GISS Conference

Participating in the GISS conference this year was phenomenal. I hosted two students from Maputo, Mozambique and I got to meet a lot of very interesting people. Meeting Spencer West was probably the highlight of the conference (in my mind). I even got a picture with him (above). I think the magic of the GISS conference is getting to meet so many peers who are just as interesting in the same kinds of issues as I am. And, we get to have great discussions and even argue over controversies.
So, the Key Note Speakers were probably my favorite part of the conference. Apart from Spencer West, I also got to meet (and hang out with) Cassandra Lin, who is truly a phenomenal person. Justin Bedard's activity was also really interesting. Although I would've liked to get to know why he was so active in the Jump! Foundation instead of getting us all to bond. The Kenyan Panel wasn't that great, in fact, they were quite boring, but that's probably because I already knew a lot about what they were talking about.
The service day was great because we got to go out to a beautiful area and work with a project called Plants for Life. It was fascinating because this one man (the owner of the area) had bought this land 15 years ago, torn down all the eucalyptus trees growing on the property and planted trees and plants indigenous to Africa. He took us on a tour, and his knowledge of every single plant on his property was truly remarkable. So, after he gave us a tour, we got to plant trees and contribute to the beautiful landscape.
Meeting people like Cassandra Lin, who's only 14 years old and has already gotten her home state of Rhode Island, to make it a law to recycle cooking oil so that it can be turned into biofuel, is truly inspiring. It's also a but of a bummer. As an 18 year old, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. But that's the beauty of the GISS conference; it give you hope that you can and will get somewhere in like and change the world in one way or another.