Take Action
"...if you say, "Well there's too many people out there for me to help one and it's gonna make a difference." It makes a difference to that one person, and it can really, truly be life changing to them, and give them hope in an otherwise very despairing environment, and then they see the goodness in mankind, cause they get a lot of people hollering at them and spitting on them." |
Think Globally, Problem-solve Locally, Act Neighborly"Think Globally, Problem-solve Locally, Act Neighborly", or TGPLAN, is an advocacy/action project that allows students to get out into their communities and make a difference. During this project we formed student groups, decided upon a global issue that affects us here in Austin, and then went out and took action! Three of my peers and I joined together to from the group Teens for Homeless Youth, or TFHY. We took action by collecting donations from various local garage sales, a couple of our neighborhoods, as well as O. Henry and Small Middle Schools. The community was very generous and supportive, donating bags upon bags of items ranging from clothing to food and many things in between! The work that we did as TFHY proved to ourselves, and hopefully our community, that we can make a difference in our world no matter how small the effort may be.
Below is my TGPLAN essay that consists of information about the issue of youth homelessness, how it affects us in Austin, how we can help, and a reflection on our work as TFHY.
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The video below is the advocacy product that I made for our TGPLAN project. By creating this video I took action by speaking out for those who are homeless.
"What I am taking away most from this trip is how we came to Costa Rica and were able to not only meet so many people, but to feel like friends and family. We had fun, and laughed. Most of all, we had great impacts on the lives of each other. I don't know all of the impacts that these people have had on my life, but I do know that they will always be in my heart. So, thank you chaperones, my family, my friends, peers, everyone new that I've met, and God. My heart will always have you. |
Trip to Costa RicaIn January of 2013, the AGS sophomore class took a 5 day trip to Costa Rica where we truly went out and experienced a world without borders. We did many things in Costa Rica including learning about new techniques for sustainable living, exploring a coffee plantation, and staying for one night with the Bribri people, an indigenous Costa Rican tribe. One of the ways that we took action while in Costa Rica was by doing service work for the Bribri people. We collected trash along one of their roads, planted new baby trees, and painted a church near their elderly home. Beyond that, both AGS sophomores and the Bribri people took action by leaving our mark on each other's hearts, making a difference in each other's lives, and demonstrating that you do not need to speak the same language to become a family.
Below is an essay that I wrote, reflecting on travel and our trip to Costa Rica as I respond to an article that we read for the trip titled "Travel as a Political Act".
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