On April 22, Temple University Global Days of Service hosted the second annual Owl Be The Change, an event that seeks to educate the community about social issues and ways to get involved in supporting a cause. At this event, five Communication and Social Influence (CSI) students who took the Communication and Civic Engagement class this semester were given the opportunity to speak about different social justice organizations.
Presenters for the event included sophomore Hafeezat Bishi advocating for Malikah, junior Gianna Caruso for Disability Rights Pennsylvania, sophomore Christina Stephens for Black Lives Matter, junior Marissa DiSilvestro for Equal Pay Today, and sophomore Daniel Pfeiffer advocating for Temple University Emergency Medical Services.
Hafeezat Bishi, whose chosen organization trains women in self defense, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and leadership, said that she was glad this event gave CSI students an opportunity to explore the social side of communications.
“There can be a lot out there that is offered to students, class wise or community wise, but they don’t really know how to be civically engaged because no one explains how,” Bishi said.
Gianna Caruso, who shared personal stories about the challenges faced by people with disabilities, agreed that educating people about advocacy is often just as important as volunteering and donating.
“This class taught me how to give meaningful presentations,” Caruso said. “It’s no longer about you when you’re advocating for a group and you’re trying to connect to people in the most vulnerable but authentic way possible.”
From personal stories to passionate presentations, each student spoke for about ten minutes, offering the audience a look into a diverse spread of social justice issues.
Jazmyne Kenney, an English major, and Faithe Beadle, a psychology major, were two of the students in attendance, both there to support Christina Stephens. Kenney said she was happy there was a class dedicated to teaching people how to effectively teach this information to others.
“I didn’t know there were so many different ways to be involved and give my support to different causes,” Beadle said. “The class, and this event, really give students a great platform.