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

I know it’s over a month late to post about the Women’s March, but you'll want to hear from these three students! On January 18, 2020, thousands of people gathered in the streets for the annual Women’s March. Among them were three teenagers in St. Louis, all high school juniors with their own unique perspectives. I got to interview Alexis, Moritz, and Jasmine about their experience at the march and the advice they have for our generation. Alexis has gone to the St. Louis Women’s March for three years. This year, she recruited her classmates Moritz and Jasmine to come along. Moritz is an exchange student from Germany, who is very involved in social justice activism back home. He told me, “I haven’t had the opportunity in the U.S. to [march], so this was the first real opportunity I had.” He appears in the video above at 0:56. Jasmine, an exchange student from Ghana, had never been to a march like this before, but when Alexis asked her to come, Jasmine told herself, “Why not? I a...

When I think of the name of this blog, the ultimate example of thrill-seeking as a global health nerd is, for me, leading outreach. Recently, I've done a lot of it! A fellow RESULTS leader does outreach with me at a local church Outreach is when you build your movement by educating your community and bringing new people in. It can be a big event with dozens of people, a group discussion with a handful of participants, or a one-on-one conversation with someone. If you spread the word about your work, that’s great. If you convince someone to take action with you, even better! This church book club was learning about poverty and housing in the United States, so we came in to talk about solutions In the last week, I’ve performed three different kinds of outreach. On Thursday, I presented to two seventh grade Social Studies classes for a full class period each. We talked about the importance of student activism, learned to make phone calls to Congress, and watched a vi...

Good old phone calls —  not yet obsolete even in the age of social media, phone calls to members of Congress make a valuable addition to your advocacy toolkit. Image credit: tripadvisor This is one of the easiest actions you can take. If you have a phone and a spare moment, right before school or between activities, all you have to do is call your member of Congress' office and leave a quick comment. When we all call together, we keep ourselves engaged, our Congress accountable, and our democracy alive. And all that can be done in a couple of minutes! The first step is to get the right phone number. If you already know the names of your members of Congress, just search for their office number and it will come up right away. If you don’t already know, some online searches will get you that information pretty quickly. (Find your U.S. Representative here .) Senator Rubio has a fancy website that shows you all his offices! When you call, the person who picks...

Today, I hosted a launch party for the Sunrise Movement at my house. What’s a launch party , you say? To kick off a year of action for the Green New Deal and make sure that climate change is the number one election issue in America, it’s going to take a bigger movement of young people than ever before. That’s why across the nation, Sunrise held over 2500 “launch parties” within one week! Young people gather in living rooms, campuses, and libraries across the country to learn about the Green New Deal and pledge to participate in strikes this Earth Day. As active as I’ve been over the years, I’m still an introverted sixteen-year-old, and until today, I’d never hosted my own event by myself. Somehow, I took a leap of faith and ended up leading a meeting with nine other people, my first action as a part of Sunrise. Here’s the story of how that happened... Thursday, January 2: I get an email in my inbox from Sunrise, asking me to host a launch party. It’s about tim...

Over winter break, I read a book called The First 1,000 Days by Roger Thurow. It’s a powerful story of mothers with young children in four different countries, and the international movement to support their health in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. This was an eye-opening read for me. Image credit: Barnes & Noble In The First 1,000 Days , Thurow presents the stories of moms in India, Guatemala, Uganda, and the United States from pregnancy to the second birthdays of their kids in 2015. They all do their best to provide for their children, but it’s not just a straightforward “food shortage” holding them back. There is inequality based on class and gender, poor sanitation and disease, social pressures, and government promises that fall short. This is why today, 22% of the world’s children under five years old are stunted or chronically malnourished. This limits individuals, families, and entire countries. Proper nutrition in the first 1,000 days can cha...

There are so many ways to live our values and leave this world better than we found it. Marching in protests, community service, and even just being true to yourself in daily life, are great examples of standing up for what we believe in. Members of the Sunrise movement using one method of activism Everyone is different, so maybe the other models of taking action don’t fit your personality/circumstances. Or maybe you’re already involved, and looking for yet another way to fit action into your daily life. If so, I invite you— I urge you— to give political advocacy a shot. So, what do I mean by “advocacy”? Obviously, there are many ways to “advocate” on issues, but in this case I use the word as building relationships with others to change policy together .  My mom and I with an aide for Rep. Long Who should we build relationships with? Often, these partners are members of Congress and their staff. Congress has a responsibility to listen to their constituents. Not all lawma...

Entering 2020, a presidential election year and the start of a new decade, there's so much uncertainty on so many issues. Personally, I'm most terrified of climate change. This year comes with significant opportunity, though. Here's a video from António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, addressed to young people around the world. We have a lot on our to-do list, yet we are also, as Guterres states, "the greatest source of that hope". Also, if you've got some time, check out this piece by Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times, making the case that "This Has Been the Best Year Ever" for humanity overall, since extreme poverty is going down worldwide. Happy new year!