ALISA OPPENHEIMER
Special to The Leader
SUNY Fredonia is putting in the extra effort this year to get students involved with off-campus issues, like climate change and public health.
Fredonia’s first ever Civic Engagement Night took place last Thursday evening, Feb. 20, in the Williams Center, Multi-Purpose Room.
The tabling event attracted on-campus and off-campus groups such as Greenwave-Enactus, Partners in Health Engage, Sustainability Committee, League of Women Voters, Climate Education Initiative and many more.
The groups provided education on societal issues and insight on how students can take action in a variety of ways.
Dr. Julia Wilson, associate professor and chair of the mathematical science department, was the driving force in creating this event.
“I’m always looking for opportunities to engage and interact with students and the public at large to teach about these issues, so I was talking with some other people over the holidays and they were interested also in engaging with students and the public about issues important to them, and we decided ‘hey, let’s put this together,’” said Wilson.
[RELATED: Photos from Civic Engagement Night]
Similar to the various student groups who participated in the first-time event, Wilson became passionate about issues like climate change when she was younger.
“I became very concerned about climate a number of years ago, and I’ve gone through a personal journey in terms of my level of awareness and what I wanted to do about it,” said Wilson.
As a direct result of this, Wilson found a way to take action.
“Over the last three years, I’ve been working through what’s called the ‘Climate Education Initiative,’” said Wilson. “We’re trying to support science-based understanding of climate and climate education in the schools and, more recently, we’ve been looking more at the campus population: how can we raise awareness and understanding of climate among the student body?”
Civic Engagement Night welcomed students, as well as the public.
Each table had representatives from their groups and they each provided their own forms of education for the students and community, including informational videos, tips on how to register as an absentee voter, ways in which one can take individual action and more.
A Fredonia student who attended the event Thursday night appreciated the fact that they provided a table teaching students how to register as an absentee.
“Being far from home, I never actually knew until recently that I can register as an absentee voter, so I thought it was great to learn about that at the event,” said music industry major Megan Maull. “I feel like this is a good event for all students to attend because you really do leave with a ton of information,” she said.
“Being an education major I know that someday I’ll be teaching our future generations so I find it really important for me to come to events like this,” said Alyssa Piniewski. “One thing I took away from the event definitely has to be that no action is too small, there are small steps of action we as individuals can take to help,” said Piniewski.
That’s what Wilson wanted students to get from Civic Engagement Night.
“I want students to leave inspired, feeling like they are now agents of change, that we can all be agents of change, that they’re not intimidated by say, a learning curve,” said Wilson. “For example when it comes to climate, a lot of people hear things, they realize there’s a problem, they’re worried about it but they have no idea how to get started.
“So I want people in general to leave the event feeling like they can understand the issues, understand what’s to be done, and actually take action themselves.”
As for the future of Civic Engagement Night, Wilson’s hope is that it continues annually, as well as grows in terms of student groups involved.