Carissa Van Winkle

I’m Carissa Van Winkle, a One Stone DLab student passionate about the preservation of human rights and civil rights for every single individual. This artifact is about how Model United Nations (MUN) allows me to connect to my passions and my vision statement. My vision statement is "My Core will create the mountains, valleys, and fault lines, as the Earth's core once did" meaning I will explore and learn about the world to the point where I could recreate it, and that I will grow confidence in myself and believe in who I am and what I make. Participating in MUN connects to parts of the world that aren’t focused on in the media. It allows me to understand the issues and struggles that the people face and widens my scope of the news from the U.S to the entire world. To me, creating good means aiding others in their time of need, informed of what they want, and fully understanding the problem they are facing. I feel that MUN helps people start their path of creating good by giving resources for others to learn about important underreported issues and challenges them to find ways to help the people affected by these issues. MUN has taught me about the issue of illicit organ trafficking and access to justice for marginalized communities from the viewpoint of South Africa this fall. It allowed me to understand how these issues deeply affect newly industrialized countries and now I am an informed advocate for aid in both of these issues. My artifact represents how MUN helps people understand the world around them and pushes them to do good through a collage of headline photos from all around the world with a drawing of a learner studying these issues in the center of the picture. The collage represents how overwhelming and confusing the news can be, while also representing how many citizens of the U.S are unaware that these issues are happening. The person studying represents how MUN has made me aware of these topics, helps me comprehend the information, and helps me understand these issues from a global perspective. I feel that even just being aware of the struggles of others creates potential for others to do good. MUN informs others of the unreported struggles in the world and influences young leaders to take action and create good in the world.