Why Global Scholars? A Reflection on Global Connections
As a first-generation immigrant with my first childhood experiences in an entirely different culture, I constantly recognize the differences between American society and other countries I have visited. I feel like this diversity of experience through cultural immersion represents a core aspect of my identity; I hope to become someone immersed in the complexity of global issues and not ignorant to all else except the politics that most immediately affect me. When I visit family in Germany most Summers and participate in a culture that feels so different from my usual daily life, I feel this sense of global awareness slowly awaken within me. During my typical school routine, however, I become so focused on my own work that my global perspectives become more dormant. I think the Global Scholars program will fill that gap and motivate me to become more globally aware, even with a plethora of distractions constantly surrounding me.
While I have travelled to and experienced the cultures of countries other than Germany, the experience that most expanded my global perspectives was the Genocide and Human Rights GOA, in which I learned about the human rights in specific countries but within a global context. Even though I often feel like I have seen much more of the world than many of my peers here at Poly, I realized how much I still have to learn to truly become a globally involved citizen. After taking the Genocide and Human Rights course, I co-started HumanX, a resource intended to make introductory information on human rights for any country more accessible, but failed due to the project’s unrealistic scope and lack of application to a non-online community. This failure has taught me the importance of prioritizing real communities because the greatest impacts still result from human interaction and collaboration. During last Summer when I did an internship at an engineering firm in Germany, the great work culture there, compared to the lackluster one I often read about in the media here, cemented in me the commitment to become more globally aware. I realize the media exaggerates and fails to always be accurate, so the sole means of gaining true perspective on labor issues, which deeply affect all our lives, is to broaden my global awareness and gain firsthand experience.
Finally, the recent GIP event on civility with Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Robert George solidified my resolve to apply to the Global Scholars Program. To me, the most important aspect of GIP is the humanization of populations across the world, who I would otherwise only perceive as impersonal words in a news article. Learning about the struggles or triumphs of a community through a live speaker from that community carries a unique and powerful effect of empathy. By incorporating people with such diverse backgrounds and experiences, each GIP event achieves this humanization, but I think the recent event with Dr. George and Dr. West most directly addressed the issue of common humanity. Dr. Robert George began the conversation by talking extensively about how he and Dr. Cornel West first met. Admittedly, I considered the simple moment in which they met trivial compared to their subsequent achievements together and their views on political polarization of the American population. However, I realized that Dr. West’s and Dr. George’s mutual open-mindedness and civility from the very beginning of their association with each other paved the road for the entirety of their future friendship and successes. I think the professional and respectful approach both took in becoming friends serves as a model solution applicable to the widespread political polarization present in the US. Their subsequent success together proves that recognizing common humanity above all else can ultimately result in an improved and fairer society. The creation of that society starts with individuals like Dr. West and Dr. George, so I am making a commitment to common understanding and civility by joining the Global Scholars Cohort.
