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This is part of a summer blog series written by an anonymous member of our alumni community. The opinions expressed here are independent of GREEN Program and do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.*
Good morning, afternoon, or evening. It me. The anonymous blogger. Probably, The next guest on David Letterman’s ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.’ Blog boi.
I go by many names, but my birth certificate says Christopher Casey (more commonly known as CJ Casey).
I was a member of the illustrious Iceland Summer 2018 trip and in the simplest, most cliche way possible: it changed my life. I was on a path to graduate from UIC with an Electrical Engineering degree in pursuit of working for a tech company or something like that, I think? Idk, let’s be honest, who actually thinks they have it figured out their last few years of college. I thought I had it all figured out. Then I spent 10 incredible days in Iceland.
I went through some sort of Disneyesque clock-striking-midnight transformation.
I became a much more confident, motivated, and ~woke~ human. During my trip I started up a blog and fell in love with writing. I began blogging to document my TGP experience and 10 days later I was ready to spread my newfound knowledge of eco-green nerdiness with the world. I developed an interest in green-tech and completed a design project utilizing the piezoelectric effect to convert mechanical stress into clean energy.
Fast forward not even 365 days post-Iceland and I was organizing a symposium on environment, energy, and sustainability as well as hosting a future of climate change and energy conference (both of which The GREEN Program’s CEO, Melissa Lee, was so gracious to attend and participate).
After this summer I will have officially completed two tours of duty as a GREEN Program Ambasador and I couldn’t be more appreciative of them. The GREEN Program is a huge reason I am where I am today. They gave me the incredible opportunity to experience Iceland. They gave me a platform to speak the good word of our Mother Earth. But, most importantly, they gave me the opportunity to potentially change someone’s life with The My Way Scholarship.
As a Summer Ambassador I am setting up a scholarship to so that someone who has been true to their genuine self can experience what I did in Iceland. Read more about the My Way Scholarship here.
“If you’re not making someone else’s life better, they you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” – Will Smith
To all of you who read up to this point, are reading every week, are reading on and off, or reading for the first time, thank you so much for your time and I hope you enjoy reading these blogs as much as I enjoy writing them. You should check out my content from past weeks here: It’s an Alumni Takeover, Greta Thunberg: The Face of Climate Action, What is Greenwashing, Are you Recycling Right?, Hot in the Streets: Composting, There’s more behind conservation than just recycling and clean energy, The Truth Behind Renewables, Understanding the Insect Apocalypse.
If there is anything you want me to write about or if you have any questions please reach out! I would love to interact with all of you readers! Reach out on Twitter (@ccasey3320), Instagram (@ccasey3320), or email ([email protected])!
Jæja
(Okay, now I have to brag about my time in Iceland with my favorite people, via pictures. Enjoy!)
