World Today

World Today is a group on campus that puts together college-wide presentations every Friday about current events and controversial global issues. These presentations are then followed by open structured debates amongst audience members. I was the chair of this group during my second year at RCN and also put on several presentations of my own. As chair, I held meetings with all group members once a week to plan out future presentations and organize ourselves, then I would help carry out the presentation each Friday. The group has about 20 core members but meetings are open to the entire campus, while Friday presentations are open to all members of the local community.

I became involved in this activity quite late into my first year but got involved quickly. I hoped to become more educated myself about global politics and the general dynamic of international relations. I wanted to become well-versed in social, political, and economic issues from all over the world. I also hoped to effectively manage and organize a group on a continuous basis.

There were, of course, many difficulties encountered while I was a part of the World Today group. I had to figure out entirely on my own how to run meetings and work with all sorts of different people. I also had to do a lot of personal research so as to be confident enough to publicly discuss issues from all over the world. I began to keep notebooks and agendas to keep track of schedules and topics. There were many arguments over topics. Debates would get so heated that sometimes even tears would be shed, but I have learned so much from World Today. I have learned how to keep my cool in tense situations and how to diffuse tensions in a group setting. I have learned the value of articulation and also of simple human compassion, how even if we don't all always agree on something, at least we can attempt to understand each other. World Today has shown me that life is not necessarily about right or wrong and the global conflicts are not clean-cut. There are so many nuances and intricate links between nations and groups and answers to these conflicts are not as easy as I thought they were before. World Today has given me the opportunity to put myself in other people's shoes, to really hear what a conflict is about from the people that are living it. It has been invaluable and it has given me a perspective on the world that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

World Today benefits others because it is a chance for the entire local community to become educated about an issue every Friday. It is also a chance to allow everyone to express their opinions publicly and constructively. It is a professional forum that is open to all and allows everyone to experience conflict and work towards resolution first-hand.

Honestly, I wouldn't do much differently in the World Today group. All of the difficulties and all of the hard work I have ahd to put in to make everything run smoothly has taught me a lot. If the meetings had never gotten a bit out of control, then I would never have learned how to mediate within a large group. If the topics had not sometimes been rushed, or technical difficulties hadn't occurred, or we hadn't crossed the line of political correctness sometimes, then I would never have learned how to work under stress or how to improvise something or how to deal with conflict constructively. I have learned something from every aspect of the experience and therefore would not change anything about how I participated.