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Indisputably Essential

According to Miriam Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of essential is “of the utmost importance: basic, indispensable, necessary.” Three months ago, I thought going to the movies was essential. Going to the mall seemed essential. My weekends away from schoolwork were essential. The experience of being quarantined has made me realize it wasn’t the movie release that was so necessary, and it wasn’t the shoes I wanted at the mall that were essential. What was essential was spending time with my friends. It was time with my family on vacation experiencing new adventures together outside of our house. The coronavirus has forced us all to reconsider what is really “essential.” 

While it is for the good of our local community and the world that we stay quarantined to stop this virus from spreading, it is important to consider the effect on our civil liberties. It is now against the law to gather in large groups in public spaces. More than 200 million people across America are under stay-in-place orders. Our lives have been turned upside down to accommodate this new normal. We sit on our couches watching the progression of disease even as new public health ordinances are rolled out, crossing off the list more and more places we can’t go to do what used to be our normal daily activities. As we reflect on these compromises for the good of our neighbors and our friends, we should give careful thought to which of those activities cannot be compromised. And perhaps our local and federal officials can do the same.  Clearly food services should make the cut. Medical facilities should make the cut. But what about gun stores? What about churches? 

 Gun owners argue that they “want to protect their family in case things go the other way” (NPR). While this argument may have some validity during pre-COVID times, the idea that a gun will protect you from an airborne virus is not only illogical, but it is also ignorant and misleading. Since the outbreak, gun and ammunition sales have dramatically increased with panic driven purchases, with advocates using the second amendment as justification. The right to bear arms is not the right to buy arms. 

According to National Public Radio (NPR), the Los Angeles County sheriff has ordered gun shops in the county to close twice now. The decision of whether to leave gun shops open is determined by county, not state, officials, leading to a variety of decisions all over the country. Groups like the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the National Rifle Association are working with the Trump administration to “make sure firearm manufacturers do not experience a disruption during the pandemic” (NPR). While some make the argument that if gun stores close, a pandemic-inspired growing panic to purchase firearms may lead to a backlog in the background checks system and a new population of uneducated, untrained gun owners, this doomsday forecast has not come to be. Drug arrests in Chicago have dropped 42% in the last few weeks since the city shut down. The rate of key crimes in Los Angeles has dropped 30% since March 15. In New York City, one of the hardest hit epicenters of coronavirus, crime has decreased by  double digits. While outside crime has been decreasing, the rate of domestic violence, however, has been skyrocketing (Forbes). Purchasing a gun counters every public health official’s orders to stay at home. While living during a time where each day is a new unknown provokes fear and uncertainty, purchasing a gun will not stop this pandemic and may raise the level of danger in domestic violence exponentially. Guns are not an essential business. And why should our government protect the firearm industry when the rest of the nation is struggling to put food on the table.  The New York Times reports that in the last 3 weeks more than 16 million Americans have been put out of work. Where’s the relief for them?

Amidst debates about firearm stores being essential businesses, new debates have arisen regarding churches, synagogues, and mosques. In Kansas, legislation dictates that people stay at home, except “going to church, buying or selling guns or running a childcare center” (US News). We all understand it’s difficult to have your life interrupted for a virus. We all understand what it’s like to miss activities you used to do. But what has always been essential for some (spiritual life) may be done differently for the greater good. A virtual spiritual community has the potential to offer religious support, education, and community while still saving lives. Both are essential.

Within the last month, our cities, counties, states, and nations have had to debate what we consider essential. We need to urge each other to stay home, to connect virtually, and to go out only for truly essential reasons. We need to urge our elected officials, particularly as the presidential election approaches, to continue to ask these same questions and to make difficult decisions that are nonpartisan and focused on our health and safety.  All of our lives may depend on it.

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My House made of Paper Products

What teenager’s life isn’t busy? I’m a planner, and I had something on my calendar for every weekend through the end of semester. I had academic plans, with study schedules timed out for the AP exams in the spring. I had travel plans to look at colleges and see family. I had dances to go to – especially prom. I had tennis practice, and music rehearsal, and so much more. And then, like everyone, I had to rethink my days and my plans. I had to rethink my life in terms of my friends, my community, and my world. 

