Julien Blaney, Junior (CAS)

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Stephanie Vela's Undergraduate Experience with FDDS