"The legacy of my ancestors' experiences was poured into my spirit on my first breath. They breathed into me their Gullah Geechee African ways of knowing and healing. They watered me with their tears so that I might know droplets of suffering, so that I would thirst for justice and work for peace and be of service to the village." - Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley '79, co-founder of the AHANA acronym, on what Black History Month means to her

"Every single person attending COP26 had a good reason to be there. Lawmakers, scientists, media representatives, company CEOs, bankers, and many other kinds of experts attended the Glasgow climate meeting in staggering numbers. While it was an honor to attend a meeting filled with such accomplished individuals, when I initially arrived, I experienced a lot of doubt in myself and my credentials. Through conversations with different individuals, I soon realized that this self-doubt stemmed from my young age in comparison to the other attendees. I learned how important it is to be a representative of younger voices at UN climate forums. Most importantly, I left Glasgow with a feeling of reassurance in my capability to advocate for environmental justice and representation in the climate crisis. The experience has further inspired me to engage in climate change policy and law." - Julia Horchos '23, member of the Boston College delegation to COP26 | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/LessonsCOP26

“We were a group of almost 30 who left Herat just a day before the city fell to the Taliban. When Kabul also fell, we joined a huge crowd trying to get close to the gates of the Kabul airport. We entered on Aug. 23, 2021, and were evacuated to Abu Dhabi. These days, when my Afghan colleagues and friends text me about the situation [back home] I feel numb. But what I’m certain about is that hardship has made us stronger and more resilient to our environment. We will rise again and prosper and do our part to make this world a better place.” - Farhad Sharifi, a Refugee Program Advisor in the Boston College School of Social Work | Read more about his journey to the Heights: https://on.bc.edu/FarhadSharifi

"It's human nature to compare ourselves to others, picking out things we want to change or replace, but how beautiful would it be if we each embraced our unique qualities and used them to impact our world? When I first began writing 'Unglamored,' I wanted to practice vulnerability and give readers an opportunity to reflect on their own mental well-being. Writing about eating disorders was challenging, but I hope to empower people to seek healing and recovery, whatever that may look like for them. There are always areas where we may feel insecure, but I believe we are capable of changing the narrative we have about ourselves. After all, if we're so busy changing our bodies, how can we change the world?" - Jessie Cheng '23, author of YA novel 'Unglamored' | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/TurningthePage

"When I got to Boston College, I knew I had a passion for teaching. I had been involved in multiple peer tutoring programs in high school and always wanted to make sure others experienced the same love for learning that I did. My desire to teach felt more and more natural as I realized that teaching, stage managing, and being an APPA and Orientation Leader - while valuable in their uniqueness - are all really reincarnations of the same passion of mine: a passion for others. When it came to deciding what to major in, I realized that this calling to center and serve others meant that I needed to study something that spoke to teaching as a social justice-oriented profession. The Transformative Educational Studies major has allowed me to discover ways I can weave equity into my work as a teacher and beyond in hopes of helping make our education system live up to the promise it currently falls short of as a tool of equal opportunity." - Kelly Ward '23, a Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development student

"It’s an incredible honor for any institution to be selected to commission the U.S. exhibition at the La Biennale di Venezia. Simone Leigh is the first Black woman to represent the U.S., and the The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is deeply proud to be a part of this history-making exhibition, as am I. It’s like lightning striking: Leigh is the moment; the ICA recognized that moment and submitted a winning proposal. It’s history being made. I am overseeing every aspect of the project including exhibition design, build-out of the gallery spaces, shipping of artwork, installation, event planning, marketing efforts including website design, and fundraising support...I’m grateful for both the problem-solving and presentation skills I learned at Boston College because I rely on them every day. With high-profile international art projects, the stakes are very high because the paintings are often valued in the millions of dollars, and you can count on almost everything going not according to plan. You have to be able to identify a path forward and pitch it convincingly. My M.B.A. gave me the confidence to run the scenarios and negotiate my position." - Kate Herlihy MBA '13, the ICA’s project manager for the Venice Biennale Commission | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/TheBusinessofArt