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.  As a student of current events, I did take notice of the illness outbreak in China. But it was a small note, lost in election primaries and presidential gaffes. It was a big stretch to imagine an illness affecting people in China could move so far, so fast, and kill so many. And then last week, it was here.  “Mom, everything’s cancelled. It’s here.”

Never in my life have there been so many unknowns.  I haven’t left my house in almost a week. I’ve started a series on my Tik Tok social media platform called “pandemic hobbies.” I’m putting on “concerts” in my living room for my family so they can see the product of my hours of hard violin practice, and I’ve taken to learning to homeschool myself because my district is still trying to figure out “distance learning.” Last week I was preparing to go to Chicago to compete at Nationals with my school’s honors string orchestra. Now I’m wondering if it’s safe to go to Target to grocery shop, and my dad has stored an arsenal of paper products. My mom, a doctor, still takes care of patients but the specter of many patients looms large. And things couldn’t be more different for the rest of my family and my friends. Who even heard of social distancing? The more articles I read, the more real it gets. How much longer will this go on? How am I supposed to prepare for my AP exams with no teacher? Will there be an AP exam setting for me to take the test? How is this going to affect my chances for getting into college? My mind is overwhelmed with questions to which no one has the answers. 

I remember my freshman year of high school, when the Thomas Fire swept through Ventura County, igniting the hills behind my home like a massive bonfire. I remember being off of school for five weeks while my friends gathered together their lives from the ashes left from the fire. I remember feeling sorry for my older brother, a junior at the time, because he still had to take AP exams. I sit here now quarantined in my home basking in the irony. But this time it’s not just me. It’s not just my school. It’s not just my county. It’s the whole world. When I think of it this way, I realize what a great responsibility the young people in the world have. The least affected statistically, young people, myself included, may tend to brush off social distancing as a nuisance and think that we can still meet in groups to keep us on track with our studying or just to have fun. After all, eighty percent of people infected by coronavirus have mild disease. But the world is resting on our shoulders. My decision to meet with a group of friends for a movie night could mean inadvertently spreading this disease, and not only no more school for the rest of the year, but also filling our hospitals to their capacity in a number of days. As each day progresses, new information comes out that makes this virus closer and closer to home, and each day, precautions become more and more intense. 

During times of tragedy people tend to come together. Before high school, I had never really experienced the effects of a tight knit community supporting each other. Then the Thomas fire happened in my town, and I watched strangers rally together to help those in need.  We contributed to GoFundMe fundraisers, bought clothes and gift cards, and copied math homework. Now I watch the world come together from my living room as schools work to provide online learning and even food for their students, as friends reach out to others through FaceTime to make sure no one is isolated, and as governments make tough decisions to assure the safety of their citizens. Never before have I experienced a circumstance such as this one. And never have I seen our world closer together, even though we’re all six feet apart. 

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Listening Beyond Stereotypes

On Tuesday January 28, 2020 Black Violin played in Santa Barbara, California at the Granada Theater, usually the epitome of established upper class white culture. But today this performance by Black Violin drew a multicultural audience, young and old. The music, the visuals, and the performance they brought was an extreme juxtaposition: the cross pollination of classical and hip hop music. 

Black Violin’s first album was called Stereotypes, and the title was a theme to which they returned often to describe their experience:  two black violinists who have been physically stopped on the street, confused with thugs when they hold violins, two black men who were told in high school they should play basketball or football because of their appearance. These biases, conscious or not, are within all of us. Everyday we place ourselves and those around us into these boxes, as if you can only be one person or another, rather than the eclectic mix we all are.  

