Why Global Scholars?

Over the course of my childhood, I have had the opportunity to explore the cultures and diversity of the world around me, be it through research-intensive traveling or widening my perspective in the diverse community at home. Some experiences in particular that have awakened my interest are my family and personal experiences abroad, my own study of language and culture, and the culmination of knowledge and engagement in GIP trips.

Starting from a young age, I have been uniquely situated in my approach to learning and experiencing cultures around the globe. As a multiethnic individual, I have been granted the opportunity to have family and friends around the globe and to have learned through them and through my experiences visiting and engaging with them. My global perspectives have been a core part of my identity, as from a young age, I have been exposed to the cultures of those closest to me. My maternal grandparents, for example, were immigrants to the United States from the Philippines, and as such, they have shown me the unique experiences of their immigration stories and their heritage, ranging from Aztec to Chinese. With my visits and outreach work in Quezon City, I have grown familiar with the challenges faced by Filipinos both historically and in modern times. Regular family visits throughout my early childhood to Manila and countries in Asia such as Taiwan and Malaysia have opened my eyes to the unique perspectives of various cultures and how we are connected in history. From anecdotal conversations to reading about the history and cultures of different places, I use every opportunity to learn from others and to analyze elements involved in their stories. To translate this into my academic career, these experiences have brought me to my study of both Mandarin and Spanish in school as well as my pursuit of learning French and Tagalog outside of school. My global perspectives stem from an early childhood development of international exposure and curiosity, and I have been able to incorporate action atop this strong foundation.

To increase the breadth of my engagement in global affairs, I have devoted myself to outreach programs involving multicultural aspects. For example, my very first Girl Scout project, for which I earned my Bronze Award, centered around creating a multicultural garden at the Ronald McDonald House in Pasadena. The project, which I helped lead and design, involved increasing cultural awareness through agriculture in a way that can engage families staying at the house and unite them along the lines of shared experiences. The meditation garden was full of plants from diverse origin, all chosen to complement one another and sustainably live in the SoCal climate, and the garden represented the harmony of various cultures living together cohesively. In addition, I held informational sessions in which my troop and I taught the families about the plants and their care and significance. This project was really a beginning to my learning and engagement with cultures in the local community. For my Silver Award, I broadened my reach by stepping out into the greater community with my outreach to a predominantly Latino community at a school in Reseda called St. Catherine’s of Siena. At this school, my project involved engaging with Spanish native-speakers to streamline the language immersion process in the lower school. The process involved speaking Spanish with the community to reach out to learn what their needs were and how we could best meet them. My troop and I discovered their need for new materials such as tablets, books, and furniture, and we were able to donate these to the school as well as volunteer with the children and help teach them English. This experience was profound to me because I was able to really connect with the children and the teachers not only through the lens of language, but also through that of religion, which was especially meaningful and opened my eyes to the concept of unity across nations and across borders through shared faith (a concept in which I am very interested). My current projects include training ministry members at my church for our service trips in Central America, and developing opportunities for cultural awareness in service. Most recently, I have been in communication with a sister parish in Guatemala in need of a well. My church’s relationship with the parish has been long-lived and amazing, and I am so lucky to be able to contribute in a leadership position, teaching parishioners Spanish, especially relevant vocabulary to their work. I have also held language training sessions for the youth ministry summer trip to Costa Rica, where teenagers will be going to build an additional residence building at an orphanage. In continuation of my work in the Philippines, I have been in communication with a care center for orphans with cerebral palsy just outside of Manila, and through fundraising campaigns through Girl Scouts as well as my parish, I have been able to help improve the living conditions of these children with cribs and bedding for their living quarters.

On top of my early outside experience with heightened cultural awareness and engagement outside of school, my GIP experiences have been monumentally eye-opening and meaningful to me. My experiences abroad with GIP have been so uniquely balanced with cultural and language immersion as well as service. These key components of my personal connections with the global community have allowed me to widen and deepen my perspectives with experiences like learning about wildlife preservation with marine research involving sea turtles on the Isla Espíritu Santo in Baja California del Sur; experiencing the daily life of a student living in metropolitan Beijing culturally, educationally, and linguistically; and (soon) learning about the modern implications of La Guerra Sucia and how a culture heals from the atrocities involving “Los Desaparecidos” in Argentina. These trips, on which I have had the amazing opportunity to engage with locals in a way that is both independent and group-oriented has completely opened my eyes to the possibilities of global study and immersion. It is these trips that have so far been the culmination of my global engagement, as well as the highlight of my high school life. Additionally, GIP experiences locally, such as the Taiko Caltech event, or Sonia Nazario’s presentation, or Chinese dance performances or, even, the more casual dinner with Pastor Pacheco, have opened my eyes to experiences within the community and unique perspectives that encompass cultural significance of the highest degree. Engaging locally with events like these have taught me that global engagement is not only abroad: it happens everyday. Global engagement, to me, is a mindset, and one full of curiosity, respect, and commitment at that. It is through my GIP experiences that I have learned valuable lessons such as that one that are the icing on the cake to my long-lived foundation of global engagement.

While GIP has already expanded my global perspective already so vastly, I truly believe that the Global Scholars program will take my perspective even farther through the leadership opportunities it provides as well as the focus on global issues academically.

One of the key elements to the Global Scholars Program is its encouragement to seniors to take a role of leadership in the community as agents of change. The responsibility of branching the Poly community with the diverse perspectives and opportunities afforded by the program is to be taken lightly, and as such, the meaningful experience of reaching out into the greater community for speakers and events and interviews and the like allows for students to take their engagement to the next level. As I wrote earlier, I have begun to take these steps outside of school through service and otherwise academic engagement, but Global Scholars, as an established and esteemed program, has the capacity to further this engagement so much with its resources and connections with the community. Coupled with an academic load specifically designed to increase global awareness with classes like Globalization and Human Rights, International Relations, and Intercultural Theatre, Global Scholars catalyzes holistic growth of global perspectives, along with discussion in Seminar and the bringing together of a “family,” as Mme. Diederich explains it, full of motivated individuals each with a unique global perspectives, is the culmination of curiosity and engagement in this subject matter. This environment, the Global Scholars Program, is a unique opportunity for me to further my global perspective with others, through leadership, study and community, in the most meaningful way.