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Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Planting the Seeds of Hope

June 17, 2015

Urban agriculture is a thriving industry with unlimited potential. It is not just about food, it is, first and foremost, about people and their relationship to food and the environment. My Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project journey continued to flourish while I met creative and innovative urban farmers in each city.

Fulbright Student from Iraq, Saja Al Quzweeni, on board the Millennial Trains Project.

Fulbright Student from Iraq, Saja Al Quzweeni, on board the Millennial Trains Project

In New Orleans, I visited the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). NOCCA is a regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers students intensive instruction in culinary arts, dance, media arts, music, theater arts, visual arts, and creative writing. The Culinary Arts Department offers a four-year course of study for talented students who aspire to be chefs. The Culinary Arts program was developed in collaboration with the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and is supported by Johnson & Wales University. The students are provided with the opportunity to work side by side with leading master chefs who serve as professional mentors.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Discovering the Power of Storytelling and More in New Orleans

May 29, 2015
Pichleap with Mitch Landrieu

Fulbright Foreign Student from Cambodia Pichleap Sok meeting New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, after the MTP visit to the New Orleans Mission, to discuss community innovation and how New Orleans has rebuilt itself after Hurricane Katrina.

The Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project has been one of the best traveling experiences I have ever had. It’s not just about sharing your ideas, experiences and time with 24 millennial participants, but also about discovering different parts of the United States. When the train stops in each city, we have about five hours to visit. Exploring a city in just five hours is definitely a challenge, but the idea of getting to know each city from the perspective of the other 24 MTP participants has been and is – absolutely amazing. Each and every millennial on the train has an individual project they are working on, and when the train stops in a different city, we go to different places to do our projects. When we return to the train and share our experiences, it is great to compare notes on each city’s unique culture, accent, identity, people and food.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Urban Farming Across America

May 29, 2015
Fulbright-MTP Train Participant Saja Al Quzweeni from Iraq, left, interviews

Fulbright-MTP Train Participant Saja Al Quzweeni from Iraq, left, interviews Skeets Rapier, the Director of Operations at The Renewable Republic, about his aquaponics, solarpowered organic farm. Photo by MTP Train’s Jenny Gottstein

My Fulbright-MTP project is surveying the best practices in urban agriculture across different American Cities. The anticipated outcome of this journey is to design a holistic model of urban farming that connects people with their land and each other. Urban agriculture will be utilized to offer not just food, but also a terrain in which people come together and build their community.

The project started in Los Angeles where I visited, Women Organizing Resources Knowledge Service or WORKS. The organization’s mission is to provide affordable housing with affordable food for lower-income communities,  and for people with disabilities and illnesses. My interview with Channa Grace, President of WORKS, inspired me as she used her personal experiences to leverage the status of the disadvantaged. WORKS also invites people to change their lives and adopt healthy eating habits through growing their own produce.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Fulbright-MTP: Myth-busting in the American South

May 28, 2015
Fulbright-MTP Participant, Nhlalala Mavundza, from South Africa explores the San Antonio, Texas Riverwalk. May 25, 2015

Fulbright-MTP Participant, Nhlalala Mavundza, from South Africa explores the San Antonio, Texas Riverwalk. May 25, 2015

Throughout my time as a Fulbright Student, I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to interact with other Fulbright Students from around the world. Each time it is eye-opening and a learning experience to learn about places I’ve never seen, and people I’ve never met. Joining the Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project (MTP), I knew the experience would be similar and I would have an opportunity to learn about new places and different American cultures through the stories of the Millennials I would travel with by train.

When the trip began in Los Angeles, I experienced culture shock unlike the first one I experienced when I arrived in the United States in August 2013. I’ve been living in Ohio for the past two years, and it’s now my home. I compare everywhere I travel in the U.S. to Ohio and my home country, South Africa.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Leaving My Comfort Zone

May 25, 2015
Photo of a sunset on-board the Millennial Trains Project by Fulbright-MTP Participant Magdalena Leszko, a Fulbright Foreign Student from Poland.

Photo of a sunset on-board the Millennial Trains Project by Fulbright-MTP Participant Magdalena Leszko, a Fulbright Foreign Student from Poland.

Ever since I came to this beautiful country, my dream was to travel across the United States. My professional goal was to learn as much as possible about dementia and ways of providing support to individuals who suffer from this disease. Both of my dreams came true thanks to the Fulbright-Millennial Train Project. During my journey across the Southern United States, I will be conducting interviews with older adults and listening to their needs and suggestions on how to design dementia-friendly communities. I also scheduled a few meetings with researchers who provided me with some feedback about my project, and inspired me to pursue my academic goals.

Being on the train with people I never met before, working under time pressures and facing unfamiliar situations,  are all challenging. However, this experience has taught me an important lesson so far: leaders should always be outside of their comport zone since this is where real learning experiences occur. My first meeting with a researcher from the University of California, Los Angeles, was canceled a few hours before we were scheduled to meet. Even though I felt uncomfortable changing my plans, I took action and forced myself to leave my comfort zone. Instead, I interviewed older adults that I met at Los Angeles’ Union Station. Even though I was unprepared, the interview went well and I got lots of feedback. The Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project gives us many opportunities to challenge ourselves so we can experience personal growth.

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