Black Violin breaks those stereotypes by mixing two genres that couldn’t be more different, by showcasing their passion for not only hip hop but also classical music, and by bringing elderly white women to a concert with urban black teenagers. Black Violin in their first two minutes on stage leaves behind the idea that just because you look a certain way or are part of a certain group that you can’t fulfill this dream. Wil and Kev, the duo who make up Black Violin, play with true virtuosity and passion. They repeatedly got everyone up on their feet, clapping and moving with the music, and demonstrating how music unites people from different backgrounds. And they teach that lesson in many venues; they played for 1200 school children in Santa Barbara earlier in the afternoon, showing by example what kids can achieve through music and also by following a vision that is just a little bit different. Not nearly as well funded as sports, music offers another community to an entirely different set of kids. Making it a goal to enhance urban communities, Black Violin works with around 100,000 young students during the school year, mostly from Title 1 schools, not only to mentor them in music, but also to spread their message of being unique and standing out from the crowd.

To break a stereotype is to put yourself out there, to risk rejection. Black Violin has taken this risk with clear success.  Having received music scholarships for college, Kev and Wil could have become classical musicians for an orchestra like the LA Philharmonic and used their classical training. They could have chosen the hip hop route and completely disregarded their classical training. Instead, they combined their two seemingly different worlds into a movement even more powerful, a lesson for all of us.

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Education

Education. As Americans, we pride ourselves on how great education is in our country. We look down upon countries with lower levels of educational achievement, and education is our first solution to all the world’s problems. As a Model United Nations delegate, I can say with certainty that in every delegate’s resolution paper, “education” is always number one on the solution list. Education should prepare us to adapt to our surroundings and to solve problems. So why doesn’t our current high school curriculum fulfill this role? 

 I am fluent in trigonometry and can analyze an author’s rhetorical choices in English, but I am uncertain how to practically apply that knowledge to combat climate change, to change the culture fostering gun violence, or to stop the spiraling crisis of drug abuse. Our curriculum focuses on classical liberal arts yet does not provide us with the tools to apply this education to these critical issues. 

Many may argue the liberal arts education I am receiving now is perfectly fine to get me where I need to go: I can apply the work ethic I have learned from music class to the sports I play or the scholarships for which I am applying. I can apply the writing rubrics I learned in my English class to write this very blog post. But it is not enough. The prior generation has not taught us anything about how to combat the real world problems we are facing today, many of them inherited from that generation. For this reason, my peers and I need to take charge of our education. We have to stretch the “nuts and bolts” education farther. We need imagination. We need better tools. We need analytical skills. 

As we enter into 2020, a new decade, we need to focus our education system on more than just mathematical fluency and writing English essays. I am being encouraged to think critically and for that reason I ask these hard questions about our world. Now someone needs to revamp the curriculum to teach the practical application of this knowledge. We have this idea that the only people who can make change are those officially elected: governors, legislators, mayors. It has been ingrained into our brains through the public education system and the hierarchy of our culture to respect authority. Kids should not talk back. Kids should not question what they are told as fact. But the education we are missing is exactly that. How to speak up for what you believe in no matter your age, no matter if you have a college degree, no matter if you have run a successful political campaign. Young people, like Greta Thunberg among others, are  creating a culture of change by challenging the status quo. Our education system needs to be reimagined and transformed to recognize that young people have the ability to lead and to teach students how we can take what we learn in the classroom and apply it to the issues in our communities that require change.

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I Don’t Understand

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to gamble away our lives on the large scale chess board that is power politics;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to put business money and corporation above the lives of both me and future generations;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to give a teacher a gun;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to let gun culture rage on to a point where I’m a teenager who’s afraid to go to school, the mall, the theater, outside.

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to allow the opioid crisis continue on ruining the lives of kids, teens, adults…people;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to make a human being illegal anywhere;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to justify their actions of violence and hate just because their skin is the color of milk and paper and that somehow makes them better than everyone else;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to give their thoughts and prayers and then stop caring;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to control the body and choices of another human being;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to say they’re pro life but continue to provide insufficient sexual education and health services;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to blame every problem on our country’s mental health crisis when they refuse to do anything to solve that issue anyway;

I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to fund their political campaigns at the expense of my life…of my future;

I don’t understand why they don’t think my life, my future in this country, in this WORLD, is worth making change for.

I don’t understand, but I’m just a kid…right?