“I’ve never looked at our facilities as buildings; I’ve looked at them as tools to provide a service to an extended family. You get a better sense of what your role is and what your goals are when you recognize that you’re not just replacing a light, or fixing a hole in the wall, or replacing an old carpet—you’re making someone’s experience at BC better. I’ve been working here for 36 years—when I first got here we had shoeboxes to hold the keys—and I’m getting tired, but I’ve never been bored. I’ve got a lot of really positive memories.” - Al Travaglini ’73, Director of Support Services & University Properties who is retiring this month | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/AlTravaglini

"It was crazy just stepping out of my comfort zone. I’m a psych major minoring in immigration and am also in public health, so I was just feeling a lot like climate change alone wasn’t my background. But then when I was [at COP26], I realized that all of my disciplines were fully represented. At an event I attended called 'The Mental Health of Climate Migrants,' I was standing there stunned, thinking, 'Oh my god, this is everything I’ve been studying!' I left that section with a fire in my belly. Boston College sent people from different disciplines: a nursing student, an environmental studies student, me in Lynch, and then there were professors from every department. So when we came back, it made it much more of an interdisciplinary conversation, because we are all coming back into our different realms and able to share what we learned. "Anything that comes my way as an opportunity, I’ll take it. Especially now as I’m hoping to look into law and policy in my future. Attending this international conference where there are people from everywhere, sitting in small conversations with ministers of education and directors of forest reserves -- It was just so cool and got me so excited for what the prospects for the future are." - Ginny Alex '22, who attended the UN Climate Change's #COP26 with the BC delegation

"Some bands are just groups of friends that all listen to the same exact type of music or same artist and we're not like that. I think that's cool because I'll bring something, Matty will bring something else, and we'll both tug each other into the middle and find some entirely new sound. We're not copying anything because we're not trying to sound like any one thing." - Ben Crandall '23 (second from left), one-fifth of the BC band Photo Negative | READ MORE: http://on.bc.edu/ReadytoRock

“I definitely doubted I would go to college, and honestly, I never thought I would make it into Boston College. I actually gave up on college a very long time ago. I assumed it was unattainable, at least for me. You see, I was never the smartest kid in school; I never got the best grades. I didn't really have any talents like playing an instrument or was good at sports. I knew I wanted to go to college, not just to better myself, but also because I knew immigrants like my mother move to the U.S. not to better themselves, or to give themselves more opportunity. Many move to the U.S. to give their children a better opportunity than they had. So I always thought, why would my single mother risk it all for me if I wasn't willing to capitalize on her decision. To me - and many Latino families - college equals opportunity and success. I, too, would like to pass on that will to my children someday: To give them a better life than I had, as my mother says." - Enmanuel Cabrera ’23, a veteran who enrolled as a full-time Carroll School of Management at BC student through the Service to School program | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/EnmanuelCabrera

“It was the height of the pandemic and being on campus, kind of tucked away from what was going on in New York City, definitely made me feel helpless. Unlike in a normal year, I couldn’t go out and give hands-on help to people who needed it, but with the Missing Them project, PULSE found a really unique and effective way to still connect students to individuals in the real world. One of my assignments was to collect photos for the Brooklyn Bridge Memorial, and I was just awed at how much of an impact it had on New York City and grateful to be a part of it, even on the smallest scale.” - Ethia Hu ’23, a student volunteer for the Missing Them project | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/MissingThem

“When I first got involved with the Missing Them project I didn’t recognize how attached I would get or how much these stories would teach me. One of my interviews was over an hour long and he told me all about his father and said that, basically, his motto was to always be kind and recognize that you don’t need to be acknowledged for something for it to feel rewarding. That resonated with me because it kind of connected to what I was doing—I’m not being recognized by anyone for this work but it’s so gratifying to think about how important it is.” - Riane Lumer ’24, a student volunteer for the Missing Them project | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/MissingThem Photo taken by Yating Wang '24