Shirley's Story

Participating in this particular program would be a tremendous opportunity that would allow me to prepare myself for the nearing future. Despite my love for literature and writing, I've also began to love sustainability. This branched from the much inculcated need for sustainability at my school. We have become very earth friendly, instances of such are the various recycling bins inside our classrooms, hallways and lunchroom. Not only so, but a professor at my school, Professor Hill, has created her own sustainable garden for the school on 120th and Amsterdam. She continuous to ask for generous donations of compost in order to grow goods that are later used to make our school lunch. Another reason why I am now interested in sustainability is because another professor of mine, Professor Tiede, has made our lunch more sustainable. That is to say we have separate bins that separate compost, trays, plastics, papers, metals and trash. This new sustainable way of disposing trash has received recognition throughout the city of New York!

I am also interested in sustainability due to a marine biology class that I took in middle school with Doctor Jose Maldonado who started a school in Africa and now in the Dominican Republic where he continues to teach young students, such as myself, the necessity of taking care of this planet. I later spent a week at Hawthorne Valley Farm where I was able to live as a farmer and eat food grown organically. This experience allowed me to work fields, milk cows and learn about how to properly treat the world around us and how to be contentious about the food we eat. I also read the book Omnivore's Dilemma which opened my mind about how sustainability is the proper way to go about life.

I am especially interested in participating this program because it will serve to enhance my knowledge on sustainability. I want to be able to impose this in places besides New York City. I would love to have the opportunity to go abroad and contribute to the change that many people want to see in the world. A trip like this would be something that I cherish because I will know the difference that I am making in this world will be for a greater purpose. There are many efforts being made to help a city such a New York, but a program like this one will allow me to reach outside of my comfort zone and help parts of the world that may otherwise be neglected.