Day 13: Final Reflections

July 14th, 2019

Final Reflections

Submitted by Audrey Dickinson:
Of the seven Cs, the ones that impacted me the most were consciousness of self and collaboration. I struggle with consciousness of self because during the school year, I tend to shove everything down to stay functional. I’m also wary of collaboration because I’m an academic loner by nature and I generally see other people as more of a hindrance than an asset when working.

One activity on the first Wednesday night addressed both of these areas. We sat in a circle and, after some contrived trust exercises, each shared an intensely personal story. This was collaborative because, as every person revealed something, it encouraged other people to be more vulnerable. It was also an exercise in consciousness of self; I articulated things I hadn’t really allowed myself to acknowledge before then. I generally shy away from introspection because I never like what I find and it sends me into a crisis for a few days. But here, I was able to be at peace sharing my anxieties with a shockingly large group of people.

Submitted by Robert Burch:

I went into the GELS program not knowing what to expect. I was so nervous for what was ahead of me. I didn’t know anybody and I feared that I would never be able to keep up with everyone else and the topics we were learning. Within the first two days after the program began, all of these fears and expectations changed. In fact, it was almost the exact opposite of my fears: everybody involved was super welcoming, we have all been able to learn so much about ourselves and each other through tons of interesting conversations and discussions, and most importantly, I made friends with everyone very early on. I had so many unbelievable experiences throughout this program, ranging from learning at a top-tier oceanography institution to lobbying in our nation’s capital, but the one thing that’s united all these experiences is that I had an amazing group of people surrounding and supporting me the whole entire time. This group consisted of every instructor and student in the program and we collaborated through everything together, growing super close along the whole way. I even feel like I’ve known all these incredible friends I made for way longer than just two weeks. This program and its unforgettable experiences really showed the importance of collaboration and how it connects to many other important values. We saw our common purpose in meetings and discussions, we had some civil disagreements about how to approach an activity, and we definitely grew more conscious of ourselves as we explored the why and how of an action, but all of this learning was spurred by our ability to work exceptionally well together on every trust activity, every congressional meeting, every presentation, and even in every conversation throughout the program. Every bit of the time I spent collaborating with this awesome group of peers throughout the program was extremely impactful, and gave me experiences I will never forget. I am extremely grateful for every part of this program and the amazing lessons it taught me, the experiences it gave me, and most importantly, the lifelong friendships and support systems I have formed over these two weeks. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

Submitted by Dexter Lim:

Reflecting upon what I said in my personal growth speech last night, I think the most important part was about wanting to help others find the self confidence that I found this week. I am aware there is no clear way to go about this (reflecting on all that impacted me these last two weeks I’m not even sure how everything fell into place) but I am realizing now that self acceptance has to come from the inside, even if those on the outside are always supporting you. I am starting to learn how to accept me for me, and the support and kindness of others is what is allowing me to finally do so. As I said in my speech, my best friend has an issue of self-worth similar to the one that I have struggled with for a very long time. Now that I am starting to break this insidious cycle of doubt and captious criticism of myself, I hope I can help pass this realization forward so she can appreciate herself for who she is, both the good and the bad. Of course there is the caveat that nobody processes their emotions the same; I cannot speak for anyone or truly know how they are feeling. But when I see my friend feeling down or self-disparaging, I want nothing more than for her to be happy and accept herself as the brilliant person I know she is. Talking from the perspective of having just appreciate my strengths and flaws, I feel that I will have a more impactful message than my usual approach to support when people are down, and this is something I intend to discuss with all my friends and family.

Submitted by Julia Marquis:

As the UC San Diego GELS program came to a close, we all had the opportunity to prepare and deliver a short speech on what we learnedly during our time in the program. Staying true to the nature of the program, we had to work the 7 C’s into our speech and use them to express what we learned. The two C’s that impacted me the most were common purpose and congruence. During our trust circle we had the opportunity to learn more about our peers. It impacted me a lot because I realized that everyone in this small group was extremely different, however, we were all here because we cared about the environment and it’s future. The next C that impacted me was congruence. This C refers to having beliefs that correspond with your actions. For example, one of the days at Scripps, we had the opportunity to learn about the effects of microplastics. We all recognized the harmful effects that came with it, but found it hard, especially in D.C., to avoid single-use plastics. Our instructors were nice enough to buy us reusable utensils so this would not be a problem. Now we were showing that we cared about the environment as well as saying it. Finally, this program has inspired me to use my voice to encourage environmental activism in my community. I have made a concrete plan to start an environmental club at my school to teach others what I learned at this program. GELS has made me feel prepared to commit to this club and impact my community. I will forever be grateful for what I learned at the GELS program

Submitted by Megan Woelkers:

One takeaway I had from this UCSD GELS Program is that everyone has a different story that makes them unique. I saw this throughout the program, but mostly during the trust circle activity or when working in small groups. It was so special to get to know everyone and the lives they lead outside of the GELS Program, and this really impacted me because although we come from such diverse backgrounds, we can all become close friends and support each other after only two weeks. Some of my friendships were built over the span of years, but this remarkably quick friendship will probably last forever. There are so many things I would like to say, but I just wanted to mention how proud I am of everyone, the work they put into this program, and the way we all succeeded together. I was so lucky to meet every single person on this journey, and I will not forget the memories I made with them. Thank you. -Megan Woelkers

Submitted by Shayna Hayden:

As this trip has come to an end, I have had time to reflect over the lessons and take-always from this experience. Ultimately, this experience has opened my eyes and given me hope for the future. I used to think we as the human population would never be capable of accomplishing our goals to better the world. I always felt that despite our common purpose of having a nurturing environment to live our lives in, I always believed that our political differences would hinder us from achieving our goals. However, I was able to see a new perspective when we observed the hearing from the group Students for Carbon Dividends. It gave me hope for the world to see young students so passionate about reducing carbon emissions and finding a solution that will appeal to their more conservative party’s beliefs. Bipartisanship in my opinion is the only way we can achieve our political goals. I didn’t think it was possible until this experience that there would be a realistic compromise for climate change solutions. I am going to take this learning experience and apply it to my life back home where I can spread awareness that it is possible to make a change, we just have to be willing to find common ground.

