My first semester at FSU, I was the kid that the orientation leaders warned you about. I went from class to work, then back home to sleep and repeat. I was convinced that there was no one like me at college or that I was destined to spend my entire college career locked in a dorm room. That changed when a friend dragged me to an information meeting about PeaceJam. I had no idea what the organization was about or what mentoring or coaching was, but it honestly sounded like a great resume builder. Little did I know that over a year and a half later, PeaceJam would be the most defining part of my time here at FSU.
PeaceJam is an international educational organization that aims to connect today’s youth to Nobel Laureates in order to inspire positive change in their communities. Every year we hold two events, a slam and a conference in fall and spring semester, respectively. This past weekend, we had the tenth annual PeaceJam Southeast conference at FSU with Kailash Satyarthi, the 2014 Nobel Laureate. Satyarthi, who goes by Kailash Ji (a traditional Indian sign of respect), won the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against child labor and trafficking. His efforts have freed over 84,000 children and inspired global initiatives and international laws protecting our world’s youth.
The weekend’s festivities started off with the public talk. Every year, the Nobel Laureate who is coming to the PeaceJam Southeast conference gives a talk at the Turnbull Center for anyone to attend. It was an amazing event; Kailash Ji gave an amazing speech about how he grew up in India in a system of oppression and how that inspired him to save the youth of the world. After the talk, the PeaceJam alumni committee put on a dinner for the tenth anniversary of PeaceJam Southeast here at FSU. It was a great time to catch up with FSU alum who were a part of PeaceJam that have graduated and gone out into the real world.
After the talk on Friday, mentors got to the union ballrooms at 6:45 a.m. sharp to receive our beautiful teal shirts for the conference and go over any last minute changes to the schedule. During the conference, two mentors are paired together and put in charge of a group of five to ten jammers for the entire weekend. We have family meetings with them and debrief after the Nobel Laureate speaks or other guest speakers talk to all 600 jammers in the same room. I had a group of eight jammers, two local college students, three high schoolers from Florida, one high school student from Venezuela and one eighth grader from North Carolina. During these family meetings, we got to know each other better and we talked about how Kailash Ji’s work around the world inspired them or impacted them on a daily basis.
On the first day of the PeaceJam conference, we take the jammers to a service project and a workshop. Service projects are organized by past and present PeaceJam members to have the students go out and actually make a change in the Tallahassee community, which also gives them more ideas about how to change their local communities. This year, I participated in the Human Rights March, and even though it rained for the entire walk around campus, a huge group of students donned blue ponchos and marched around FSU’s campus from the union to the Globe. Once we got them all into the Globe, they had another chance to hear Kailash Ji speak and to hear two students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas and a survivor of the Pulse shooting speak. It was an amazing opportunity for the jammers and for myself, but it was particularly amazing to watch the MSD students speak.
The workshop I participated in this year was about the social hierarchy and how it affects people’s opportunities in life. Workshop topics ranged from social norms to pointing out how your favorite childhood character could have been queer. They were amazing opportunities for jammers to learn more about PeaceJam’s ten key issue areas: Advancing Women and Children, Access to Water and Natural Resources, Education and Community Development, Global Health and Wellness, Conflict Resolution, Inclusivity and Cooperation, Human Rights, Alleviation of Extreme Poverty and Weapons Access and Proliferation.
Overall, the weekend was an incredible experience for me and an amazing way to get youth involved in changing their communities for the better!
All images courtesy of PeaceJam Southeast’s Facebook.