My Global & Environmental Identity
I have always found wonder in the environment and in exploring the world. Despite living in both New York City and Chicago for the first nine years of my life, I was able to connect to the natural world through museums, zoos, and books. My times at the American Museum of Natural History and Field Museum are some of my most cherished memories from this time of my life. Moving to Connecticut in 2014, I was able to go on (probably too many) hikes and began an interest in history that opened my eyes to the world. In the following years, I travelled to Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Denmark, exploring histories, cultures, and environments that deepened my understanding of the world. In Italy, I walked through the ruins of Pompeii and in Norway, I kayaked through the Geiranger Fjord. These experiences were a key step in my journey as a global and environmental citizen. The COVID-19 pandemic provided me with an opportunity to explore my local environment, which I had often overlooked before. Every day after virtual classes, I went into the woods in my backyard and connected with the natural world. In high school, I have had the opportunity to explore my interests further. For the past three summers, I’ve sailed as a crew member on the schooner Brilliant – a ship owned and operated by the Mystic Seaport Museum – on many ten-day programs through the Long Island Sound that have given me a new perception of the world’s seas and oceans. In 2022, I attended a program at the University of St Andrews in Scotland focused on Scottish history where I learned about the Scottish independence movement – an issue which I knew nothing of beforehand. In St Andrews, I realized how much of history is utterly left out and ignored by standard curriculums in the United States, as well as the importance of understanding how the past has led to modern-day issues. These thoughts continue to guide my educational experience at Loomis and in the GESC program.
I hope to create an engaging capstone project reflecting the importance of understanding the world through a global and environmental lens.
I hope to continue to learn more about the world we live in and how it impacts us all.
Global & Environmental Resume
GESC-designated Courses
- World History
- CL Literature and the Environment
- Philosophy of Nonviolence
- CL Writing From the Arab World
- Topics in Ethical Theory
- CL Comparative Government and Politics
- CL Latin IV
Elective Courses
Model United Nations has served as a unique way for me to explore both current affairs and the impact of historical events on our world today. As a delegate for the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia, and many other nations, I have honed my skills of discourse, compromise, and problem solving. I have also learned about a dramatic variety of world issues, past and present. From the Suez Crisis, to the Somali Civil War, to the conflict between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, I have forged into the fray of debate to form resolutions and solutions to numerous issues. Through Model UN, I have gained a new respect for the UN and other intergovernmental institutions that strive for peace on Earth. The skills and experiences that Model UN has given me continue to strengthen my ability to navigate the world as a global citizen.
GESC Experiential Education
In March of 2024, I went to Brussels, Belgium on an Alvord Center Experiential Education program to learn about international relations and take part in the Yale Model United Nations Europe conference. On this program, I learned about international relations, European politics, and World War I and interacted with various historical, political, and cultural sites. One of my most meaningful takeaways was how the legacy of the First World War informs how Europeans understand the current war in Ukraine. Listening to people in Europe's skepticism about US support for Ukraine, I could feel the echoes of 1915 when Europe's calls for aid fell upon a reluctant and isolationist America.
Additional Travel Experience and Elective Course
- In the summer of 2022, I attended a program at the University of St Andrews that focused on Scottish history and culture. In my classes at St Andrews, I learned about the Picts, mediaeval Scotland and Robert the Bruce, and Scotland’s influence on the world through its military fame and enlightenment philosophies. Outside of the classroom, I explored Scotland’s maritime history on the RRS Discovery in Dundee and I immersed myself in the lives of Scots through history from fishermen crammed into tiny homes at the St Andrews Heritage Museum to the lords in the upper echelons of society at Glamis Castle.
- I am a member of the Loomis Chaffee Debate Team. In this activity, I debate current affairs and issues, learning the ins and outs and researching both sides of them all. Debate has helped me learn how to logically structure arguments as well as how to think quickly on one's feet.