Submitted by Guadalupe Torres:

If I am being honest, the first couple of days of the first week I was very homesick and sad. I was not sure if I would make friends and I was scared of getting left behind academically. Suddenly, it just changed and I was happy and enjoying being with everyone. The week in Washington D.C. I met my representative Juan Vargas in the gallery. Although I did not see him in my meeting I was fortunate enough to talk to him about my resolution and he was very supportive of it. I really thought it could not get better than that but, the next day we had our tour of the Capitol. I remember looking at an art piece he chose and as I turn to my left he came walking with such a strong, happy energy and came to talk to me. After finally getting a picture with him I realized this is the place I want to be when I grow up. My goal now is to work as an intern for Juan Vargas and I will achieve that goal no matter the obstacles.

Submitted by Whitney Barnett:

The main thing I learned over the past two weeks is to stay true to my passion and to not let anyone devalue it. I have a passion for studying environmental policy and this program reaffirmed this as I enjoyed virtually every second of it, whether we were in a lecture as Scripps or lobbying in Washington, D.C.. Spending time with such a supportive group of people helped me realize this because with our common purpose, we were able to help one another not only in our meetings but also help them grow as a person. I will now take my passion and run with it in order to see where it takes me in life and I will try to become more involved in local environmental policy opportunities

Submitted by Hannah Griswold:

Over the course of the past two weeks, consciousness of self and citizenship are two values that have been essential to my growth. The importance of consciousness of self was highlighted for me after I realized I had ignored my emotional and mental state in order to focus on problems with a global environmental impact. By refusing to confront the issues I was personally facing, it made it harder for me to confront the global environmental issues that mean so much to me. Throughout this program I observed that as the group grew closer, most of my peers opened up about their mental health.

Mental health is a stigmatized word in our society, however it is a part of every individual’s life. Teens are the most likely to find it difficult to deal with poor mental health since they have not yet developed strategies to address high stress levels, intense pressure, and feelings of isolation. I believe that after recognizing this issue, as a citizen, I have an obligation to consider and act on possible solutions. Unfortunately, as a young citizen, I do not have the power to vote. This is one of the numerous reasons I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to learn through this program how to effectively lobby to my representatives about issues that impact me. I will advocate to my state representative to include mental health strategies in physical education classes across California. The skills that I have learned throughout this program have given me the power to use my citizenship to work toward making a change that I want to see in the world.

Submitted by Peter Tangikyan:

My biggest fear in life is rejection and not succeeding. Because of this unusual fear, I tend to live conservatively, and the risks I do take are well thought out and favorable. This program immersed me into studies and research that were often too abstract to understand. In the past, I have skipped taking classes I was interested in because of its difficulty level and the fear of failing. During this program, I had to partake in 3 full days of lectures on the science and math involved in obtaining quantitative data involving climate change. The question of me wanting to attend lectures was not asked and frankly, I would have probably refused to ever listen to them if I was not part of this program. Our instructor, Dillon, was an excellent teacher and taught us how to find temperature increase relative to CO2 levels. These equations included more shapes and Greek letters than actual numbers. Surprisingly, I was able to understand these equations along with the math behind it, and it truly changed my perception of my ability to understand abstract concepts. This program opened my eyes to a new field of science and math I was too scared in immersing myself into, inspiring me to possibly advance onto a more STEM-oriented career path.

Submitted by David Zhu:

As this program wraps up, I feel longing for the short amount of time spent with everyone who was able to enjoy this experience with us. When I was leaving for the start of the program, I was nervous for everything, especially the thought of meeting and getting to know a group of strangers and trying to spend two weeks with them. Throughout the program, I grew close with everyone.. the students, the instructors, and all the others who helped me. Being in this program really brought out the sociable, non-hermit side of my personality, and I am thankful for all that was able to make that happen. This trip has truly been a life-changing experience, and I have lots to take away with me. The friendships we have all formed with each other is unending, and even though we will all go on our own separate journeys in the future, I'm so glad this segment of our journeys have crossed over.

Submitted by Alex Huen:

Coming into this program, I was extremely skeptical about how I would interact with the different people in the group. I usually prefer to work alone, but working with my groupmates through our research project and team building activities has taught me otherwise. Out of all the 7 C’s, the one that had the most impact on me was definitely “collaboration”. Through basic interaction with my friends at dinner or working as a team for our research project and writing our issue paper, I learned how to trust others. By the end of the program, I found myself really liking working with others in a group, since it encourages people to learn from one another.


Through participating and being engaged in the program, I’ve learned that there is always a time where you can learn from others. I also learned the importance of time management. Throughout the program, our schedule was really packed and without careful planning, it would be nearly impossible to do all the things on the itinerary. In the future, I plan to create a timetable that labels what to do at what time, so that I will finish my tasks on time.


This program has taught me more things than I could ever imagine. From the lectures on environmental science and lobbying skills to the interactions with my friends, I truly value to experience that I’ve had in the past two weeks.