Becoming More Aware of My Environment and Intro to My Capstone Project

During my internship with Student PIRGs as a Civic Engagement Fellow and Campaign Coordinator for the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, I have become more aware of structural inequalities related to student activism. When planning events I have become increasingly conscious of my team’s schedule, the resources they have available, and their ability to participate in activist related work. Many people do not have the luxury of a copious amount of freetime over the summer and they instead have to devote their priorities to more pressing matters at hand like working a job for money to spend on necessities. Many people also do not have an abundant amount of time, resources, or are just mentally preoccupied with all of the other events happening during the summer to devote a consistent amount of time towards an important, yet imminent, problem in our society and without a financial incentive. The ensuing economic hardships in our economy with inflation and my campaign’s targeted demographic (college students) is a condition that is exacerbating this problem because college students are known to not have a lot of financial resources or extra time to devote to an unpaid cause. The economic hardships in this country like inflation are worsening this problem because now college students are more than ever in need of extra financial resources to help get their way through college and to be able to afford basic necessities while in school since these items are even more expensive. As a result, living expenses and other expenses are at the priority of most college students and an important problem in society (Recovering America’s Wildlife Act) that is not affecting college students flat out is placed on the back burner of most students’ minds.

Political activism is still incredibly important because it is the way the general public communicates to elected officials to voice opinions on political actions. It is also a civic duty that each and every American has the ability and responsibility to participate in order to achieve a better society as a whole.

For my Capstone Project, I am interested in examining the role of leadership in student activism. Specifically, how does the role of leadership in student activism shape the outcome of real world events and history. Students have a profound impact on current events and the ability to help shape public attitudes surrounding these events.