Learning Artifacts
GESC Coursework
CL Literature and the Environment: "Dispatches from the Future": In this essay, I sought to create a "dispatch from the future" that highlighted aspects of the future that might characterize Loomis in the year 2150, on a sustainable timeline in a world altered by climate change. The assignment worked with skills to develop understanding and take action through both in-class and individual stages. During one class session, we learned about how Loomis is taking action to fight against and adapt to climate change through campus-wide environmental initiatives. In my essay, I researched nuclear fusion technology and learned how it could be implemented to generate power in the future. By making my dispatch a Log article from 2150, I was able to explore what life might be like in a future where Loomis adjusts to adapt to the effects of climate change.
GESC Seminars
Post-Seminar 2 Reflection: The GESC field trip to the Islamic Association of Central Connecticut enhanced my understanding of Islam and immigration programs in Connecticut, helped me develop skills in talking and listening to people from a range of backgrounds, and inspired me to seek more knowledge of this subject. Before this trip, I knew very little about how Connecticut is addressing immigration. Thus, the seminar enhanced my understanding of IRIS, Welcome Corps, and the other ways the state is engaging everyday citizens. By encouraging people to volunteer and make a difference in their communities, these programs have brought Connecticut to the forefront of US immigration policy, with recent reforms being modelled after the state's systems. The seminar also enhanced my understanding of the importance of food in Middle Eastern culture. I learned how, in Syrian culture, food represents hospitality and is a way of bringing people together as all community members take part in preparing the food. This became realized at the IACC where we had food made for us by a recent immigrant who now owns a restaurant in New Haven. This trip shattered many common stereotypes of immigrants by providing a unique opportunity for discourse and socialization between the Loomis students and our peers at the IACC. My work as a Global and Environmental scholar has been significantly impacted by this trip as I've been able to seek knowledge and take action in a community not far separated ours at Loomis. The seminar prompts me to learn more about immigration policies in the US and abroad. Politicians frequently incite voter's fears about immigration yet, with what I have learned about Connecticut's immigrants and immigration policy, I wonder what there really is to be afraid of. When we are able to get out and talk to and get to know immigrants, we find out that they are not the job-stealing bogeyman created by fear mongerers, but that they are fascinating, unique, and complex people, just like us.
Post-Seminar 4 Reflection: For Seminar #4, I attended a concert by Iraqi musician Ameen Mokdad and the following Q&A session. Through both his performance and words, Mr Mokdad told his story of resistance to ISIS in Iraq. The composer took action against ISIS’s oppressive control of his hometown in Iraq by making music despite the terrorist group’s crackdown on all forms of music and art. Mokdad’s story revealed to me the power of music as a form of both expression and rebellion that he used to implement positive change. In one story, Mokdad told us about a neighbor of his who wanted to join ISIS. Mokdad tried to talk this neighbor out of joining the terrorist group but he wasn’t getting anywhere. Eventually he gave up trying to convince the neighbor and simply invited the neighbor to make a little bit of music with him. The neighbor loved Mokdad’s music so much that he came by every day for weeks to just listen to or sometimes make music, and he ultimately decided not to join ISIS. This story illustrates just one of the myriad ways that Mokdad uses his music to bring people together and has had a significant effect on my work as a Global and Environmental Scholar. After meeting Mr Mokdad, I started reading about the situation in Iraq and the complex history of the country. I am now inspired to learn about resistance to oppressive regimes and groups around the world and explore how people maintain their identity when others are trying to wipe it out.
GESC Electives
In this learning artifact, I am representing the Soviet Union at Yale's Model United Nations Europe conference in March 2024. My committee was the UN Security Council in 1991 dealing with German Reunification. Representing the Soviet Union in this conference forced me to explore a new perspective on history and work with others to solve a historical issue. This photo best connects to the develop skills area of the Alvord Center Matrix for a few reasons. Firstly, I had expand my active listening and open communication techniques in this committee and secondly, I had to provide a unique global lens to a problem solving excercise.
GESC Experiential Education
This picture is of Manneken Pis, a famous statue in Brussels's city center, from our walking tour of the city. Our tour guide used this unique little statue as a metaphor to explain the Belgian people that found particularly insightful. According to our guide, the statue's small stature, muscular figure, and urination symbolize Belgium's small size, strong people, and sense of humor.
This picture is of the European Parliament in Brussels from our visit there on the second day of the trip. Visiting the parliament, I learned about how the EU is structured and how supranational governance is executed in Europe. This experience helped me gain a greater understanding of European politics and the role of the EU in the lives of Europeans.