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Gen Z is Pissed Off

I’m a Gen Z kid. Born in 2003, I grew up in the age of cell phones, smart devices, school shootings, and climate change. Throughout elementary and middle school, I had role models, mostly consisting of my parents, Michelle Obama, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While these people still hold prominent positions in my life as mentors I look up to, now as a high schooler, the age of my role models has dropped a few generations. In light of events such as the Parkland Shooting and Global Climate Strikes, my new role models include Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, and Greta Thunberg. Kids, both older and younger than me, are at the forefront of these campaigns for change in our world. We represent Gen Z, and we’re frankly pissed off about the world we are inheriting. 

Before Parkland, I was passionate about gun control. Why? Because I was scared. I was scared of being shot in my classroom or when I was out and about with friends at the mall. But did I do anything? Yes and no. I took steps to organize with other students at my school who cared. But these were small steps. It wasn’t until I saw teens who had been through the very tragedy of which I was terrified, speak out that I had a sense that students can create change.  These students called out adults in government who stood by as these tragedies unfolded, again and again. And someone my age was holding them accountable. My club began planning events for my school, and we became involved with the gun debate at our county fairgrounds. Seeing teenagers speak out and “call BS” on national television inspired me and my fellow peers at school to begin not just asking, but demanding change from our local legislators and beyond. I felt inspired to attend a social action trip with my temple to Washington D.C. and empowered to lobby my congressperson about gun control. While on that trip, I had the chance to meet a Parkland survivor my age, advocating for the same legislation. 

News is always cycling, and the new big thing for Gen Z is climate change. We call ourselves “VSCO Girls” by using reusable Hydro Flasks and paper straws so we can “save the turtles” and call out anyone who dares to bring a plastic water bottle to school. Climate change has always been an issue of which my friends and I have been aware. But the momentum we have now with Greta Thunberg leading the fight is almost unbelievable. We walk out of class to protest the use of fossil fuels. We gather in the streets to put our president on notice that we are aware of the dire consequences to our own generation of those decisions made by his – and that we are angry. Do they listen? Well, as we enter the 2020 election year, I guess we’ll find out. 

With role models under the age of 20 calling out adults and riling up the world’s population under the age of 25, Gen Z is making more and more noise to call out our own governments on their lack of action. We’ve crossed a threshold; we’re no longer just upset that the government won’t take action. In 30 years, I won’t get to just sit back in my reclining chair with the air conditioner blowing, the doors open, and my expensive car with its carbon footprint out front. We’ve lost that luxury. I’ll be spending my money on trying to save Vietnam, parts of Egypt, and Thailand from being completely engulfed by the ocean. My generation no longer gets the luxury to just dismiss science because we don’t want to deal with it. We have to clean up this mess before it’s an irreversible problem. This growing rage against our inheritance has manifest itself into protests, walk outs, and speeches. Although fiery passion has its benefits, one downside is having young people just focusing on blaming older generations for screwing us over. Yes, it is their fault for letting climate change become a reality. Yes, it is their fault for creating a culture of normalized shootings. But that doesn’t mean that we can wallow in anger. It is still our duty to demand action – a form of constructive criticism if you will. These young role models leading the way are the perfect example of what all of us teens must do. Being mad gets you nowhere. It’s imperative to combine anger with action to join that march downtown to raise awareness of climate change, to protest gun violence, and most of all, to preregister to vote. I did. 

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Do We Remember What We Should Never Forget?

All my life I’ve been told that I live in a post 9/11 world. I was constantly reminded of this fact on the anniversary date of the attack each year at school when all of my teachers would recount their experiences on that fateful day in 2001. I vividly remember my 8th grade English teacher telling me that she was watching an action movie on television when the breaking news came on. I remember my mom telling me she was home with my then seven-month old brother listening to the radio. Each year I would see the flag at half mast, listen to podcasts of survivors recounting their experiences, or watch documentaries recounting the events of the day. As a child born in 2003, my experience with 9/11 is made up of the stories that I’ve been told. My parents did their best to educate me and my brother on this horrific event by taking us to the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City and discussing the event, the memorial, and the aftermath. As a result, throughout my life I’ve been very aware of 9/11. But this year was different. 

