My name is Amalia Lohuis, and I am a student embarking on my senior year at Mira Costa High School.
Coming into high school I was inspired to join Costa’s Model United Nations program — a debate team that travels around the country and world discussing the same global issues that are discussed in the UN itself. With this opportunity, I have expanded my knowledge of the world exponentially. It made sense with this outlet that I would become inclined to act and contribute to one of the causes that I was learning about.
At conferences, delegates discuss instances like the Rwandan Genocide, along with the policy instruments and organizations that have come as a reaction to mass atrocity, such as the International Criminal Court. Out of the range of topics I have debated — everything from GMOs, to the Arctic, to statelessness — I have become passionate about how the international community has reacted to mass atrocity.
For the past four years, I have been closely affiliated with iACT through Mustangs 4 Change, a club that I started along with two of my friends.
Starting Mustangs 4 Change has not only been a challenge and journey in responsibility and organization, but a closer look into how organizations really work. I finally began to understand the contrast between what I have only talked about theoretically, and the real-world application of ideas.
This summer, I hope to aid high schoolers, college students, and community members in establishing a working relationship with iACT, as I have had the privilege of doing. By creating booklets and finding the most effective way to apply an iACT project, or set-up a sustainable and influential club or partnership with iACT, I hope to help make others’ experiences with this organization as fulfilling and meaningful as possible.
More updates on the status of the project to come 🙂 – Amalia