One of my favorite things in the world is hearing and telling stories. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me as I am an extrovert who majored in theatre, but I think that this openness and willingness to share stories is one of the most important skills one needs become a global citizen. Being a global citizen and engaging interculturally is the best way to get a more diverse, interesting, and complete vision of the world around me- and to do that, I first needed to have an open mind. Before entering college and joining the Honors program, my image of global citizenship and intercultural engagement was that I had to study abroad or become best friends with someone from another culture who would take me under their wing and teach me everything about their life, but now I know it’s so much simpler. It’s the willingness to learn about others empathetically, do your best to acknowledge and work through your biases, and make an effort to continue growing and sharing that knowledge with others.

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            While I have always thought myself to be an open minded and empathetic person to people whose lives I didn’t quite understand, I don’t have much experience engaging with people from different backgrounds, and I didn’t begin making conscious steps to engage interculturally until my freshman year of college. It began while taking Human Relations in a Multicultural Society during my freshman year of college, we took the Harvard Implicit Biases tests. These tests consist of word and picture associations that test your speed and accuracy in correctly matching associations. I took tests on race, gender and career relationships, and disability. It’s critical to be aware of any implicit biases so you can work to view life more objectively and diversely so you can continue to grow in a positive and inclusive direction. While taking these tests, I was so nervous that I was going to have very heavy biases due to where I was raised. I grew up in Central Minnesota, where Islamophobia is unfortunately ever present, and graduated from a high school that was far from diverse culturally. According to this evaluation, my fear was unnecessary, as all the cultural biases I tested for came back “negative”, but this fear made me realize how badly I want to be good to people with different backgrounds from me. From there, I started seeking information about underserved communities and having difficult conversations with close friends in an effort to grow together.

 

            One of the biggest challenges with intercultural engagement is doing so respectfully and ethically. The best way that I have learned to do this is to be an enthusiastic listener. I worked on this skill the most while volunteering with Aktion Club Theatre, a disability theatre in the Mankato area. This experience empowered me to be even more unapologetically myself, taught me to get really comfortable with making mistakes, refreshed and redefined my relationship with theatre, and generally brought me so much joy. Meeting new and kind people always lifts my mood, and even though it can be daunting knowing you might fail in your attempt to connect with someone, I am so much more confident and aware of the ways I communicate now. Already I’ve been able to apply these skills to my life as I lead my peers and youths as the undergraduate student representative and a Drama Kids teacher.

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            Intercultural engagement is something that I know I will work on for the rest of my life. In both my self-examinations of the implicit biases and with Aktion Club, it became crystal clear to me the importance of being a global citizen to creating peace. We are living in a culturally turbulent time with ability, race, and gender relations, and it is critical that we all develop as global citizens to minimize the negative impact we have on each other. Understanding and empathy are at the root of peace, and while uncomfortable, intercultural engagement is about stepping outside your comfort zone to expand your worldview. Moving forward, I intend to make opportunities for myself to engage with other cultures. I want to work in as many locations as possible, be it in theatre or outside of it, and develop my global citizenship as much as possible by keeping myself out of my comfort zone.