I went to school this year on 9/11 expecting to hear a new round of stories – about where my teachers were when they heard about the attack on the twin towers, about the lives of survivors, and about the lives of those lost. I got to first period English where our principal held the call to colors, asking us to rise.  The moment was somber but without any remembrance. The call to colors was repeated second period, to ensure all could participate. During that same period, AP US History, my teacher told us that on the upcoming Friday, we would study 9/11 in depth. That was at 9:30 am. I heard nothing regarding 9/11 for the rest of the day. 

I got home and as I was recounting my day’s experiences to my mom, I began to feel a little shocked.  This event, one of the most significant in our history as a country, became more of a footnote to the day, with little said or done to mark it.  And that itself was worth marking. As I reflected on my day, the normalcy of it, I realized that since I’ve gotten to high school, few of my teachers have ever talked about 9/11. The whole awareness around 9/11 seems to be receding. Does this mean we’ve gotten used to this level of terror just like we’ve gotten used to school shootings?

Although unlike in my classrooms, news outlets highlighted the events of 9/11, the news cycle is very short, and by the very next week all of those stories were overshadowed by the global climate strike. As a high school activist, I am deeply passionate about climate change, but I am concerned that my generation doesn’t recognize the significance of these terrorist attacks – they barely penetrate our consciousness, let alone the daily flow of our social media. Climate change is the battle of my generation. But isn’t our battle against terrorism also important? 

We remain at present, a country at war.  We have been at war with Afghanistan for my whole life.  We don’t realize it because it doesn’t affect our everyday lives like for those alive during World War II. But the war in Afghanistan directly relates to the September 11th attacks. Just two weeks ago another American died in Afghanistan, and the only reason I know about that is because my history teacher told me. 

Eighteen years after these terrorist attack, it feels to me like Americans have moved on. If you didn’t directly lose a friend or family member, it’s as if the concern doesn’t apply to you. But terrorism is still a very real threat. Especially with our current administration, terrorist attacks could happen at any time in any place. But just like Americans have normalized the shooting of school children, Walmart shoppers, and church goers, we’ve normalized terrorist attacks. 

All my life I’ve been told I live in a post 9/11 world. We need to continue teaching the significance of this phrase every year. There’s a reason security lines in our airports are so long. There’s a reason we’re at war with Afghanistan. There’s a reason our current administration can play upon the xenophobia in this country. And that reason is 9/11. Just because the kids in my generation and younger didn’t live through this event doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cognisant of how it shaped the 21st century. 

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Power Dynamics in the Minor Sex Industry

This summer I had the opportunity to attend the Boston University Summer Journalism Institute. During our session, we had a press conference where Audrey Morrissey, a survivor of sex trafficking, came to speak to us about her experiences. After listening to her moving story, I wrote this article to inform the public about how power dynamics in our country drive industries such as these. 

Sex trafficking survivor Audrey Morrissey spoke to Boston University Summer Journalism Institute students on Tuesday about her experience as a survivor of sex trafficking in in Boston.

Morrissey, now the Associate Director and National Survivor Leadership Director of the non-profit organization My Life My Choice, described the experiences that she says led her to enter the sex industry at age 15, as well as the point in her life at which she was able to exit.

Morrissey said she came from a family dynamic that led her to have no self-esteem. She said the vulnerabilities of girls in similar situations lead some to enter into what she called “the life,” stemming from places of desperation for love.

Morrissey became involved with a group of guys in high school that she said became her gateway into the industry. Morrissey said she was pressured into sex, which ultimately spiraled into a dominating relationship. 

“Listen, there’s a lot of girls that like me. You’re coming here and you’re wasting my time. If you don’t want to have sex with me I know a lot of girls who do” Morrissey said, quoting her then boyfriend. “I remember tears rolling down my eyes, I remember my spirit leaving me, meaning that little girl.”

As an adult now, Morrissey has done research into what drives the minor sex industry and says power dynamics play a large role. She claims the industry is driven by politicians and family-aged white men.

 In a study by The Schapiro Group, nearly half of men involved in sex trafficking are between the ages of 30 and 39, and 65 percent of men are from the suburbs.

