Category: October 2020

Returning to Campus During COVID-19

Bradley’s Communication

The Influence of Education

by Izaak Garcia

The spread of information is a skill that humans above all have perfected, yet still have so far to go. From mainstream media outlets to newspaper stands on the street corner, sharing information is one of the essential ways that people can see what is happening outside of their own lives. But information, in this case, is not always power. With a multitude of news outlets reporting on events happening in our country and around the world, we are bound to come across one or two who are not telling the whole story, or even spreading the wrong one. 

Trying to discern which stories are correct and factual and which are not is not an easy task. More than likely, when a news outlet is sharing a story, they might not be giving the public all the details. So how can we, as the general public, ensure that we are being well informed, and not misled? We must question the information given to us by the media and ask ourselves: is it what we want to hear, or what we need to hear?

The question of what our community truly needs most is one asked by almost every single person who cares about their community and what happens to it. Obtaining this piece of information isn’t rocket science, but what is rocket science, or close to it, is actually doing something about it and making the change that you would like to see. Determining what a community needs is not just a ‘one size fits all’ kind of deal because communities across the United States (and frankly the world) are not the same. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, differences in our communities gives our world its unique diversity. Otherwise, we would just be a copy of one another, everyone being exactly the same, living the exact same way, and doing the exact same thing.

So, the question arises again: “What does our community need most?” Some could say a community needs a basketball court or a soccer field for kids. Others may say that they need more affordable housing so a person who is not as fortunate as another has a place to stay for the night, and the night after that, and hopefully for many more nights. The point that is being made here is that the needs of a certain community vary everywhere you go, whether it be across the country, or just a few blocks over. But it is the community that must determine what it needs most—and to do that, the community must be educated. With knowledge comes great opportunity, and with that given opportunity, the people can determine what their community needs most because they are the only people who can.

About Izaak Garcia

Izaak Garcia is currently a senior at Richwoods High School, enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program. After high school, Garcia plans to study Computer Science. He has played soccer with FC Peoria and Richwoods for over a decade combined. Garcia has also played tennis for 4 years, securing a spot on both junior varsity and varsity teams. Along with this, he has competed with the Richwoods Worldwide Youth Science and Engineering team for Biology and Computer Science for 2 years and earned multiple awards for the school. Garcia is also heavily involved with the arts. As a multi-instrumentalist, he has played the saxophone for 8 years and piano for 2 years. During his junior year of high school, he was involved in theater at Richwoods as stage crew and manager. He helped with two total productions and was being trained to be stage manager for senior year before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted school. Outside of school activities, Garcia is involved in Jack and Jill of America (an organization for young African American men and women to serve the community). He served as his chapter’s treasurer during his freshman year of high school. Along with Jack and Jill of America, he enjoys coding, learning new coding languages, and video games.

Empathy Transforms Communities

by Kratika Tandon

The question “What does our community need the most?” is a difficult one to answer. The responses are always different, usually catered towards the individual themself or based on what has affected them the most. People offer ideas like food, housing, and education. While these are all crucial to a functioning and healthy society, I believe that the most important thing that a community can haveis empathy. We need to understand that every person has different needs. Rather than focusing solely on what holds importance or applies to us, it’s crucial to sympathize with the experiences and needs of others. Without empathy, we are nothing. We aren’t a community; rather a clustered group ofindividuals simply coexisting. In this world where so much information is at our fingertips, it can become overwhelming—and it’s far too easy to turn a blind eye to injustices that people around us are facing. It is a problem that many face in our generation.

Our communities are starved of compassion and empathy. According to Dr. Jill Suttie’s UC Berkeley article, “Why the World Needs an Empathy Revolution,” empathy requires an ability to perceive one another’s feelings, to imagine why they might feel in such a way, and to be concerned for their wellbeing. She continues to simplify these three aspects of empathy as containing emotional resonance, a cognitive component, and concern. If individuals in our communities are empathetic, we can put our energy towards a multitude of different projects working for the betterment of the people. This is more efficient than only petitioning for what matters to us, because if we take on a self-serving outlook on life, all progress that we make will be hindered. Striving for a more empathetic community isn’t a futile vision-it’s something that can be easily implemented. The most important thing we individuals can do to become more compassionate towards others is just to take a personal interest in the people around us. We need to talk to our neighbors, call our friends, and go out of our way to listen to people’s stories. Taking a special interest in the lives of those around us helps us become more mindful of others and helps them feel like they matter. By taking small steps like these, we can continue to grow and nourish our communities to reach their fullest potential.

About Kratika Tandon

Kratika Tandon is an incoming freshman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is majoring in biology and graduating with a minor in environmental economics and policy. She graduated from Dunlap High School as class valedictorian. Tandon is incredibly passionate about sustainability. As such, she is interested in many different career paths that involve helping the environment. She is most interested in writing about the subjects of environmental issues, social justice, life during a pandemic, and racial equity. She is proficient in informative and expository writing as well as public speaking. Tandon was a part of her high school’s speech team for four years. This past season, she competed in two events at the state championship tournament: original oratory and informative speaking. She wrote and perfected these speeches on her own, both tackling specific topics dealing with the environment. Tandon was also the president of her school’s local Interact Club. She possesses great leadership, communication, and teamwork skills. She is participating with Giving Voice because she wants to use her voice and writing to inspire others and facilitate change.

