Tanyra Williams
Due to being a recipient of the Vira I. Heinz scholarship, Tanyra Williams had the opportunity to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She spent 4 weeks immersing herself in the Argentinian culture. Tanyra chose to spend her time studying and learning Spanish at the University of Belgrano. Throughout these four weeks, she learned that while Spanish is a universal language, it can vary from country to country. The university gave her a chance to befriend local Argentinians who were more than delighted to show her the way of life in Buenos Aires. Over the course of her trip, Tanyra experienced many firsts; getting on a plane for the first time, her first international flight, and trying new foods and activities. In her free time Tanyra chose to get involved in activities that could truly show her what Argentina had to offer. She had the opportunity to take tango classes, tour historical sites and museums, spend time with her host family, and even watch the World Cup. Tanyra was able to witness and be a part of a very important time in Argentinian history as abortion was legalized during her stay. She realized how much different a place can be than the United States economically, socially, politically, etc. She also learned how important it was to appreciate the freedoms she has and to never take them for granted. Due to her exposure to of the Spanish language and culture, Tanyra was able to improve her language skills, make lifelong friends, and truly appreciate Argentinian culture
CEE Title: No Impact Too Small
On November 6, 2018, we put on our community engagement experience called “NO IMPACT TOO SMALL”. Our CEE was a casual opportunity for students to become further educated about culture, by learning about a specific issue that is faced globally and locally. We had a large following from student-ran organizations that helped present that this event. For our CEE, we had a large crowd through the event, so we stood in front of the various clubs and had tables’ set-up to display our international experience and our various global/local issue. We then stood by our tables and allowed the students and community members to walk around to the various tables and ask us more specific questions. Each one of us decorated our tables with items from our travels. For my contribution, I decided discuss the aftermath of the abortion debate. During my time in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I got to witness the partial legalization to the right and free choice of abortion. A few months later it was ultimately decided that it would remain illegal under their current government. So I decided to look at the impact this had on women in the feminist community but also just women in Argentina in general. I chose to do a trifold that outlined how dangerous illegal abortions are to women and how that sends a poor message to women because these are things that are seen as their only option. Collectively we put out presentations on issues that were important to us and impacted us not only during our international experiences but also at home.