I discuss changes in my global awareness, perspective, and engagement as a result of my overall participation in global learning at FIU.
From the Global Learning courses I have taken to my internships and other opportunities, all detailed throughout my portfolio, my perspective has been positively influenced and molded. I have had the chance to build on my interdisciplinary approach, instilled in me by FIU's Honors College, while gaining new skills. This, in turn, has shifted my global perspective, awareness and engagement, now and in the future.
Global Awareness: Understanding not just what is going on in the world, but how it is all interconnected. Issues do not exist in a vacuum; they affect one another.
Global Perspective: The ability to take others’ points of view and assumptions into consideration when making a decision.
Global Engagement: Willingness to engage in local, global, international, and intercultural problem solving.
My Journey
To begin with, my global awareness shifted as a result of the trip to Israel that I participated in. I have always been interested in international affairs but, have been focused on the regions that are of relevance to me: North America and South America, basically, the Western Hemisphere. As a result, I have neglected an entire world of complexities and issues that deserve attention and action. I realized this when I stepped into Israel and the West Bank, known as Palestine, and began to just scrape the surface of the issues that exist between the two peoples. Moreover, I finally understood that issues which occur on the other side of the world still affect us all. Israel is one of the United States' greatest allies after all. My understanding of the interconnectedness of the world and globalization grew during my Congressional internship in Washington, D.C. Constituents from around the district would call our office and comment on international issues that one would think are of no concern to Americans. This proved to me the widespread effect that international affairs could have.
My global perspective shifted in the same manner. I already had a multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach to issues, thanks to the Honors College. For this reason, I have long taken into account the multiple perspectives of an issue before drawing a conclusion. I have applied this same logic to the field of international relations, where so many perspectives exist. An experienced that allowed me to build on this approach was, again, my Congressional internship in Washington, D.C. For this internship, I was placed with a Congress Member who is of the opposite political party that I affiliate myself with. This was a learning lesson, as I understood the validity of both sides arguments and importance of taking both into account. This experience showed me the potential for bipartisan cooperation.
The aforementioned opportunities, and others, have allowed me to civically engage nationally and internationally. My Congressional internship in Washington, D.C., gave me an opportunity to involve myself in the national arena. Meanwhile, my most recent Congressional internship, within my District office, allowed me to engage more locally since district offices are more community-oriented. My internship at Ford Motor Company Fund gave me the opportunity to engage internationally with the region of Latin America and nationally within the United States. We worked on several philanthropic initiatives in these regions, mostly in the field of education. Moreover, my educational trip to Israel informed and exposed me to the role that international advocacy and civic engagement abroad can have.