Recently, I attended the Schreyer Building Belonging Workshop at 3 dots in Downtown State College. This workshop included local community leaders and other students leaders within the Honors College to talk about issues that need to be addressed at Penn State. Led by Spud Marshall, the approx. 50 participants talked in small groups in 3 different rounds, based on topics that certain leaders wanted to discuss.

First, I attended a session led by Emily Stoller focusing on sustainability. Here, we discussed the current sustainability efforts at Penn State and gave ideas on how Schreyer could become a leader in this area. We highlighted how the Penn State Athletics culture really dampen the efforts that the university already have in the works. We also discussed the performative actions made by PSU around sustainability. This was an insightful first session!

Second, I attended a session with other Schreyer student organization leaders. I am a part of Schreyer Student Council, but there were also leaders from Schreyer for Women ands GSDS. We discussed the disconnect that our clubs have and how that can be improved. Also, Schreyer orgs have a retention issue, which we hope to improve through promotion at SHO Time and other events. We also planned some activities at Schreyer that the orgs. can work on together. This was my favorite session as so much true action was put in place which was really unique to see in real time.

Lastly, I attended a session surrounding voting and civic engagement, led by my friend, Clarissa Theiss. At this session, we discussed with community leaders how Schreyer and PSU in general can better promote voting/civic engagement. This event was actually very poignant as Emily and I had just completed our deliberation in RCL that focused on Civic Engagement at the university. We were able to discuss many of the ideas and research from the deliberation, which greatly helped to enrich the conversation. Below is an image of us putting a little poster together that summed up the ideas of this session’s conversation:

After all of the initial sessions had completed, all of the participants came together to discuss some general ideas/themes of the conversations we had. Community leaders spoke on how they could help make these ideas become reality and actually go into action. These ideas will hopefully help students feel more welcomed and heard at the honors college and university as a whole.

The community leaders then left, and the Schreyer student leaders had one last session based on feedback and thinking from our reflection with the community. At this final session, we really focused on making our organizations more welcoming in order to make the Schreyer community more welcoming. Main actionable items included the reformation of SHO Time to have more community development, the addition of student organization input/promotion at SHO Time, and a Schreyer beginning of the year picnic, which would happen a few weeks into the first semester. Emerging out of the Covid times, there was an understanding that leaders of the college have a great opportunity to create new traditions and make our mark on Schreyer Honors College. I am very excited to see our actions turn into real change!

TOOL NOT THREAT:
THE IMPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON EDUCATION AND BEYOND

For decades, there has been a general worry that robots will take over the world. Often depicted in movies and media, this worry is slowly becoming a reality. From the creation of this country, there has always been an incentive to advance technology in order to progress education. In the past few decades, this progression has occurred exponentially, becoming hard to keep up with. This ethical dilemma is becoming harder to not act on, with academic integrity on the line. There has been little regulation on this issue by the federal or Pennsylvania government, or in higher education. Penn State must combat the progression of artificial intelligence’s rapid implementation on its campuses through thoughtful and combative regulation to save jobs for its employees, ensure the integrity of its education system, and protect its securities & interests.  

For my Passion Blog, I am going to continue what I worked on last semester: the Entertainment and Media industry. As this site is named “Entertainment Circle” I really have no other choice but more importantly I am really passionate about my topic and am excited to continue its existence.

For my Civic Issues Blog, I am going to focus on AI’s (an technology in general) effect on the integrity of education and workplace settings. I think this topic could possibly expand a bit, but that is my general starting point.

I am a walker. My legs are quite long. I walked to my elementary school. I don’t take the bus on campus because I find it too complicated. I would rather walk to my neighbor’s house than drive. But, with walking I get impatient with others who walk because they do not walk with a purpose. I believe in walking with a purpose or not walking at all.  

Pretty much all of high school when I got annoyed and impatient with others while walking through the hallways from class to class, I would always say the same thing “walk with a purpose or don’t walk at all”. I think this irritation of mine could come from my mom, who has a led foot when driving and gets verbally frustrated when the car in front of hers is going under the speed limit or drastically slow on the road. But this attitude has driven me through life.  

I am an Eagle Scout; I was involved in scouting for over 10 years. But my path to Eagle was quite different than those who came through my troop and others before me. For years, I watched boys go through the program and become very stressed and rushed at the end of the semester trying to tie up loose ends and finish all the requirements before their 18th birthday. Our troop had about 7 boys aged out and earned their Eagle award in the span of a year. Our troop numbers dwindled; I found myself suddenly the head youth leader at 14, a position usually given to those over 16. I had gone through many badges and requirements quite quickly, making the ranks and becoming just steps away from Eagle by my 15th birthday. I was often told to slow down and enjoy this part of my life in the troop. Asked: why are you going so fast? I am just not a stop and smell the roses person: I find this akin to “drag your feet”. As mentioned, I am impatient with people who drag their feet. I had a purpose, a want to keep going at my current pace.  

When it became time to start my Eagle scout required community service project, I was looking for something that would be impactful. The place of my weekly scout meetings, the local Lions Club needed renovation, and I decided to take up the opportunity; to walk with a purpose and not drag my feet for another 2 years. After months of discussion and persistence with the elderly members of the club, I decided to stop accepting their dragging feet and lay out a clear plan that considered all input. They agreed and I got running. On my 16th birthday, I completed a total renovation of the Lions Club to make it more appealing and modern to rent out to the community. Due to the pandemic, I completed my final review for the Eagle Scout rank in June of 2020. I will never forget the final question the board asked me: ‘Don’t you think you’re a little young for this?’’ Yes’, I replied, ‘I walked with a purpose.’  

For the “This I Believe” podcast, I would love to be able to do a podcast on the importance of self advocacy in school and in our everyday life as this is something that I have had to learn through my first semester at PSU. In addition, I have an idea for the podcast where I talk about the the importance of leadership in secondary school curriculum as it is a skill that I think everyone  should have at least some exposure to.

For my passion blog, my first idea is to simply keep it the same general topic as last time, focusing on movies, television, and the entertainment industry as a whole.  But, I also have the idea to focus on a particular show and do an in-depth review an episode each week.

For my civic issues blogs, I think I want to either focus on government officials unethical trading stocks based on non-public information or the growing concern of artificial intelligence undermining academic and workplace integrity.