NYSEC's Ethics For Teen Leaders Launching Speed Deed
Teen reporter:
Sydney Riemer is a senior at the NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies.
She has participated in Ethics for Teen Leaders at NYSEC (New York Society For Ethical Culture) since her Freshman year. She will be attending Johns Hopkins University next year.
Her interests include sailing, space and environmental science, and guitar.
NYSEC's Speed Deed started out with a potluck dinner where we were asked to sit and eat with people we did not know. As I reluctantly sat down, I looked around at other people sitting down at empty tables. Soon more people came in with their food and sat down with me. We talked about the usual things at first, like how old we are, what schools we go to, etc. After several minutes of generic small talk I soon found out that a teen I was sitting with knew how to computer program, and we became immersed in conversation about how he learned to program. I am learning to program as well, and I think it is very cool that you can do so many things with programming, from making video games to controlling robots. I was even surprised to find out that the teen I talked to actually writes programs for people, and sometimes even gets paid to do so. After that, as a member of NYSEC's Teen Leaders program, I felt compelled to reach out and go to another tablewhere I found another person to converse with, this time a thirteen year old girl, who was also interested in programming. I was surprised at how quickly I had found a common interest with these people. After getting to know some people more I already felt more comfortable. I expected it to be a little awkward, but was surprised at how fun and interesting it was to talk to new people here.
After the dinner we entered the Social Hall and started going around to the different Speed Deed tables, learning about the different causes people cared about. One cause that was being promoted was the Dream Act. A few weeks ago I had read an article on the Dream Act, and initially I didn’t think it was right. I wondered why we should give money for immigrants to go to college when there were natural born citizens who couldn’t afford to go to college either. After giving it some more thought at the Speed Deed, and hearing from Abe, a life-long activist, Clara, a teen, and Andra, President of NYSEC, I realized that the Dream Act is in fact a very good idea. These immigrants cannot apply for financial aid like citizens can, and it is not their fault that their parents brought them here. I willingly wrote a letter to Andrew Cuomo concerning the Dream Act. Sending a letter to a government official, or even the act of signing a petition, like I did at various other booths, was pretty empowering. The idea that a small group of people of all ages and walks of life could get together and learn so much about important causes in such a short amount of time was remarkable. I found myself changed in my opinions, like in the situation with the Dream Act.
Later we did an activity where the whole group made one circle, and we went around and said our names and something nobody knew about us. One young woman I had talked to earlier in the evening shared that she was HIV positive. I then went and signed up to do the AIDS walk. It felt good to sign up knowing that it would be for someone who was there in the room with me, taking their time to learn about different causes. This experience was new to me, but overall I found it eye-opening. I look forward going to the next Speed Deed and possibly having my own cause to share and bring awareness to.
After the dinner we entered the Social Hall and started going around to the different Speed Deed tables, learning about the different causes people cared about. One cause that was being promoted was the Dream Act. A few weeks ago I had read an article on the Dream Act, and initially I didn’t think it was right. I wondered why we should give money for immigrants to go to college when there were natural born citizens who couldn’t afford to go to college either. After giving it some more thought at the Speed Deed, and hearing from Abe, a life-long activist, Clara, a teen, and Andra, President of NYSEC, I realized that the Dream Act is in fact a very good idea. These immigrants cannot apply for financial aid like citizens can, and it is not their fault that their parents brought them here. I willingly wrote a letter to Andrew Cuomo concerning the Dream Act. Sending a letter to a government official, or even the act of signing a petition, like I did at various other booths, was pretty empowering. The idea that a small group of people of all ages and walks of life could get together and learn so much about important causes in such a short amount of time was remarkable. I found myself changed in my opinions, like in the situation with the Dream Act.
Later we did an activity where the whole group made one circle, and we went around and said our names and something nobody knew about us. One young woman I had talked to earlier in the evening shared that she was HIV positive. I then went and signed up to do the AIDS walk. It felt good to sign up knowing that it would be for someone who was there in the room with me, taking their time to learn about different causes. This experience was new to me, but overall I found it eye-opening. I look forward going to the next Speed Deed and possibly having my own cause to share and bring awareness to.
