Christian Santilli Loomis Chaffee GESC

My Global & Environmental Identity

I am of Italian, Greek, and Polish descent. I have always traveled since I was young and have a strong passion for learning and experiencing new cultures and customs. My Italian family, which I last saw last year, is large and welcoming. In the time spent together, I was able to learn how to make different dishes, all while experiencing Genoa and its surrounding areas through their eyes. Furthermore, my identity as a Greek and Polish person are explored throughout my family customs. Taking from my mother's side of the family, we celebrate Greek Easter, as well as visit and support the Eastern Orthodox Greek Church, despite being Catholic ourselves. For Greek Easter, and New Years, another important day in Greek culture, my mother creates certain bread and cookies for the celebrations, from recipes obtained from her mother and grandmother. Alongside this, our family also attends the yearly Greek Festival at the Greek church in Hartford, which my grandfather was an avid supporter of, helping morph the church to look as it does today. Participating in these studies allows me to gain a deeper understanding of the many distinct cultures throughout the world, along with ways we can be more sustainable in preserving our planet. Whether it be through sustainable farming practices like what I had seen in Cuba, or what my Italian family follows in their village, finding ways to lessen our carbon footprint remains important to me. A few goals I have for the GESC Program are to explore and learn about other cultures, and find solutions to the climate problem our planet faces today.

Global & Environmental Resume

GESC-designated Courses

  • World History
  • French
  • CL European History
  • CL English IV: Writing from the Arab World
  • Ceramics I
  • CL Statistics
  • CL English IV: Harlem Renaissance
  • CL U.S. History
  • CL History Seminar: Immigration and Ethinicity
  • CL History Seminar: Modern East Asian History
  • CL English IV: Creative Writing

Elective Courses

  • My GESC elective activity is Model U.N. Through Model UN, I have been able to experience and participate in open collaboration with other people and nations and problem solve on a global scale.

GESC Experiential Education

In March 2023, I traveled to both Cuba and Little Havana, Miami. While in Cuba I learned about how Cubans sustainably farm and collaborate together as a community, and the history of conflict between Cuba and the United States. In Miami I learned about the Cuban immigrant population in America.

If applicable ...

  • Model U.N., focusing on collaborating with other delegates on solving global or crisis related issues.

Learning Artifacts

GESC Coursework

  • In my CL U.S. History class junior year, I wrote an essay on the history of treatment towards Arab Americans and their immigration history to the United States. Through this research, I was able to learn about the deep-rooted history of mistreatment and hate towards Arab Americans.
essay

GESC Seminars

  • For our second seminar, we travelled to the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. While there, we studied primary sources and learned about the different problems immigrants would face and factors that lead to them leaving or staying in their country. We also learned about the different jobs immigrants would take in Connecticut, ranging from brick building, tobacco farming, and working in a yarn factory. We learned that often children under twelve would be working in these factories, often facing abuse and injury. This experience was eye-opening in learning and expanding my previous knowledge of immigration to Connecticut and the immigrant workforce, and the many struggles immigrant families faced.
  • For the third seminar, AnaAlicia visited us and gave us a presentation on food sovereignty and what her non-profit does to help with it in Connecticut. Her non-profit, Nourish My Soul, helps to educate children on healthy eating habits through the young chef program, and cook and provide meals for anyone who needs to eat, regardless of their financial situation, free of charge. In recent years, she has gathered a group of people that have helped develop different gardening techniques, including developing a box that will float in the event of a flood. Nourish My Soul reminds me of a not-far off program that I learned about in Cuba, where members of the community would have community gardens that contributed to a larger co-op program. In relation to the Alvord Center Learning Matrix, the presentation inspired me to take action, through creating innovative solutions for the common good akin to her non-profit, and her presentation enhanced my understanding of the dire need for food sovereignty and hunger in the United States.
  • For the fifth seminar, I attended a Shultz Fellowship meeting on climate change and climate change policies. The meeting focused heavily on the 'take action' part of the Alvord Citizenship Matrix, as it focused on discussing how global and United States policy should be altered and shaped to better address climate and reducing emissions. I learned about the negative affects of the United States being one of a few countries that are not participating in the Paris Climate Agreement, as well as the weight a global superpower like the United States has in its influence in decision-making and political stances. The meeting left me wondering how future administrations might address climate change, and if increased polarisation might lead to a yo-yo affect with supportive climate legislature and negative legislature in the future.

GESC Electives

Hartford Hospital Volunteering
  • Since freshman year, I have volunteered every summer at Hartford Hospital, in Hartford Connecticut. I would assist hospital staff in patient care in the ER, post-surgery units, geriatric units, and on the surgery floor. Through this experience, I was able to give back to my community, enhance my understanding of medicinal knowledge, and learn about the different jobs I can preform and study for to help those most in need.

GESC Experiential Education: Cuba + Miami

Learning to make Cuban drinks (left), where I had the chance to work alongside one of the workers at the restaurant we were at. Later that night, we talked and became friends through Instagram. Second, we experienced Cuban music and dance (top), where we had the opportunity to further experience the rich Cuban music and dance culture. Lastly, attending a ceremonial canon firing ceremony at the Spanish Fort (bottom), where we spent a fun night experiencing the ceremonial firing of the Spanish canons, originally signalling the closing of the gates when Havana was still a gated city.

Capstone Project

Italian American Immigration Webpage

Website link

Project rationale

Creating the webpage was incredibly important to me. Half of my family is Italian, and I was interested in learning more about our past stories of immigrating to America, along with the stories of other Italians to see how they compared. I believe that this project will also be beneficial to other Italian Americans alike, as the website can act as a starting point to jump into their own histories and learn more about their families.

Target Audience

The target audience for my project would be Italian Americans, or students learning about immigration to the United States.

Project Process

To create my webpage, I had to not only find and compile secondary sources but also gather primary sources through interviews. I interviewed my relative, Georgio, who was able to consult with numerous members of our family and historical records kept by our family to compile a complete picture of what our family did in the past and curate a story of immigration. I also interviewed two others, my father and Mr Zunino, who both provided in-depth stories of their families and immigration stories. I encountered a few challenges, predominately finding effective secondary sources to coincide with my primary sources to create a complete history. However, with enough time and research, I was able to find everything I needed.

Project Reflection

I believe that my website worked really well. I believe that the webpage affectively demonstrates an enhanced understanding of Italians and Italian immigration, as well as pushing people to expand and do their own research about their cultural heritage and immigration histories. While crafting the website, I was able to grow further as a global and environmental scholar through the interviews I conducted. I learned more about my own families history, as well as other families histories. Furthermore, I dscovered sources that provided imoprtant background information on Italian immigration that I had not known previously. I envision my project as being used as a tool to help people connect with their own immiigration histories and culture, inspiring people to learn more about their histories.

GESC Reflection

I believe that in completing the GESC Certificate, I have fulfilled my goals originally stated in my letter of intent. Through my trip to Cuba, I was able to further my understanding of different cultures, as well as the various problems that people face across the world, politically and economically. I believe that in the past year, through the different seminars and my capstone project, I have grown exponentially as an environmental scholar, now grasping an enhanced understanding of the world about me, as well as the environmental challenges we face today. I am greatful for the opportunity to participate in the GESC program and believe that through the program I have become a more well-rounded and knowledgeable person.