On November 28^th, I attended an event for Water Watch club.  The primary purpose of Water Watch is to strive for environmental conservation through public outreach. This club works alongside students at colleges and universities across the United States to promote tap water over bottled water on their campuses.  This project is currently known as Take Back the Tap. Areas known as, “Hydration stations,” are appearing increasingly more around campuses. Hydration stations act to highlight tap water refilling areas positioned around campus so instead of purchasing bottled water, students can instead refill their water bottles with tap water.

More than $100 billion dollars are spent every year on bottled water globally. Bottled water is a drain on the environment as the US public goes through about 50 billion water bottles a year and most of the plastic containers are not recycled.  Transporting the bottles also gives off greenhouse gasses that hinder the environment.

At this event, four types of water were placed out in clear containers so that the participants would not be able to tell the difference between brands of water. The four types of water that were placed out on the table included the following: Deer Park, Poland Spring, Fiji, and tap water.  We poured each of the unidentified waters into paper cups and were asked to differentiate between brand.  Only one member of the club could differentiate between each of the four brands whether it was out of sheer luck or not. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not one is able to taste the difference between tap water and bottled water. This was to prove that there is no obvious incongruity between tap water and any common brand water. This test acted to promote the consumption of tap water benefit the environment.  

To show appreciation to all the members that came out to support the event, three groups including Water Watch, ASA, and Commuters on the Go got together for a semi-formal dinner the day after.

On Thursday, October 6th I attended the veteran’s monologue panel.  The panel consisted of approximately 12 students.  These students acted to convey the personal stories of veterans.  The students presented the stories rather than the veterans because it was thought that they would better evoke feelings from the audience as it enabled more of a connection to the ordinary, nonmilitary-involved viewer. At the beginning of the event, the student speakers were situated in the audience so that the they would blend in with the crowd, thus enhancing their relationship with the audience members so that they would appear to be an everyday student rather than someone who volunteered to regurgitate the stories of veterans. When it was time for the event to begin, the student panel walked up onstage, while still wearing their backpacks and carrying books making their presence relatable to the viewers.

Prior to speaking in front of an audience, students were assigned the task of interviewing a veteran and obtaining a story from them that they would be able to present.  Based on the veteran’s memories of war, the social environment; or milieu; of boot camp and of war in general is much different than that of everyday life.  One of the veteran’s stories explained how life truly began for him at boot camp as it was quite the, “cultural shock.” After re-entering civilian world, many of the veterans thought they would be able to move on past war and be joyous to be back but it appeared that life in the civilian world had been put on hold while everyone else moved on. At times many of the veterans would feel so alone in the world regardless of the number of people around them.   The veterans recollected how they had to change their initial moral beliefs upon entering the military.  One veteran explained how prior to being employed he was an atheist but, “Once something extreme happens, once you witness the horrors on the battlefield, you will pray to anyone and anything in hope that there is some greater force out there looking over you.”

Additionally, one of the veterans returned home after deployment and stated, “This isn’t the America that I fought for.” Before he left for the military, he remembers fighting for a country formed by the kindness of those who live in it but when he returned home he was only greeted with the hate and disrespect that citizens exhibited towards one another .  There is now doubt and mistrust everywhere and a lack of courage and compassion.  We rise and fall as one nation and, “Even though we are all unique in America,” the veteran mentioned, “That’s what makes us great.”

On September 15, 2016, I attended a panel of students who worked at the July 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Philly and the July 18-20 Republican National Convention In Cleveland. Each of the students were assigned jobs to help run the convention.

Two of the convention’s attendees were part of the checking committee where they would verify visitor’s access passes to see if they were allowed into the convention center.  One of the students said this job could get hectic as some guests didn’t have proper seats. Two of the students worked with news networks including an independent association known as free speech TV, and CNN.  Free speech TV enables students to communicate stories without censorship.  By attending these conventions, the students were able to see beyond the media’s perspective of the presidential campaign. One student was able to meet Corey Booker and Mayor Nutter and an additional student had the opportunity to meet Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and  the Trump children.  Another student worked for the shuttle service at the hotel Trump was staying at.  He mentioned how politicians would, “Call saying they needed to be somewhere five minutes ago even though the place they need to be at is twenty minutes away.”  They each worked very hard while at the convention and were grateful for the free drinks and food at the end of their 15-17 hour days.

It was stated by a member of the panel how the role of conventions, historically, are losing their usefulness.  Due to the advertisement of parties, money is being wasted meanwhile the 3rd party candidates such as Jill Stein and Gary Johnson do not have the opportunity of an organized convention. One of the students mentioned, “The conventions are meant to draw in those on the fence and rally those that are committed.”  They also spoke about how there is much more going on, on the convention floor that is not presented to big news networks.  It was declared repeatedly how young citizens should get involved in politics to at least listen to what the politicians have to say regarding our nation.  Our votes still do matter despite the fact that the electoral college has the upper hand.