In a study conducted by Demand Abolition, it was found that currently-active high frequency buyers are much more likely than other men to make over $100,000 per year. Another study’s results showed 84.9 percent of men who purchased sex were Caucasian , and 66.3 percent are married.

Soon after giving up her virginity, Morrissey found herself pregnant at 16, and she said the only time the baby’s father would come around was to take the welfare checks she began receiving on the 10th and the 25th of each month. Morrissey became involved in thieving with a friend, which lead to her sitting in a car with pimps driving through what was then known as Boston’s “combat zone,” — an area where sex trafficking took place.

Morrissey sat in the back of this car with her boyfriend, his cousin, and the three girls he had working for him. 

“If you love me, you would do the same thing,” Morrissey said, referring to what her boyfriend said to her.

At age 16, Morrissey was tempted by the thought of love into “the life,” and she began spiraling. By age 20 she was addicted to alcohol, cocaine, and later crack and heroin, and working in a strip club.

“Without my permission I was a heroin addict,” Morrissey said.

Between the ages of 20 and 30, Morrissey went to detox five separate times, but after the fifth session, she was finally ready to hear the information they were providing to her, and she began the journey of recovery. 

Morrissey explained her disdain for events such as bachelor parties that she says normalize buying sex. She said as long as people the privileged and powerful continue to pay, sex work will continue. 

“Why do people buy people? Because they can,” Morrissey said.

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Active Shooter Drills at School – What’s Next?

I talk with my mom each day after I come home from school. We discuss the day’s events and eventually transition into what happened in the news. Too often we are discussing abortion ban laws, immigration restrictions, and mass shootings. I recently went to the L’Taken Seminar hosted by the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism in Washington DC. At this seminar I was able to learn how to lobby effectively, and I had the incredible opportunity of lobbying my congressperson for the Bipartisan Background Checks Act (which passed a couple weeks later). As I stayed up late the night before trying to write my speech, I brainstormed why gun violence prevention was important to me. Of course the idea that I don’t want to get shot came to mind, but as I sat with my project partner for hours, I realized what drives me, a 15 year old, to push so strongly for these bills.

No matter what I discuss at home or with my friends or what I believe, our elected officials are the ones making the laws, not me. Our elected officials are from previous generations, and the laws they make reflect the mindset of previous generations. I am a 15-year-old girl living in California. I attend Ventura High School. I go to the mall on the weekends. I attend public conferences and concerts. And every day, I have to worry about whether or not I will be the victim of another mass shooting. Our elected officials make laws that seem to focus on preserving their support and funding from groups like the NRA. They don’t have to face the consequences of the laws they pass. But I do. My friends do. And I will no longer stand by as I watch another school get shot up on the news, or as I watch my president tweet his “thoughts and prayers” each time it happens. History repeats itself. We’ve seen it with our world wars. We’ve seen it with Roe v.Wade. But when will our country see it for the epidemic that is gun violence?

After the L’Taken Seminar, I applied for and was accepted to a Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) fellowship run through the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC. In this role, I get to work with other students who share the same passion for social justice as I do, and we work together to implement GVP projects in our communities. When brainstorming project ideas, I didn’t want to sign on for something small just for the sake of checking a box on a rubric to say I completed something. If I was going to put in the effort, I wanted it to be meaningful. I decided to focus on prevention at the high school level.  I began to research previous curricula engaging high school students and went to my school principal with a proposal. I aim through the health, history, and government programs at my high school to give teachers the tools to teach and advocate awareness for the epidemic of gun violence. Freshman and sophomores will learn how to understand the signs of a person who seem like they might commit violence against themselves or others. After almost all mass shootings, we hear in the news how their family members “had no idea they would ever do something like this.” My goal for this part of the course is to teach students how to stop being bystanders when they see bullying, and how to help students who may seem suicidal or have violent thoughts. For juniors and seniors, the curriculum will involve learning about previous gun control legislation, and then students will debate to advocate for their beliefs.

