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The Ely Speech Prize for The Global Seminar: Signature

By Divi Bhaireddy, III Form

The Ely Speech Prize for The Global Seminar: Signature

The Ely Prize in Public Speaking, originally given by a member of the Class of 1892 in memory of his mother, is presented to the student who gave the best speech in the Global Seminar Public Speaking Competition.

Someday in the future, I will be someone’s ancestor. People will tell stories about me; what I did with my life, what family I made, and the impact I left behind. Those people in the future won’t know how I laughed or how I smiled, my quirks or my chatter, but instead, they’ll know all that I did with my life. My name will be passed down, and how I decide the way my name is remembered, is all in my hands. 

In the beginning of this school year, one of the first assignments we had in The Global Seminar was titled, “2.1 Our Names & Our Places in the World”. It was all about what our names meant and how it reflected our stories. And although we hadn’t chosen that name, it was still ours. 

Our names were given to us by other people. Whether it be your mother or your father who gave it to you, your grandmother or your religion, it isn’t your choice. My name is Divi. My full name: Divija. It means born in heaven. And since I was a child, my name has been mispronounced when people first meet me because it isn’t one that they have encountered before. But, this year in TGS, we learned about Hinduism. How rich my culture is and how sacred our beliefs are. We learned about Samsara, which is a cycle of life ultimately to reach a state of Moksha; enlightenment. It helped me gain a deep appreciation for my name and all its uniqueness. And once I came to terms with my love for my name, it was time for the hard part: how I wanted that name to represent me. 

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Ely Prize Winner 2020

By Carlisle Brush, IV Form

Ely Prize Winner 2020

Editor’s Note: THE ELY PRIZE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING, originally given by a member of the Class of 1892 in memory of his mother, is presented to the student who gave the best speech in the Global Seminar Public Speaking Competition.

Coming from the small state of Vermont and being fortunate to have the family and friends I do, I have always felt as though I live in a bubble, guarded from the struggles and horrors that so many people go through all over, but also denied the exposure and opportunity to embrace and learn about the many diverse and beautiful cultures within the United States and around the world. When I arrived at St. Mark’s I was able to step out of my small town bubble and join a diverse community. Over the course of this TGS class and through the school year, my understanding of the world and the impact I have on it has grown exponentially. Through the people here at St. Mark’s, I have been exposed to many more cultures, backgrounds, and an overall array of diversity than I ever have before. This has helped me become a better global citizen because I now have a more educated and nuanced understanding of and appreciation for diversity and how I can impact my community both locally and globally.

Broadening my understanding of globalization has helped me to realize how humanity has evolved and will continue to evolve and how I can positively influence this change.  Globalization is the sharing of ideas, materials, culture, languages, and more due to the connections formed between people all around the world. Early on these ideas and materials got shared through trade between merchants, primarily traveling on routes such as the Silk Road. Now, globalization is sharing not only culture and ideas, but technology and knowledge, advancing society and modernizing many cultures. Some examples are forms of renewable energy, electronics, electric cars, and weapons. Through globalization, I hope to share ways to lessen our impact on global warming and educate more about poverty and hunger and the ways we can improve them locally and globally. 

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Once Home, Always Home

By Sua Yoo, III Form

Once Home, Always Home

The day was hectic. After spending half of the afternoon in the shopping mall looking for a neat set of clothes, I had to dig around the house to pack the luggage in preparation for a two-month-long stay. I should have felt no burden since I was lucky enough to move to the United States in the middle of a chaotic pandemic. Yet, exhaustion conquered excitement; the whole new life that kept me awake for weeks was blocked by immediate tiredness, and the only wish I had in my mind was to stop thinking about all that I have been through.

As I frantically searched my closet, what instantly came into my sight was not the packing list I had in hand, but the NLCS school uniform that I had been wearing for the past four years. It was signed with at least a dozen handwritten messages from the people who were once precious to me. Peering at each mark on the shirt, I recalled which was made by whom, what that person meant to me, and what kind of person I was to them. Throughout my time atmy old school, NLCS Jeju, I was constantly influenced by the community there and the relationships I formed.