This picture is of reconstructed trenches from the First World War in Ypres. Visiting these trenches, I was struck by how the legacy of that war is felt in Europe and how it expresses itself in today's geopolitics. As trenches once again crisscross Europe in Ukraine, it is easy to feel a sense of the past coming back and to understand how many Europeans see the war in Ukraine as a potentially existential threat.
Capstone Project
Foreign Policy Coursework for CL Social Science Seminar: The U.S. Presidential Election
Project rationale
The intention behind this capstone is to raise awareness among Loomis Chaffee students of foreign policy issues in the 2024 election as this area has become increasingly important and relevant to voters. This importance is seen in recent polls finding that more Americans think foreign policy should be a top priority in 2024.
Target Audience
The target audience of my capstone is juniors and seniors who will be taking the CL U.S. Presidential Election seminar next fall. Many of these students are America's future voters and it is crucial that they can learn about and thoughtfully discuss foreign policy issues in this nation.
Project Process
I initially went into my capstone with the idea, which has remained largely the same, to teach Loomis students about the foreign policy impacts of the 2024 election. Some of my first ideas were to invite a guest speaker and host a seminar on campus about foreign policy; however, it soon became apparent that this was easier said than done. I encountered many impediments to inviting guest speakers and was encouraged to look into alternative mediums. In a conversation with Mr Karrat, I learned about the 2024 election course that will be held next Fall and the possibility of creating a foreign policy unit for it. This idea resonated with me and I soon reached out to other teachers to discuss the possibility of my capstone proposal being implemented and to ask for advice on how to structure the curriculum. Over the next few weeks, as I researched for my capstone, I gathered sources and formatted them into a lesson plan with suggestions for in-class discussions and assignments.
Project Reflection
When I first applied for the Alvord Center’s GESC program, I had an idea that for my capstone, I wanted to do something related to the 2024 election. I didn’t know at that time what I specifically wanted to do, only that I hoped to spread greater awareness about the election in the Loomis community. While I had a bit of a bumpy start to this capstone, I believe that its current format as unit coursework for a very popular college level term course fully realizes this goal. In the foreign policy unit which I developed for the project, I worked to incorporate all four aspects of the Alvord Center’s Engaged Citizenship Matrix to varying degrees. For seek knowledge, I included a diverse array of background sources to help students examine global trends and investigate how history and culture shape the modern world. I included various forms of discussion during class periods to work on enhancing understanding as students question their prevailing assumptions. This discussion focus also plays into the skill of developing skills as it encourages students to expand active listening and open communication while seeking opportunities for collaboration. As for taking action, I believe that the two larger projects in the unit: the Ukraine summit meeting and final writing assignment offer students an opportunity to engage in crucial civil discourse and research into the core issues of the course. I hope for this unit coursework to be employed next year to whatever degree the teacher who ends up teaching it wishes to include it. Since the issues being discussed here are constantly evolving, I don’t know how relevant the materials included will be down the line but I hope the discussion-based framework is.
GESC Reflection
In my initial GESC statement of intent from December of 2022, I wrote that, through the certificate program, I hoped to expand my knowledge of history, explore the complexities of international relations, and enhance my understanding of humanity’s inseparable bonds to our environment. Over the course of this year in the GESC program, I believe I have successfully ticked off all those goals that I set for myself when I joined it. This year, through the Alvord Center and other Loomis programs, I have pursued all these fields in increasingly more depth than ever before. This year, I was able to attend the United Nations’s Holocaust Memorial Ceremony at the General Assembly Hall in the organization’s headquarters in New York and travel to Brussels and the EU’s headquarters to learn about the intertwined fields of history and international relations. I read Thoreau’s Walden in my Literature and the Environment class this fall that left me with a deeper connection to the natural world that I then brought to action through my position as a director of political outreach in Loomis Chaffee Climate Action in our recent trip to the Connecticut State Capitol to meet with lawmakers about environmental issues. My development into a more global and environmental scholar this year played an instrumental part in my academics and extracurriculars that I truly have this program to thank for.