by Luke Chinman- Communications Fellow
As a student at Taylor Allderdice High School—the school that Global Minds was born—I’m excited to introduce the new student board. This collection of students in 10th and 11th grade are more diverse than ever before. As the Communications Director on the Global Minds board during the past school year, I wanted to talk with the incoming group of students about their thoughts for the next year. We discussed (virtually, of course) their expectations for the next year, what they are excited about, and what they want to get out of the experience. Here is that interview.
Luke Chinman, former Communications Director: What experiences have you had that made you guys want to join the board.
Joe Weaver, incoming Engagement Director: I just think that getting kids involved with being more knowledgeable about our society and the world we are living in. So being on the front lines of doing that is pretty important, I think. That’s a pretty big reason behind why I wanted to do it.
Maryam Algalay, incoming Vice President: The way that our culture—the immigrant’s culture—both mine and other people’s wasn’t really known, and how Global Minds made others get educated about it and learn made me love it and come to the meetings.
Abigail Feinstein, incoming Activities Coordinator: I really liked when we went to the conference and to see all different schools working together and how big of a difference the club made for that many people. It made me really want to be a part of it.
Sam Alawadhi, incoming Co-Communications Director: For me, it’s probably the social aspect of it. I made a lot of new friends from the club, so I wanted to join the board next year so I can watch people make friends.
Amaya Dorman, incoming President: I think that for me it was how I was seeing a lot of people getting along and getting close who you wouldn’t expect to be friends. It was people making friends outside of their comfort zone that I thought was really nice. And I wanted to be a part of making that change and having these things where everybody is close with everybody and everyone knows everyone.
Kaja Cutlip, incoming ESL Coordinator & former Engagement Director: I think that a lot of experiences that were the best were the activities where we learned to break assumptions and not think about surface level things—really being able to look past first impressions and assumptions about people and their cultures was one of the best things I’ve learned in Global Minds.
Luke Chinman: Thank you guys so much. My next question is what are you guys most looking forward to next year in Global Minds?
Joe Weaver: I think the field trips are pretty cool. I didn’t go any this year, but I am looking forward to them next year.
Maryam Algalay: I’m looking forward to getting more people into liking Global Minds and making it a bigger club at Allerdice.
Abigail Feinstein: I’m looking forward to seeing how the club can do things relating to Coronavirus and how it will respond to things like that.
Amaya Dorman: I’m excited to implement new ideas and see where next year’s Global Minds will be with this new board.
Quincy Peterson, incoming Co-Communications Director: I’m excited to interact with the new freshman at Allerdice and get to know them through Global Minds and expose them to the program.
Sam Alawadhi: Like I said before, seeing people make friends and the connections that they are going to have from the club is what I’m excited for.
Kaja Cutlip: I definitely want to dig deeper and know people on a deeper level. But also, I’m looking forward to more group collaboration on the board and becoming this group that can’t be broken apart.
Luke Chinman: My next question is what positive thing do you hope you will get out of being on the board? How do you hope it will improve you as a person?
Joe Weaver: I think that developing leadership skills is super important and learning how to organize stuff—it’s just an important life skill.
Maryam Algalay: I think it will give us the experience of going through a job. You know, you work to educate others, so it’s the skill of being a leader in a job.
Abigail Feinstein: I think I will get to make a lot of new friendships and relationships because I don’t really know a lot of people that well on the board yet. So I am excited to get to know everyone better.
Amaya Dorman: I agree with Maryam in the sense that it gives us all a little bit of experience of going into the workforce. I am also excited to get to know everyone on the board and get to create those connections.
Sam Alawadhi: I think teamwork is what I am hoping to work on—working with other people to agree on things and stuff like that.
Quincy Peterson: I agree with everybody—just being able to go through this experience with everyone on the board is exciting.
Kaja Cutlip: I think I’ll learn how to work with a bigger variety of people because I think this is the most diverse group we’ve had yet. But also as ESL Coordinator, I’m hoping for more experience with interacting with those teachers and students and learning what they look for because the club is meant for them and is supposed to be a place for them.
Luke Chinman: Okay, this is my last question for you guys. What do you hope that Global Minds students will be able to learn in Global Minds next year?
Joe Weaver: Definitely more about other cultures and more knowledge to get rid of ignorance.
Maryam Algalay: I would definitely go with respecting others and other people’s cultures—not just judging someone on how they look or where they came from and actually learning what they went through and the experience they currently go through.
Abigail Feinstein: I think just more about stuff going on in other countries and around the world. I hope they can be more aware about what other people are going through and stuff like that.
Amaya Dorman: To be more sensitive to other people’s cultures and religions and to learn more about these without being disrespectful.
Sam Alawadhi: I think what everyone said is what I think—learning more about culture and what other people do and how to be respectful about it.
Quincy Peterson: I hope that everyone will be getting to know everyone’s culture and being able to see people in a different way from just their appearance and getting to know them and experience their culture.
Kaja Cutlip: I hope that they will be able to learn to look past surface level. With high school where there are so many assumptions and standards and cliques, I hope that they can learn that there is able to be a deeper connection that breaks those groups.
Luke Chinman: Alright, thank you guys so much. Stay safe and good luck with next year.
*The interview has been edited for clarity.