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The Virtual Infectious Disease Project

By Ms. Elise Morgan, Faculty; Andria Bao, Shreeya, Sareddy, Madison Hoang, and Maddie Yearout, III Form

The Virtual Infectious Disease Project

Instructor Note from Ms. Morgan:
We have spent the last couple of weeks discussing how to be global citizens within our different communities. Our obligations to these communities change depending on situational factors such as time period, crises, and individual needs. During pandemics, often times our obligations to society and our communities directly oppose our civil liberties. Infectious diseases can easily become epidemics and evolve to pandemics when individuals do not understand the who, what, and why behind the transmission of the disease and when measures have not been put in place to control or to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. It is also important to note that when infectious diseases do become epidemics or pandemics, populations of people and regions of the world are differentially impacted; that is, confounding factors such as access to resources, the density of population, climate change, and women’s health impact how infectious diseases are spread, treated, and prevented in different regions of the world. In this project, you will explore how one confounding factor impacts the spread of a particular infectious disease in a specific region of the world.

Zombie Pathogens
By Andria Bao and Shreeya Sareddy, III Form

Click to view Andria and Shreeya’s PowToon video project.
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Globalization Through Glow Sticks

By Andria Bao, III Form

Globalization Through Glow Sticks

Editor’s Note: For this assignment, III form students in The Global Seminar (TGS) were asked to create an infographic that could tell the story of globalization through a chosen product.

Click for a more detailed PDF of Andria’s Infographic
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Diminishing the Diversity of Devastating Diarrhea

By Geetika Surapaneni, Frances Hornbostel, & Graham Butterfield, III Form with Will Figueroa, V Form

Diminishing the Diversity of Devastating Diarrhea

Please click the image to download/see the poster. Scroll below to see each individual piece.

CLICK ON EACH IMAGE BELOW TO ZOOM TO EACH PIECE OF PROJECT. (more…)

Project Based Learning in The Global Seminar: The Zamibia Presentation

By Alicia Souliotis, Andrew Cheon, Elise Gobron, and Tommy Flathers, III Form

Project Based Learning in The Global Seminar: The Zamibia Presentation

Editor’s Note: All III Formers took part in The Global Seminar’s project to create a proposal to improve the state of the fictitious country Zamibia. The students collaborated in groups as United Nations Development Programme Sustainable Development Teams. The artifact below is part of the presentation that the students delivered to their classmates, teachers, and visitors.

Please click here for entire presentation.

Please click here for entire presentation. (more…)

Ugandan Human Rights

By Charles Brookby, III Form

Ugandan Human Rights

Editor’s Note: In The Global Seminar classes, each student wrote a research paper in February and March that was used as the foundation for a 4-5 minute speech presenting an argument (direction and specificity) relating to the following question: How does the global community respond to the abuse of human rights? And how should the global community respond? This speech won the Ely Speech Prize (founded in 1890): an annual competition for Third Formers.

In 1961, a man by the name of Joseph Kony was born. As a child, Kony grew up in Odek, Uganda where he was well educated, and in his adult life became a healer in his ethnic tribe of the Acholi people. As he grew up, Kony was exposed to horrific terror on his people conducted by the Ugandan government at the time. Kony joined an organization known as The Holy Spirit Movement in 1986. He quickly climbed the ranks, and became one the leaders, then ultimately took control and changed the party’s name to The Lord’s Resistance Army. For over 25 years, countries and the UN have been, frankly, oblivious to the horrendous actions of Joseph Kony and the LRA. Ugandan children have been taken, used, and killed at the hands of Kony and his men. Eventually, the International Criminal Court and UN peacekeeping programs have gotten involved in an attempt to stop the LRA. Though progress has been made, the LRA is still active and in power near northern Uganda and neighboring countries, and justice towards their actions has not been dealt. (more…)