How to be an Advocate for your Community

by Trent Miles

Due to the failure of global administrations, climate change is progressively becoming worse. If we continue to turn a blind eye to the pain of those suffering under its oppression, we will never escape this detrimental cycle. Take a moment to look back and reflect on all of the natural disasters in this past decade; picture the broken homes, neighborhoods, and communities. In recent years it is happening at an even quicker and more violent rate. Wildfires are currently spreading throughout parts of California and Oregon, with smoke reaching as far as Connecticut. Just recently, Hurricane Laura, a category four storm, slammed into Louisiana. 

The climate crisis will continue to grow worse if we do not take action now, and the death toll from these natural disasters will rise. In this article, I will discuss why advocacy is an important part of the process to become a ”greener community” and three ways to make it happen.

Reconnecting with your community is the first tip to making your community environmentally friendly. Talk to your neighbors, friends, local emergency support, and others. It sounds cliché, but sometimes it’s hard to connect with your community. In order to remedy this, try creating community projects, such as implementing a local vegetable or fruit garden or starting a community trash pick-up day—and don’t give up if it doesn’t always work out. Recently, in Peoria’s second district, a community garden was torn down. Residents took a stand in opposition with demonstrations. They can also make their voices known in the February 2021 primary election. 

This leads me to my next tip: buy local! Shopping locally not only diminishes food miles, but it keeps produce flowing in the community. Furthermore, it’s a great way to become acquainted with your neighbors.

When was the last time you talked with the person who grew your cucumbers? Places like the Peoria Riverfront Market, Metro Centre’s Peoria Farmers Market, and the Junction City Farmers Market provide fresh produce to neighborhood communities daily.

My third tip to transform your community is to become active and engaged in local, national, and state politics. This seems intimidating, but the power to change government policy rests in your hands. How can you influence the massive institutions and large groups of people that wield the power? All you need to do is show up to a polling booth and vote! It is vital to let and make your voice be heard. Don’t forget that environmental ills often fall disproportionately on the low income and marginalized citizens.

Learning how to be an advocate for your community when it needs you is important. Currently, I have created a petition to increase awareness about climate change. I have had 10,000 people sign my petition. Change and advocacy doesn’t have to start when you’re twenty or thirty years old. You can start now—at any age. Your voice is the most powerful tool you have. As Malala Yousafzai once said, “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”

About Trent Miles

Trent Miles is a rising senior at Richwoods High School and has been working for Big Picture Initiative since May 2020. He is academically competitive and a well rounded student. Trent is the co- founder of his Richwood’s climate action club, Vice President of the Minority Academic Advancement Project, and a varsity tennis player. Outside of school, he is involved in Jack and Jill of America, where he served as the Central Region Teen Vice President in 2018. In his chapter he served as Vice President, Legislative Chair and Foundation Chair. Trent also runs his own environmental blog called “EnviroWrite,” which is a youth-run blog that seeks to innovate how we discuss and inform ourselves on environmental concerns. He has won 1st place in a Regional Best Hobby Exhibits competition and two Regional Alexander Pushkin writing competitions. He has contributed more than 800 hours of community service through various service projects including a winter wear drive, collecting toiletries, and even an educational African-American museum.

COVID-19 and Our Collective Compassion

by Jenin Mannaa

It’s undeniable that 2020 has been eventful in the worst way possible. With Australia’s wildfires, followed by the possibility of a World War III, and the introduction of COVID-19, it feels like the universe is playing a joke on us with a deadly virus as the punchline.

With 6 months of this year completed, it may be easier to cast 2020 aside as a faulty year. It’s like having a malfunctioning iPhone subject to water damage—putting your iPhone in rice for 24 hours is sure to fix the damage. As a community, I’m sure dunking 2020 into a large enough bowl of rice may do the trick! But what if I told you that I have a solution to our community’s issues that does not involve a single grain of rice?

As a community, we need compassion. That seems like such a general proposition, but with every individual’s contribution, achieving compassion within our community is simple. How can we show compassion to people when we are expected to maintain a 6-foot distance from them during a pandemic? The irony regarding COVID-19 lies within the fact that we’re saving other people by maintaining a distance from them. With the urgency to return to normalcy, it’s easy to abandon the will to keep away from friends and family. However, understanding how COVID-19 is affecting our community makes the 6-foot distance easily achievable.

The CDC calculates that Illinois ranks in the top 6 highest number of COVID-19 cases within the United States. As of the time this article was written, Peoria is 1 of 4 counties out of a total of 102 counties that are now at a warning level by the state Department of Public Health. Peoria is teeming with COVID-19, but the majority of our community are not changing their actions. They are refusing to acknowledge the severity of COVID-19 because it may not be personally affecting them at the moment. This behavior shows a lack of compassion.

