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By Nahida Islam, Justice and Legal Thought College Park Scholar
Working with MaryPIRG brought to light many issues that I was not aware of until I started my internship and I know more now about the work that has to be put in for real change to happen, starting at the student level.
My internship with MaryPIRG has taught me many lessons on student advocacy and activism, as well as learning the skillsets for grassroots work. I had the opportunity to work on a variety of campaigns under MaryPIRG that dealt with food insecurity on campus, global climate change, and making textbooks more affordable. MaryPIRG is an important group on campus that works to represent student interests to the campus board and the Maryland government to lobby for change and reform for that issue. This semester, I worked specifically on the Zero Hunger campaign which looks to find solutions for food insecurity on campus and how to educate students on where to find healthy food resources that are cost sensitive. Food insecurity is a very important issue on campus and more students need to be aware that there are resources, like the Campus Food Pantry, that are designed to alleviate problems of not having adequate food nearby or accessible food. Working with MaryPIRG brought to light many issues that I was not aware of until I started my internship and I know more now about the work that has to be put in for real change to happen, starting at the student level. I have learned how to get comfortable with working with students to get petitions signed, to lobby for legislation, and how to help come up with events where students can learn about climate change or food insecurity. The skills I learned from my time at MaryPIRG will allow me to be able to brainstorm effective ways to turn issues into action while also working at the grassroots level because that is where the true support for reform comes from.
Hi Nahida,
I think it's amazing that you focused on food insecurity as part of your capstone considering that sometimes this issue can be overlooked. I always thought that MaryPIRG was focused more on the criminal justice side but I wasn't aware that they also advocated on all different kinds of behalf. You mentioned how this internship and JLT combined helped you understand how policy can affect a specific audience, do you think that this also has helped you in shaping your understanding of government and politics (since it's your major)?
Hi Nahida! This poster stood out to me because I wrote an article on food insecurity in PG county, and the research was definitely interesting. It's great that you got to help with so many tasks. I didn't know legislation was passed into the MD Senate promising hunger-free campuses by 2030. That's great! Is this legislation still in the state Senate? If so, why hasn't it been passed by Hogan yet?
Hi,
The first thing that stood out to me with this poster was the picture of people protesting in the picture, because this raised my interest in what this internship was about. This group is very interesting in that you are student activists who try and make chance on very important issues. How much did doing this internship raise your interest on problems going on in our society that we can try and change?
Hi Nahida!
I was drawn to your poster because I have heard great things about MaryPIRG before. Food insecurity is something I've been learning about in one of my other classes along with education disparity, and how the two correlate. It was really cool to learn about how you fought against it hands on. Do you have any plans to participate in something like that again in the future?
Hi Nahida,
I was initially drawn to your project because I have heard a lot about food insecurity for UMD students specifically, so I was interested to see how your internship addressed that issue. The methods you used for outreach like phone banking and petitions were interesting to read about. What other legislation do you think could prove useful in combatting this issue?