As a student in 2019, I have to pause my education to participate in an active shooter drills at school. I have to always be aware of my surroundings when I am out, and I am always afraid. My parents never had to do this. And I want to make sure my children will never have to do this. Gun violence prevention is an issue that affects everyone. When someone is shooting up a school, a concert venue, a public park, I can assure you they are not concerned about whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or a Moderate. It doesn’t matter. Gun violence prevention is an issue of critical importance to our lives, and it will take every one of us to overcome the mass funding from groups like the NRA that are trying to stop us.

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Fun with MUN: Learning the Ropes of Model United Nations


Today, I would like to tell you all about Model UN. Around 4 years ago, I was watching The Goldbergs at home as a 7th grader, laughing about how much it related to my own family. There was an episode where Erica was saying a monologue about how she went from nerd to popular kid. In this list of nerdy activities, she talked about how she used to participate in Model UN. My brother happened to walk behind me at that moment, and the next thing I know, he’s starting a Model United Nations club at Ventura High School. For those 2 years between my 7th grade year and my freshman year, my brother, Micah, invested in getting a club started and even went to MUN camp in the summer.  He spoke non stop about how amazing MUN camp was, and how I just have to do it. As a 12 year old, I really had no idea what I wanted to do after high school, and I completely blew off Micah’s words. I was dragged along to conferences, and each time, it still made no sense to me what the delegates actually did. The day after I returned from my 8th grade Washington DC trip, a MUN team member of ours had a family emergency,. We were headed to a MUN conference, and since my parents were club advisors (so I was going along anyway), my family decided to volunteer me for the task of representing her country, Tunisia, on the General Assembly. This conference was my first experience with Model UN, and I hated it. I researched my country in the car, I had no idea how committee procedures worked, and I was definitely not interested in discussing Tunisia’s stance on sanctions. Coming from a family where commitment is regarded as very important, I toughed it out those two days but I decided I never wanted to do Model UN again.

Thank goodness my family persuaded me to try another conference. As I entered my freshman year at Ventura High School, I attended (what I now considered Micah and my) MUN club Mondays and Fridays, and I slowly started to understand how it actually worked.  And I really enjoyed it! For the last 2 years, I have competed in around 10 Model United Nations competitions. I’ve represented countless countries on countless committees, all working toward making a better future. When preparing for a conference, we get a choice of committees and a list of the countries that have seats on that committee. Whenever I can, I choose the committees that have to do with health. This past Saturday, I represented France on the World Health Organization, and I won my first Best Delegate award. Maybe it’s because I’m the child of a doctor, or just because I played Operation as a kid at camp, but I’ve always been interested in public health and the effects it has on communities. Growing up in Ventura, California, a beach town, I have never really had to deal first hand with the effects of a harmful living environment. Through Model UN, I’m able to step into the shoes of another country and argue for real solutions that affect real people.

Growing up with an older brother, I’ve watched him go in and out of phases, from the Titanic to smart watches and finally to economics, and I’ve seen him develop a career path for himself. I’ve had my fair share of phases as well; there was a time when I wanted to be an architect, then an interior designer, a pediatrician, and a fashion designer. In middle school, all of my teachers told me I’d “find myself” in high school, and that I would “find my crowd.” To tell you the truth, I still haven’t really “found my crowd,” but it’s the activities I joined that helped me “find myself.” By joining Model UN, I’ve gotten to experience so many new situations I would have never been exposed to before. I’ve learned so much about the world I live in and how my world interacts with the rest of the earth. While being in MUN has shaped my after school life a bit differently, I distinctly remember spending 3 hours on a Friday researching Russia. It has really been an amazing experience to explore this new academic universe, a course that has led me to wanting to major in international relations. I’ve been on a good 20 ish college tours with my brother, and now, as a sophomore, I know exactly where I want to go and pretty much exactly what I want to do! Going forward, I am looking at exploring other fields that can complement my interest in international relations, such as public health, economics, or foreign policy. Being in Model United Nations has given me so many opportunities, and I cannot wait to travel all over the world as a high schooler – through Model UN – to solve real world problems in a couple of days, the same problems that adults spend their entire lives trying to fix.