Bush Lecture
For one of my Beyond Class Activity Engagement opportunities, I attended the Annual Bush Lecture as well as the invitational Luncheon. The lunch before the lecture was a Q&A-style event with this year’s guest lecturer Jean Becker. I read her book The Man I Knew in preparation for these events and it was something I probably never would have done if I hadn’t been invited. I enjoyed reading the book, I read about 50 pages every night and it gave me a break from schoolwork and was overall a super interesting read. The lecture was lovely, Jean is a phenomenal public speaker in my opinion, and kept the crowd laughing and enjoying her anecdotes about former President Bush. I thought she made a cool decision to bring up four of Bush’s former personal aids as well, it really gave some insight into the personal relationships and friendships that foster underneath the surface of what the public can see when it comes to such prominent historical figures.
ENV 104 Movie
For my second academic enrichment activity, I went to the film screening of “2040” for all ENV 104 students. The movie was about climate change and how our world could look in the year 2040 if we used all the technology we already have now to start making shifts to combat climate change problems. From self-driving rideshare vehicles, shared internet grids, and dietary shifts the main character Daniel Gameau uses his daughter growing up as an example of what life could look like. I think the personal choice of using younger generations helps people feel more connected to the issue and more willing to make changes to their way of life if it helps their children or grandchildren’s future. A couple of key ideas I got out of the movie and connected with are how this film did not over-emphasizing the negatives, which allows viewers to open their minds and realize how many options there are for solutions. Also, the emphasis on much community-driven change can do, such as increasing wealth, steadying population growth, educating more girls, and decreasing poverty. Exploring how we do have the capacity to make them happen but only if change starts now is a strong but needed message.
Gender and Women Studies Club
For another beyond class activity, I counted my Gender and Women Studies Club. So far there are only about 6 of us but I feel it is a really strong group and we are all very passionate about starting up initiatives around campus and just general awareness of women and gender issues and how to make those issues accessible to learn about on campus. We are hosting a movie night for our club and Generation Action club where we will watch the Netflix documentary Reversing Roe and then have a discussion about that after that goes along with current events regarding reproductive rights. I am giving a short presentation to go along with that film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her accomplishments for women’s rights, especially within the legal system. I feel that from this club I will get to know some new like-minded people around campus that I might not have met and also have an opportunity to share some knowledge and stories around campus pertaining to women’s issues. We are tabling at the Harvest Fest in a few weeks as well and those events can really help achieve both my goals of takeaways from this club.
Soccer Games
So far this season I have attended three soccer games, I managed to get a picture from one of them. I always love watching soccer in the fall, it has such nice memories of starting a school year and colder weather but still sunny with beautiful foliage! The only games I’ve been to have been men’s and they haven’t won yet but I did witness their first goal of the season and that was very cool! They had a song all qued up from the stands and they all jumped around and celebrated, very fun! I am planning on watching a women’s game soon. I always feel I get a nice sense of school spirit and community from soccer games, everyone is so close to the action too on the field you feel very involved. I also like getting a chance to see students from other schools who may have come to watch the game or just the fun of checking out rival teams.
