Name: Jessica McGuire
Age: 21
Year: Senior
Major(s): English Literature and Political Science
Hometown: Boca Raton, FL
Jessica McGuire is an extremely involved senior at Florida State University. She has been a participant in the Literature in London program at the FSU London Study Center in the fall of 2014, is President of PeaceJam Southeast, a member of Mortar Board FSU, a past intern for JP Morgan and a future employee for the same company starting June 2016. McGuire’s contribution to the Tallahassee community is immeasurable.
Photo By: Anne Grafe
Her Campus (HC): How did you become involved with PeaceJam Southeast?
Jessica McGuire (JM): My freshman year I went with a couple of the girls in my hall to the fall involvement fair and I came home with a hundred different flyers. I didn’t know what to do with any of them – they sat in my room for months. But then a couple of these girls said “Oh, I know about this organization called PeaceJam, I heard about it when I volunteered over the summer and I think I am going to go to the meeting.” Well, none of them actually went, but I did! So I tried one thing and then I just kept going back to try new activities.
HC: What was the first activity you became involved with?
JM: The first thing I did was what we call “coaching.” “Coaching” is basically teaching. I would go to a high school once a week (specifically I went to Lincoln High School) and I would work with a group of students there. I would teach them about the laureates [Noble Peace Prize laureates] that we work with. It was cool because it was the first time they’d ever had a PeaceJam group and it was the first thing I did with PeaceJam, so I really got to build the program there. I worked with a group of all girls and so I would teach them about the laureates, we talked a lot about social justice issues and in the spring we did a project with them. They could pick any issue they wanted to do the project on and they picked “women and children.” We did fundraisers for One Billion Rising and we also worked with an organization that helps fund women in third world countries who are trying to start businesses. I loved doing it and I’ve done it every year except my junior year (I went abroad in the fall).
McGuire at an Anti-Bullying rally at the Capital.
Courtesy: Jessica McGuire
HC: Wow! That’s amazing, what else have you participating in besides coaching?
JM: Well, the second thing I did was that I became a college participant in what we call a “Slam,” which is a sort of mini version of our big conference in the spring. Anyone can be a participant in a slam or the conference (which is April 9th and 10th this year). It is $25 for FSU students and $50 for any student that is not a part of FSU. We fly in a Nobel Peace Prize winner for the weekend. This year it is a woman named Rigoberta Menchu Tum, who is from Guatemala. She has done some really amazing things (I mean she won the Nobel Peace Prize!) and you will get to see her, meet her and hear about what she is doing now. You can participate in service with her and meet other FSU students. The conference is a really fun weekend and if you are a participant you get a bunch of PeaceJam swag and food, all kinds of good stuff! So that was the second thing I have done.
HC: What was the third?
JM: I became a mentor. During the conference weekend, you lead a group of high school students. We have about 500 people from the southeast come to Florida State for that weekend. That is the last of the three main activities you can participate in with PeaceJam.
Mentors from the 2015 PeaceJam Southeast Conference.
Courtesy: Jessica McGuire
HC: As president, what do your responsibilities entail?
JM: They are pretty wide. We [the student leadership council] do all the normal RSO stuff. We have GBM (general body meetings), so I organize and run those. We also have education events where you can come and learn about the laureates or a social justice issue. Sometimes we have guest speakers who talk about current events. We really like to switch it up and talk about different things so people who are interested in different areas can still participate. We also have a service portion, so at least once a month (but often more than that) we go out into the Tallahassee community and do service. Again, we really try to vary it so anyone can participate. We pick different times, days and types of service. One time you might be cleaning up a park and another you may be packing food for the homeless. I have Chairs for both the education portion and the service portion, so my main job is delegating and making sure my board has the resources they need to get those things accomplished. We also have a fulltime faculty and staff that is separate from the RSO, so I act as the liaison between the two.
HC: What would you consider the main objective of PeaceJam Southeast to be?
JM: We have three main pillars. Education. Inspiration. Action. So we educate youth in the community but also make sure we are educating ourselves. We use the laureates as inspiration for all the work that we do and as inspiration to act, which is our third pillar. We go out into the community and we serve, we take what we have learn and use it to better the community, because knowledge is nothing if you don’t use it.
HC: What has been the most rewarding thing about being involved in this organization?
JM: I have two things! The first one is the friendships I have made, which I know is really cheesy, but I came to Florida State essentially not knowing anyone. Getting involved was my way of meeting people. The people I have met in PeaceJam are some of the nicest, most genuine people I have met on campus. They are some of my best friends. The second thing is what you learn about people when you get involved with PeaceJam. It is so easy to see all the bad things happening in the world and think “we’re doomed” and “this is awful, people are evil and they hate each other.” But then you go into a classroom (I am working with the Boys and Girls Club now) and these kids are so energetic, sweet and they know what is going on around them. They want to change it but no one has given them the opportunity yet. It is always really special to see the change in the kids from the beginning of the year to the end. They always surprise you and they teach you way more than you teach them.
McGuire (and friend) with Oscar Arias Sanchez, a Nobel Laureate and former President of Costa Rica.
Courtesy: Jessica McGuire
HC: What advice do you have for people who want to become involved with Peacejam?
JM: Just walk into our office in The Center – any day, anytime! There is almost always someone there to help you! We try to make it as easy as possible to get involved. Most of the things we do don’t involve applications, except for mentoring. Our door is always open!
HC: What skills do you think students gain when they become involved with PeaceJam?
JM: Definitely tolerance and understanding. PeaceJam is not at all a political organization, so we have no ties to any particular group of people or ideology. We have any entire array of people who are involved. Even though some people have conflicting opinions, they learn to accept and understand each other’s opinions and are looking to educate themselves rather than alienate people who are different then them. This is something you can use anywhere because you’re always going to work with people who are different than yourself and we force you to recognize that.
HC: We’ve heard you have one really important event you have organized outside of PeaceJam, could you explain what it is?
JM: Yes! It is an event for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation which is an organization which raises money for childhood cancer research. What most people don’t know is that childhood cancer is different than adult cancer and it requires a different treatment. Most money raised for cancer research goes to finding adult cures so there is not a lot known about childhood cancers. St. Baldrick’s is the second largest supporter of childhood cancer research (the only one larger is the U.S. government). The event is on March 18th, you can either donate before or donate at the event – we will be having a raffle for you to win a whole bunch of stuff, or you can volunteer to become a Shavee. Anyone can do can become a Shavee, so if you are willing to shave your head, we will take you! The reason to shave your head is to show solidarity. Participants get sponsors so that when they reach their donations goal, they agree to shave their heads.
Listed below are all of the PeaceJam Southeast events for Spring 2016:
• February 17: GBM, 7pm, Dunlap Success Center Room 2201/2202
• March 1: GBM, 7pm, location TBA
• March 21: Movie Screening, 7pm, The Globe
• March 25: Global Cafe, Guatemalan food served, 11:30am until meals are sold out (about 3pm), The Globe Dining Room
• March 28: Education Event, 7pm, location TBA
• April 8: Public Talk with Rigoberta Menchu Tum, free & open to the public, 6pm, Turnbull Conference Center
• April 9-10: PeaceJam Conference! Any college student may participate, $25 for FSU students and $50 for non-FSU students, price includes T-shirt, water bottle, 5 meals and an incredible experience (i.e. meeting a Nobel Laureate)!
• April 18: GBM, 7pm, location TBA
Make sure to contact PeaceJam Southeast to join in their ongoing service opportunities with Recycle Without Borders and Children’s Home Society.