REFLECTION

Choosing Florida International University as my alma mater was a conscious decision of mine. Despite the fact that everyone else that I knew was going to be far from Miami, I wanted to stay locally because I knew that FIU was special and could offer me something that other schools couldn’t. Over my time at FIU I learned many things and was forced to burst the bubble that surrounded me as a freshman. I grew up in a small Jewish community in North Miami Beach and for a majority of my life I exclusively knew life to be what I experienced at home and in school. Coming to FIU allowed me to explore outside of my immediate community and let me grow into my own as a global citizen. Through the Global Learning Program, I was given the unique opportunity to learn how to be a global citizen and how to develop the skills necessary to become a student leader as well. 
Throughout my time with FIU, I was engaged in various activities including an internship with Hillel at FIU, a fellowship with IAC Mishelanu, and direct involvement with Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Week. All of these activities individually helped shape me to become the global learner that I am today. My internship with Hillel at FIU helped me develop a global perspective in a variety of ways. I worked as a social media intern, which forced me to consider the best way to perform at my job while taking into consideration the larger global context. The material I would post, the right times and frequencies, as well as trying to reach the key demographics I needed to reach were all part of what helped me develop a global perspective. Moreover, the dedication at Hillel at FIU to be inclusive and engaged with various members of our FIU community allowed me to step out of my bubble and learn through others about various global perspectives and how everyone is affected and influenced by it. Furthermore, my work with IAC Mishelanu was especially meaningful to me, as this job as a Social Media Fellow let me connect to other students who were curious about my culture and allowed me to be globally engaged. The work that I've done with both Hillel and Mishelanu is a testament to my engagement with the elements of my identity that I feel is important to share and is also a testament to my enthusiasm to hear from others and learn about various other cultures. Working in this type of environment was some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done in my entire academic career and I will always be appreciative for the opportunities that being engaged in has allowed me to become a better global citizen. The same can be said for my work with Holocaust and Genocide Awareness week- where I worked together with a team to host activities and lectures that brought attention to genocides that are occuring globally. While we focused on the Holocaust, we also made it a point to bring light other genocides that would otherwise go by unnoticed. We at Hillel at FIU felt that it was important for us to bring awareness to these tragedies by hosting Holocaust and Genocide Awareness week in order to inform others of these injustices. In this way, I was able to learn more about these genocides occuring around the world and was able to strengthen my global awareness. 
Beyond the work that I was personally engaged and involved in, the Global Learning program at Florida International University also had many opportunities for me to expand my global learning horizons. These opportunities included the Tuesday Times Roundtable and the Global Learning courses that I took throughout my college career. The TTR sessions were some of the most engaging seminars that I participated in. Each week we learned about global issues that are happening locally and around the world, which allowed me to broaden my global awareness. The two most inspiring seminars to me were the environmental sustainability seminars and the voting TTR. Both of these events were especially impactful to me as they both had topics that I care deeply about (voting rights and environmental sustainability) and they both directly affected me and the society around me. Beyond these seminars, I’m particularly  grateful for the Global Learning courses that I took at my time in FIU. I inadvertently took many global learning courses, six total, and ended up loving every single one of them. Each global learning course that I took all contributed to my global perspective and allowed me to learn a lot about expressing myself creatively as well as understanding larger global contexts. 
Going forward I will continue to push myself to be a global learner. I’m an enthusiastic learner and will make it an absolute priority to keep learning about the world around me and what I can do to participate and be a better, more rounded global citizen than I was the day before. Of the skills I learned through the Global Learning program, I most identify with communication and strategic planning. I am currently majoring in PRAAC (Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communications) which awards me with a Bachelor of Science in Communications. Before entering college, I was very timid and shy and found it difficult to speak out and speak loudly. After my experience of being engaged with my college activities as well as with my courses I developed a newfound confidence in communication and believe that communication is vital to being a strong global learner. Moreover, the activities I was involved in demanded that I be prepared and experienced in strategizing. Whether it was for event planning, social media strategizing, or coordinating with guest speakers, being part of the global learning program gave me the chance to develop my communication and strategic planning skills. 
I’m thankful for the many opportunities that I’ve received through FIU and the Global Learning program. I will always carry what I learned with me and use it to keep pushing myself forward to being the best global citizen that I can be.