POL Preparation Process

Fellow intern Kelsey Miller and I gave the opening speech for the Youth Town Meeting, and that counts as our POL, which is nice. It was met with great appraisal and we were showered with compliments. We also felt very confident as we spoke to the masses.

Kaylen and I will each talk with our mentor, Karla, and reflect on the POL questions covered in the rubric. Here are my answers to three of the questions in the blog post:

How did I make a meaningful contribution to my workplace?

I always try to put a positive attitude forward and follow instructions closely. At WorldLink, Kaylen and I have found that as well as follow instructions, it is critically important that we bring our own creativity and experiences to the workplace. Keeping in mind the WorldLink slogan of "Connecting Youth to Global Affairs," we know that we, the youth, will play a critical role in peacemaking. I put forward my youthful optimism and I make sure to keep the drive going on our mission to connect young people with things happening all around the world.

How was my work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school or my internship site?

When Joan B. Kroc gave USD a huge grant to start the Institute for Peace & Justice, she did so with the instructions to found an institute that would not only talk about peace, but work toward making it real. With the WorldLink program, we work toward one aspect of that: Connecting youth to global affairs. In this way, through Youth Forums in which people who work toward peace in real life talk with youth; the Youth Leader position which allows local youth to build their leadership skills and find opportunities to help the world; and the Annual Youth Town Meeting, which brings together over 700 young people from Southern California and Mexico to learn about and discuss the year's topic (this year, Development: Fighting Global Poverty). Hearing feedback from students who attended this year's Youth Town Meeting last Friday, I am so thrilled that we got to be a part of inspring youth and making them realize that they really can make a difference, as many have said. The Youth Town Meeting is the first key step in the fight for a cause: becoming aware, and educating yourself on some parts of the topic. I'm really incredibly glad that now, some more local youth are inspired to make a difference and are armed with the first tools to begin the journey. Because we youth are very important in the fight against poverty. With our fresh solutions, enthusiasm, and will to help, I'm pretty sure we'll make a lot of changes on the poverty front--some of us already are.

The WorldLink Reader, which fellow intern Amruta Trivedi and I edited in the Fall, is a great tool for students to pursue their passion for being a Global Citizen by learning about many of the problems that so many poeple living in poverty face. I'm proud that I've gotten to be a part of this great program.

How did my project go from an idea or inspiration to a final product?

What was the Youth Town Meeting? Before I started here, I just knew it was a large yearly gathering of youth to talk about the year's topic. Students would go away inspired and equipped to start helping the world. The 13th Annual WorldLink Youth Town Meeting, for me, started with editing the Reader. The summer interns (like Kaylen) had written up summaries for many articles relating to their particular topics, and it was Amruta's and my job to edit them and polish them off (as well as add some introductions). This was what attendees of the Youth Town Meeting would read before coming. All throughout internship, we've been preparing for the Youth Town Meeting. I wrote an appeal to the Gates Foundation to come and speak after they had refused (they said no again, but oh well), we communicated with lots of schools about coming to the meeting, and helped put together the program. Kaylen and I made the nametags, stuffed tote bags, wrote our own speeches to deliver, and helped with technical stuff. We also helped spread the word about the Youth Town Meeting, facilitated discussion (such as through Facebook), and learned all about the speakers who would be coming to discuss their great work with the young attendees.

On the day of the Youth Town Meeting, I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure how I'd do as a moderator or an opening speaker, and I hoped I'd get the opportunity to help make the Youth Town Meeting great. My opening speech with Kelsey went great, and then it was time to moderate. I would share my moderating duties with another moderator. Our speaker was Paul Bertler, who works at Heifer International on programs that show youth how to grow food and grow a movement. It was very interesting learning about the thigns Heifer does (such as provide livestock to those in need in order to help bring them out of poverty) and Paul Bertler was a really nice guy. The Youth Town Meeting was spectacular and I enjoyed it tremendously. I'm so happy when I hear that people were inspired and moved to make the global community a better place for many more people.