Events

On Saturday, January 24, the Connecticut Forum hosted Pete Buttigieg & Jonah Goldberg in a conversation on the state of American political leadership, the erosion – and potential rebuilding – of trust in government, and the future of the political parties in America. I attended this with Global Studies.

Over the week of Thanksgiving, the Watkinson DRST travels to impoverished areas of the Dominican Republic. We help out with mobile medical clinics, building hurricane-proof houses, and improving schools for displaced Haitian immigrants working on sugar cane work camps. I traveled with the DRST in November 2025 from Friday, Nov. 21 to Friday, Nov. 28th, and will be returning in November of 2026

In October, the Global Studies and Creative Arts programs traveled to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on the grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. We spent the day exploring the rich history of anti-war protest and American protest movements. 

In October of 2025, the Global Studies program traveled to Storrs, CT to the UConn  Sport & Human Rights Summit. Olympic Gold Medalists Tommie Smith & John Carlos, ESPN journalist Pablo Torre, and countless panels talked about everything from corruption in sport, to transgender rights.

Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, CT, hosts their Erev Rosh Hashanah service in Elizabeth Park. This service is open to the public, and hundreds of people, Jewish and non-Jewish, come and enjoy the service. Some Global Studies students attended the event in September.

The Anti-Defamation League's Never is Now conference is the world's largest conference on anti-semitism and hate. In 2025, over 4,200 people attended, including 800 high school students from all over the world. The event hosts the world's leaders in terrorism, anti-hate, and peace to talk about not only antisemitism, but racism and other forms of hate. I attended the event with Global Studies in 2025 and 2024.