I hate to say it, but the program is officially coming to a close. No more missing school to attend our monthly Skype sessions with Chile and Sri Lanka. No more weekly meetings with the girls from all over the Syracuse area. No more dialogs about our thoughts on human rights.  No more learning about and growing from all these amazing people that I now call my friends. 

All year the group has been a huge commitment and a lot of work. Not everybody is cut out for this, nor do many people care about it. However I can honestly say I enjoyed learning about Matilda Joslyn Gage. I relished in bonding with these peoples, all united in the common goal for a better position of women and frankly a better world. Though I want to be an Environmental Engineer I really do recognize how important this type of work is in society today. There is still so much to be done! I can only hope that Ill be a part of it! 

Just recently I won an award and scholarship through the University of Rochester, titled “The Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony Award in Humanities and Social Sciences”. I cannot help but feel proud. Through I don’t know who, someone nominated me: they saw all the hard work I have done this year and how much I have changed for the better. I think that really summed up how influential this experience has been. It is completely unique to anything I have ever heard, and truly allowed for its members to empower themselves and become better people of the world. When I tell others about the program they saw “Wow... thats college application gold”. Ok yes it is, but it is for a reason. What many don’t understand at this point in their lives- while beginning to think about college- is that the people who are going to excel are not just the extremely smart perfect gpa kids. We want our generation to be problem solvers and to care about improving our society- not just caring about being on top. I think Im just beginning to show some of these qualities and for that I am glad. You haven’t heard the last of Mikayla Jaz Cleary-Hammarstedt yet. Thats a name your gonna want to remember, because I’m gunning for greatness. I will make a difference. You just wait. 

Approximately a month later, and its finally time for the Syracuse visit! Sure, my life is a mess and I am so busy, but how many times do you get to meet with international peoples to show them about your life? Basically never. So for the most part my goal has been to take as much as I can from the experience. We started off with a meet and greet, something I have become accustomed to throughout the year. Tip: always be prepared to be put on the spot. Adults love to just ask you a random question or your opinion on a topic you know absolutely nothing about in front of a bunch of people. I have the suspicion that they just want to show off the people they admire in the younger generation rather than what we actually have to say. “Look at Mikayla doesn’t she just sound so smart?” There is nothing you can do but smile and act adorable. Of course, Sally pulled this on me multiple times on the ambassadors visit when things got awkward or slow. She even had me organize a group song for us Americans to sing to our visitors. Cliche, but it was “Party in the USA” which the Chileans surprisingly knew. 

It was amazing to see some of the people I had grown so close with in my week in Chile- Muthu, Carolina, Lelia, Claudia and Marion. It especially touched my heart to meet the two new ambassadors from Sri Lanka- though the couldn’t speak much english I could tell Nusrath and Jenty had told them about me. Their faces lit up and immediately they kissed me on both cheeks and said “Its very nice to finally meet you Mikayla”, in their heavy accents. As I came to get to know them I could see just what amazing people they were. At the end of the week we had a large ceremony to commemorate the year we’ve had. When it was their turn to speak you could just tell what they have taken away from the program is way more that any of us here in America ever could. In Sri Lanka they are faced with blatant discrimination and are completely unequal (whereas here its not as much so). The drive those girls expressed to change this was extremely moving and I know they will become successful in the future.

There were many other highlights of the week including meeting with girls from the Onondoga Nation. I really didn’t know that much about them today so their experiences and stories were truly eye-opening. They are still fighting to this day for their rights, with no end in sight. Also we met with students who attend the La Casita House. For those of you who don’t know, its a place where people who have come from a different country- mostly spanish speaking ones- can go to help adjust to this whole different culture. Its really a great program here in Syracuse that I knew nothing about until this week. I was actually inspired so much to volunteer there over the next year! Lastly taking the ambassadors to our schools was truly exciting. They loved seeing all these people their own age- really the most indicative part of the trip to how we really live. Though I was unable to attend many of the events because of school I do believe everyone enjoyed themselves and learned alot about us- which frankly was the whole point!