CIVIC LEARNING & DEMOCRATIC ENGAGEMENT (CLDE) PROFILES
We’re asking some of the people you might encounter at the Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement meeting in Anaheim, California including the event planners and coordinators, presenters, faculty, staff, administrators, and students to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. Fill out our form and follow us @CLDEstudents to share your story for #CLDE18!
To start our series, we wanted to share with you why we’re passionate about civic learning and democratic engagement.
– Hannah, Collin & Vera, #CLDE18 Student Interns
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Name: Hannah Jackson
Hometown: Reno, Nevada
Current City: Reno, Nevada
Field of Study: Journalism, Education, Political Science
Institution: The University of Nevada, Reno
What is your current title, job, or student organization position?
I am currently a student government officer in the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, where I serve as Speaker of the Senate. I am also a student employee in the Vice President for Student Services office. Outside of campus life, I am Nevada’s state alumni representative for the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program.
Share with us part of your story – what’s your why?
During my senior year of high school, I took part in the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program. For those of you that don’t know, We the People is a K-12 civic education program that is dedicated to promoting the understanding of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and responsible citizenship. Of course, I came out of the class with a much better understanding of our government and its founding (not to mention a few hundred Supreme Court cases), but I will carry some of the other lessons that I have learned with me for the rest of my life.
We the People taught me how to love learning. It also taught me the magnitude of my individual power as a citizen. It has been incredibly empowering, and quite honestly, has changed the course of my life completely. I feel a huge responsibility to play part in getting others to realize their individual power – and that is my why.
(I am forever thankful for Mr. Clark, Mr. Daniel, Mr. Karlin, Mr. Ochs, and all of my other civic educators that have changed my life – and so many other lives. You inspire me every day!)
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Name: Collin Sullivan
Hometown: Elkridge, MD (right outside of Baltimore)
Current City: Still Elkridge!
Field of Study: Information Systems & Economics
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore County – UMBC
What is your current title, job, or student organization position?
I am a student at UMBC, where I am involved with the SGA and I work in Instructional Technology.
Share with us part of your story – what’s your why?
I’d like to think that I’ve been given a certain amount of energy to consistently ask, “Why?” and failing to accept the answer, “because.” I’m fortunate enough that I genuinely can’t think of a time when I would ask my parents something and their response would simply be, “no” – there would always be some explanation. “No, you can’t have a third cookie because you won’t be hungry at dinner time,” was an explanation I heard often and while I was upset at that notion, I knew that my parents were probably right. When I was in 3rd grade, I asked my parents, “Can I get a laptop?” to which they responded to, “No, unless you buy it.” I was in 3rd grade eyeballing a $1,000 computer – how could I do this? But I did. I offered to complete chores in exchange for an allowance, and I also asked that for birthday and Christmas gifts that I would receive gift cards instead of presents. Two years later, and after doing some research that an adjacent state doesn’t have sales tax, I bought my first laptop at 10 years old “by myself” (I’m fully aware that my parents still ended up paying for my laptop, but it was a great sense of accomplishment after it felt like I had waited an interminable amount of time).
That’s my why.
I’ve learned in life we hear so many “no’s” – from our parents, our teachers, our bosses, even ourselves. But every “no” shouldn’t be taken as a given. And when we hear a lot of “no’s,” it’s hard to get back up and say, “yes.” How can we, collectively as a society, have more “yes” moments, even if that means we were told “no” to begin with? I believe the world is malleable to change and in time a “no” will become a “yes,” but only with persistence from someone who has fallen down and got back up. There are a lot of people like that in the world – now we just need to figure out how to amplify their voices. That’s why I’m doing what I do now.
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Name: Vera Barcega-Ramirez
Hometown: Santa Clarita, CA
Current City: Santa Clarita, CA
Field of Study: Human Resource Management
Institution: College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA
What is your current title, job, or student organization position?
I wear a lot of hats, namely:
- Student at College of the Canyons taking Human Resource Management Certification
- President and Founder of The HUB Club at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA
- Student Representative at the College of the Canyons Foundation First-Year-Promise Taskforce
- VP-Membership at Oak Hills Elementary PTA in Santa Clarita, CA
- Accounting/HR/Purchasing Support (Independent Contractor) at Laser Operations in Sylmar, CA
Share with us part of your story – what’s your why?
I’ve been working in the corporate industry for a couple of decades. When my daughter was born 11 years ago, I decided to leave my full-time job of 10 years and work as a temporary employee/independent contractor so I may spend quality time with my daughter in-between assignments. Out of the more than dozen companies I worked at in the past 11 years, I noticed a sad reality that only 2 of these companies valued employees. Humanity has gone down through the years. Perhaps it might be due to the over-supply of workers. I saw management cared less for their people and only focused on meeting their numbers. I became passionate about bringing back humanity in the workforce, which is why I went back to school, and also why I accepted to be nominated for the CLDE internship.
We want to hear your story! Fill out our form and encourage others to do the same. Make sure to follow us @CLDEstudents – we will be featuring participants on our blogs and social media.