Reflections on Campus Events

The two campus events I attended were the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speech on environmental policies and progressions and the Hispanic Heritage Festival.
Robert Kennedy Junior came to Appalachian State October 23 and spoke at Farthing Auditorium at 8:00 pm on his ideas for the environmental issues and the emphasis that we as a nation should be putting on these policies. His passion for his field of work was fascinating and inspiring as he spoke well over his time limit and was never exasperated on everything he mentioned. His statements, facts, statistics and ideas were nothing less than impressive and displayed his wide range of knowledge on everything dealing with the environment. He spoke on such issues as mountain-top removal-where his relationship with Appalachian Voices Executive Director Mary Ann Hitt is very close-, maintaining the rivers, creeks and streams that comprise our water systems, and essential sustainable advancements for all environmental issues. An example used to prove potential environmental political necessity on the American economics is that Americans use 700 billion dollars on foreign oil each year, which was the exact amount of the bailout this year, and if we outsource that amount of foreign oil on other ways of creating efficient energy through bio-fuels or whatnot, then the deficit would meet par. His campaign for the environment was very moving and the Watauga county audience was deeply moved. He ended his speech with this, “It is time to restore American prestige. It is time for every American to become an entrepreneur and every home a power plant, making everyone the ‘dogs of war.’”
The other event I attended was the Hispanic Heritage Festival which was held on October 24 at 7:00pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of the Student Union. This event was completely for fun and to bring awareness to the Latin culture that is present on the Appalachian campus. The evening was filled with enormous amounts of food, eating contests, educational power points on the different Latin American countries, and salsa dancing. It was very much enjoyed by myself and the international community that was present there, as most of the students studying abroad here are friends. Learning the salsa was a feat unto itself, but was very much enjoyable, despite my inability to salsa even after lessons.
Neither events were really interdisciplinary because both focused on a specific subject and advocating for their educational purposes. I did share qualities with both events though. Kennedy’s passion reflects my own, not necessarily the same passions, but passion none-the-less. His passion is for the environment, and while I agree that much emphasis needs to be put on ways to make the environment top-priority, my passion lies within people and helping those who are unable to help themselves because of political or economic oppression. With the Hispanic Heritage Festival, I compare with the event because I am concentrating in Latin American Studies and enjoy everything international. Education was inevitable, however, through both events, but both were very enjoyable.