Work and Writing Samples
Leadership Symposium Presentation 2019
This presentation is from the SPA Leadership Fall Symposium in 2019 where subject groups presented our projects to our peers. Working with my Immigration and Refugee Rights group, the six of us created a project to turn the narrative on immigration from the quantitative viewpoint that’s based around rhetoric in the media, to a more qualitative, individualistic point of view. We collected photos, objects, as well as the stories of family, friends, and peers about their experience in coming to and living in the US. Our plan had originally been for this to culminate in a mobile exhibit that would go to different locations in Washington DC. This exhibit would hold the objects and photos, as well as a documentary detailing the stories. A secondary aspect of our project was raising money for a scholarship to go to a first-generation immigrant high school student with plans to attend a college or university. We had planned for our exhibit to debut as a gala at American University, where we would showcase our work and raise money for the scholarship. About two weeks before this was set to happen, we were sent home and the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the world.
Despite this setback and being unable to display our exhibit and work, we were determined to raise the money for the scholarship. Together, from across the country, we used social media campaigning, outreach, and networking within our own circles at home to reach our goal. We raised a total of $600 for the scholarship. However much we had wanted our original project to come to fruition, we used the resources available to us and adapted to the situation.
