Global Studies Events

In this program it is required as students to attend at least 9 different events, and one must be a religious event outside of our own religion (if we practice one). After each event, we write reflections on what we learned, what surprised us, what interested us, and what we were able to take away from that event.
Below are some of the events I have attended last year!

This was the first religious event I attended! Rosh Hashanah in the Park was such a special experience for me since I have so many friends in the Jewish community, I was able to learn and understand what this special day meant to them. We learned about the significance of apples and honey for the new year and we were there for the hour and a half service. There was a really beautiful moment towards the end, throughout the whole service it was cloudy and rained a little, then towards the end as we were singing, the sun came out and started shining on the trees. One of my favorite events for sure!

The 30 Americans exhibit is an art exhibit, meant to represent 30 different American experiences from the unique perspective of African American artists. There were so many unique pieces here, one piece of work that specifically stood out to me was Portraits of Quanikah by Mickalene Thomas, this piece of art has 15 different small canvases with an African American woman on each canvas, Thomas stated that each different canvas was a small piece of her own personality or alter ego. The way I interpreted it was the different ways people see an African American woman, representing beauty but also fear and anger at the same time.

The Global Security Forum focused on the Age of Instability, it was such an interesting event for me since it was my first ever forum, I wasn't sure what to expect. With the wide variety of panelists the day was super packed and very informative. I learned of issues like European Security and the Taiwan question. I learned that the Age of Instability is the society that we live in today, the way that overseas conflicts affect other countries.

In October 2022, we took a field trip to Mass MoCA and Williams College in Massachusetts. Mass MoCA is one of the largest art museums in the country, and I can attest to that statement, so many different artists and exhibits. While we were there, they were actually in the process of creating a new roller coaster exhibit, and I was able to see them do a test run on it, super fun to watch and interesting to see what they were happy about but also what they knew they needed to work on. Our assignment for this trip was to find a piece of art we liked and write about how it related to one of the 9 Global Studies theme. I picked a piece of art that was Covid-19 related, This is Not a Gag created by Richard Nielsen, to show the power of resilience that has been used by everyone throughout these past 2 years. I related this to the global public health theme, because it's not only focusing on physical health, but also the mental health aspect of it all. Nielsen also wanted to make a point that throughout the pandemic, people felt like they were able to speak more freely on controversial topics, started more movements, because they had masks to protect their identities so nothing harmful could happen to them.

Event photos!