That being said, a little compassion goes a long way, and these numbers are reversible. The director of the CDC proclaims that coronavirus cases would be significantly decreased in weeks if everyone wore masks and socially distanced. After ruling our community for 6 months, COVID-19 would be dethroned with a few compromises in our daily life that would ultimately stem from a desire to be compassionate. There are very few positive highlights within the year 2020 thus far.

But, there are still 3 months of this year left—and so much we can do within that stretch of time. Coronavirus might leave our community as quickly as it came! All we have to do is recognize our vulnerability to this virus, socially distance, and wear our masks for the sake of ourselves and others, and trust that the CDC is instilling guidelines for our benefit. It may be easy to believe you are no more than a grain of rice amidst our community, but every individual that contributes their share is sure to make a large impact.

About Jenin Mannaa

Jenin Mannaa is a rising senior at Dunlap High School. Her stellar academic performance has granted her entrance to the National Honors Society at her school. Jenin has expressed her love for advocacy through her involvement on the Dunlap Speech Team as Junior and Senior Captain. Within speech, her primary goal has been expressing her identity as a Muslim-American woman. Jenin attended IHSA State for Oratorical Declamation her junior year of high school. Within her speech team, she was also awarded Sophomore and Junior MVP. Jenin’s passion for the arts is evident through her involvement in Stage 323, where she was inducted in the International Thespian Society. She has also been involved in Concert Choir, Women’s Chorale, and Show Choir throughout her high school career. Moreover, her devotion to garnering support for ethnic minorities motivated Jenin to create Dunlap’s UNICEF Club, which educates students about the tribulations of underprivileged individuals in impoverished countries. Within UNICEF, she leads fundraisers, and within the first few months of the club she raised approximately $500. During her summers, Jenin has spent over 200 hours volunteering at the Unity-Point Methodist Hospital within the daycare or shadowing various doctors within Peoria.

The Role of Online Communities in Social Justice

By Adeline Ferolo

The notion of community is rooted in uplifting others to help them succeed—and it is this belief that is the backbone of a successful community. Within Peoria, Illinois, a group of young people have acted upon this concept to address issues of social injustice throughout the city. In the wake of a new wave within the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement, the youth-led and Peoria-based organization Young Revolution coordinated two peaceful protests that addressed issues of police brutality within Peoria. The first protest, called the “We Matter March,” took place on May 30th with an estimated attendance of 1,000 people, according to the Peoria Journal Star (Renken). The participants came from a wide range of ethnicities and ages across the region. The objective was clear: to hold the police accountable for previous injustices of brutality, which have historically and disproportionally impacted the Black community. 

These marches signify a new sense of community within Peoria, specifically in the youth sector, who are engaged in a progressive, worldwide view of politics— especially when compared to previous generations. According to the Pew Research Center, Gen Z encounters a significant gap in beliefs concerning race relations, global warming, and government involvement when compared to their elder counterparts within Gen X and the Baby Boomer Generation. Gen Z is proactive in sharing their thoughts through increasingly accessible technology. Within various social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, young activists are voicing their opinion regarding many topics of interest, ranging from government reform, Native American rights, reproductive justice, and policing reform. These online platforms create an unprecedented sense of community that was inaccessible to past generations due to a lack of technology. Almost all teenagers  today have  access to the internet and inevitably spend most of their time within an online community. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that “95% of 13- to 17-year-olds have access to a smartphone, and a similar share (97%) use at least one of seven major online platforms” (Parker). A digital community has evolved within these major online platforms to connect teens and facilitate the exchange of beliefs, morals, and ethics in a matter of milliseconds.

While online platforms have accelerated the process of acquiring and sharing information, as evident with the BLM movement in early summer 2020, simultaneously it has increased desensitization among teenagers. When important topics receive a lot of attention on social media, some teens join in simply because it may seem trendy. Rather than displaying empathy, they seek clout—looking for likes and shares, their posts become a form of performative activism. This form of activism is self-motivated in an attempt to appear helpful but is extremely destructive as it skims the surface of the issues in favor of gaining followers instead of understanding the problem itself. It is the responsibility of users within online platforms to educate themselves regarding social justice issues and to hold other users accountable. It is equally important to practice these values in the real world, by helping a neighbor mow their lawn or creating a recycling program within your neighborhood. These actions are essential in bridging the gap between virtual and real-life communities to make way for changes and reforms.

About Adeline Ferolo

Stories, arguably, are the most underrated form of currency that floods the digital world, through highlighted Instagram posts and viral YouTube videos. As a rising senior at Richwoods High School, Adeline Ferolo aims to express herself and the issues closest to her authentically through engaging, storytelling, and other mediums. She is a competitively academic student. Her interests range across many creative outlets—as an active writer for the Richwoods Shield, the monthly school newspaper, and as a contributor to the youth-led blog EnviroWrite, which explores rising environmental concerns. Recently she has discovered her passion for the medium of film after attending the National High School Institute summer program at Northwestern University, where she had previously studied creative-intensive subjects ranging from sustainable architecture to graphic design. Within the past year, she has focused her efforts on exploring the visual medium in both her academic and personal life, opting to create experimental videos for class projects and continuing to explore different aspects of the visual language.