Thrill-Seeking for Nerds (who want to change the world)

One of the ways I try to balance preparing for lobby meetings and advocacy-related presentations on top of my schoolwork is combining assignments whenever I can. Over the years, I've given speeches about calling Congress , debated foreign aid, and written Model UN resolutions about issues I advocate for in real life as school projects. It saves a lot of time, and I enjoy the work more when it's a topic I'm passionate about! 7th grade social studies included a Model United Nations project, and my friend and I wrote our resolution about climate change.  This year, my school's winter exams look very different because of the virtual format. For Latin, our "final" is in two parts: one is a translation test I'll take on Monday, and the other is a persuasive essay in English  using a list of figures of speech we've observed Cicero's First Catilinarian Oration (which was in Latin). Since our essay could be any topic, I turned mine into a chance to practic

Happy December! Looking ahead to a new U.S. Presidential administration and a new Congress, what will global health advocacy look like in the next few months? I just watched a really inspiring RESULTS webinar about this! Our first priority today is calling U.S. Senators.   A bipartisan COVID-19 response bill is in the works and it includes some funding to fight poverty in the America, like $25 billion in emergency rental assistance for the first quarter of 2021 and $26 billion in food and agriculture assistance-- consider that a "down payment" to build on, because activists are going to push for higher in future bills. Disappointinly, however, there is NO funding at all for a global response to the pandemic! We applaud efforts to get badly needed COVID relief to low-income Americans , but it's incredibly short-sighted to neglect the global need to address the COVID-19 pandemic. So, please call your Senators and ask them to speak to Senators McConnell and Schumer about i