CHARGE End of 2016 for Alumni

Spring 2016 has been a very C.H.A.R.G.E semester on Alumni Quad!!!! We have done so many initiatives on all topics C.H.A.R.G.E to educate the Alumni Quad community on the culture and life around them. C.H.A.R.G.E CHATS was a great success and a great way to familiarize myself with all of the residents in the different buildings of Alumni. It was amazing to see residents repeatedly show up to the programs on the different nights. The first program, Chinese New Year, was educational and fun for all of the students that attended. Working with Resident Assistant Hui Lin is always a great time because of her cultural background and exciting personality. Although I did many programs, including two large scale committee programs, my favorite program was Vagina Dialogues in conjunction with the Pay What You Get Paid program done by CPE Vanessa and CPE Faerie. It was highly responsive and approximately 60 residents participated in the dialogue. I enjoyed collaborating with both CPEs to put together a great dialogue. You know students really enjoy a program when they stay after for another hour to continue discussing what we were talking about in the program. Engaging students make CHARGE programs successful. Shout out to all of those dedicated students. This semester in CHARGE was very successful. We were organized, put together, and strong. We really had each others' backs and helped one another complete programs. No semester is ever easy and this one was one for the books. With our lack of funding, we were still able to get students to come out and enjoy our programs. That's impressive. I am so proud of our first ever end of the year WE ARE C.H.A.R.G.E program. There were hiccups, but it was smooth and enjoyable. Probably one of the best C.H.A.R.G.E experiences ever. If I had to leave anything behind for the peer educators, it would be to stay receptive and open. This position works best when someone can be like that and focus on teamwork. WE ARE C.H.A.R.G.E AND WE ARE A FAMILY.


Sincerely,

CPE Carmel Joseph of Alumni Quad
#staychargedup

End of year Spring 2016

This Semester has been pretty Charge'D up . With countless amounts of different programs as well as supporting other programs there was plenty to do. This semester ended with a bang as we successfully pulled off our first large end of the year program centered all around awareness and giving people a night in CHARGE. The experience of this semester was honestly unlike any other the programs we honested, dialogues that made a large impact and truly starting to make a footprint on this campus. My favorite program this Semester was the end of the year program "Charge'D for change" I truly enjoyed this program because of the perseverance and the way it all came together. This program was thoughtfully assembled and truly embodied every piece that makes us charge and that supports what we do. In future years, I do know that with more time and truly more resources available to us this will continue to be one of the most memorable nights for charge and for those who get impacted by our events. Being a peer educator myself seeing the program come to light was moving for myself  is the least I can say. Keep being #CHARGE'Dforchange!

- CPE Vanessa

Diversity Conference

The Diversity conference was hosted on February 27th in SUNY Oneonta. It was a conference where there was different workshops and speakers. One speaker was an actor that acted out different characters such as "in the closet" football player or a girl that was visiting a therapist. Then it was broken up into workshop as mentioned before. I went to a Beyonce and Yik Yak seminar where I learned about different experiences of Yik Yak on their campuses and it was very insightful. Also There was a workshop about mentorship that was really for the students at that university. Then we had another speaker, then a play on different events in life, and the conference ended. If the conference was brought to the university at Albany, I would suggest that all the programs are universal. Universal meaning that if someone from an outside school chooses to go to that workshop. But other than that the workshop was great and I hope that it is brought to the university with invitation from different schools.

CPE Simba Ravilus

Introducing CPE Subha Tasnim

Hi everyone! My name is Subha Tasnim and I am the CPE for Colonial Quad! I am a first year student majoring in Political Science and Criminal Justice with minors in Sociology and Homeland Security. I also serve as senator at large for the Student Association and am a brother of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity International. As a Charge Peer Educator I am extremely excited to raise awareness to issues that are prevalent in today's society but overlooked due to societal norms and stigmas. I look forward to helping the students here at UAlbany realize the importance of diversity and inclusion of every type of person regardless of their gender, sexual, cultural, or religious differences.

Rise with Refugees

     

Last Week CHARGE was invited to table in LC's by Peace Action to raise awareness regarding refugees, the event was able to educate me on the issue at hand and how impactful this truly is. The most present issue is the matter of syrian refugees and whether or not America should allow these refugees into the country. Even though I am not well versed on the topic one conclusion I was able to settle on is that If people need help, then we should help. I know the matter may not be as black and white as I would love to make it but, if you see someone who was injured on the floor I would hope the inate reaction would be to help. If someone was being threatened, I would hope the first reaction would be get them some help, or call the cops. I see the same thought processes on the matter of refugees they are living in a dangerous place where even their lives are at risk. If calling the cops is offering them selter in the United States I would love to urge this country to open those doors, offer them selter. Even though there may be challenges posed in this, I believe if we set a goal we can all find a way to make it work.

Thinking Optimistically,
CPE Vanessa

Rise With Refugees

Couple of days ago, CHARGE Peer Educators were invited to table alongside with Peace Action for Refugee Visibility Day, an initiative that is part of the Rise With Refugees Campaign. The invitation to this program really got me into thinking about all the events that has been happening surrounding refugees. Refugees are a group of people who had to leave their own land due to difficult circumstances (ie, wars/attacks) and move to another country for a better shot at life.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not United States should be letting Syrian refugees in to the states and provide them with homes. I have read many comments, articles and blogs that provide the pros and cons of having refugee in the states. The balance for whether or not to have the refugees in the states tended to tilt more towards the negative.

I think one of the many fears this country faces is the fear of letting someone from the terrorist groups into our land, by mistake. They are to house the terrorist in our native land and destroying our country from within. Due to this frightful thought, many of us forget about all the children and families that are in dire need of a shelter. So many innocent children and families are getting attacked on a daily basis because of the conflicting political party of their countries. It is important for us to see both sides of the argument before choosing a side. It is important that we rise with the refugees who have already resided in the states instead of isolating them. It is important that we show kindness and compassion and provide a helping hand to those  who is in need of one. It is important that we educate ourselves, our children, our friends and family before we jump into any conclusions.

Thank you Peace Action for allowing us be part of such a great event, for allowing us to go that extra mile and think about what it means to be refugee and how we can help make lives better for other humans.

CPE Faerie Akhter, University Apartments

#UABlackGirls

Dear Black Girls of UAlbany,

I hope that you feel the equality that is perpetuated on this campus. Even though some intrinsically embedded racism still lies in the hearts of individuals, I pray that like our ancestors in the past we can overcome this as well. With the incident that occurred on campus, I know many felt hurt, scared, and even upset.  As light has begun to shed on the incident I  can understand many still feel hurt, scared and upset. I write this letter to let you know that any feelings that you have felt are valid and true. I believe the true underlying issue here is the pain and discrimination that we may have all felt at one point or another for the color of your skin. Potentially being mocked that "she got a weave, that ain't her hair" or "black girls always ready to fight". These are legitimate stereotypes and stigmas that are taken upon our society that we live in. I do not sit here permeating support for those who may or may not have spoken untrue stories, but I do sit here supporting black girls all over as we are looked at as violent, lowest on totem pole, and constantly held back from achieving more. My one word of advice is Rise above and keep rising. Those who wish us to fail will only ever be silenced by success. So, to my beautiful Black Girls do not fear to love yourself, do not fear your own potential, and do not fear imagination that is beyond this world. Be Simply Amazing.

Your Truly,
C.P.E Vanessa