My worldview strongly correlates with formative places that have shaped me into the person that I am today. This worldview started to develop during my elementary education at Falk Laboratory School. Grounded in the principles of educational philosopher John Dewey, a hands- on learning approach cultivated students to interact with their environment in order to learn.
As a means of implementing this learning style, Falk has a series of 21 “wishes” for its children which the school used as its north star or guide map to shape its beliefs and values. From a young age, several of these wishes were particularly informative to my education and to the formation of my values, agency, knowledge, and dispositions.
We want our children to have a reverence for the natural world
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From a young age, I learned how to view natural environments as a necessary part of the educational process. For one week each year in middle school, Mckeever Environmental Center was our home. Time was spent almost entirely outdoors which centered on researching trees, soil, and water. Apart from these academic endeavors, we utilized the remaining time for going on nature walks, night hikes, journaling, and silent meditation. In moments of disconnectedness from cosmopolitan life, I have never felt more connected to the surrounding people, places, and the environment.
To have a growing and deepening relationship with something that arises out of their personal interests
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In college, I sought out opportunities to use the greater community as a resource for further learning, connections, and opportunities. Social sustainability through community engagement opportunities has been particularly important to me.
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At Project SHARE, a local food bank supporting members of the Carlisle community, I interviewed clients in English and Spanish, registered them for services, and connected them to other local services. Although citizenship was not required to receive services from SHARE, it is often a requirement to receive federal benefits, and, as a result, I witnessed many individuals struggling without the federal safety net that their citizen neighbors were able to receive. How we value people, and the arbitrary rules we impose, deeply impact their lives. In the process, I saw first-hand a resilient community working together to solve global issues at the local level.
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In my home city of Pittsburgh, I worked in Mayor Peduto’s Office of Community Affairs. I attended stakeholder meetings in many of the city’s 90 neighborhoods where I began to understand the different needs and issues affecting parts of the city in distinct ways. This opportunity showed me that I am passionate about combining my interests for government and local communities.
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To have a growing and deepening intellectual interest in at least one curricular area
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My areas of study, Political Science, Spanish, and Food Studies have allowed me to build a framework to study issues of equity and justice: who has been affirmed, and who has been marginalized through politics and society. As a Political Science major, I have studied governments, policies, and political behavior in order to examine and engage with political and social issues. As a Spanish major, I learned the language and studied culture, politics, and society in order to communicate in one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world, and to further develop intercultural competency skills.
Falk’s wishes have shaped my past and present, and now I am posing my own wishes for myself, my communities, and for the world:
To apply my education to work for the common good
To see equal participation and representation in power
To see resiliency measures overcome life’s inevitable challenges
