The Commission on Voluntary Service and Action was founded in 1945 to “promote, expand, and strengthen voluntary service programs that serve people in need and are organizing for change.” During lunch Tuesday, March 17, upper school students were invited to attend a presentation in history teacher Beth Gold’s classroom about getting involved in service and global volenteerism with the CVSA. The presenter was Archer alumna Lena Jones (’20).
Jones first learned about the CVSA’s work from a booth the CVSA had at an annual event hosted by Friends of the Los Angeles River. The event offered opportunities to learn about the ecosystems and wildlife around the Los Angeles river. The CVSA works with the United Nations to acomplish their Sustainable Development Goals, which outline how to build a more sustainable future.
“I loved how they discussed the sustainable development goals,” Jones said, “and saw them as something more than an international agreement to be set aside and pursued only at the United Nations, but as something that could be integral to our national policy.”
History teacher Meg Shirk said the presentation helped her see that governments globally are not doing enough to meet these sustainability goals.
“So her focus is, instead of just giving up, why don’t we focus at the grassroots level?” Shirk said. “How can we inspire people to think about how they can give back? And if we have that and it multiplies, you’re going to see really, really incredible change.”
Avital Eisenberg (’29) is not currently involved in activism around sustainability, but after Jone’s presentation, she said she wants to get involved with one of the nonprofits mentioned. Eisenberg said she believes sustainability will continuously improve in the future.
“I think renewable energy right now, especially with all the cars,” Eisenberg said. “I think that electric cars have really started in all the countries in our world.”
Student service projects at Archer are primarily centered around activism and creating change in the world. Through these projects, there are ways to better focus on the U.N.’s goals, Shirk said.
“My next exploration is she’s got me thinking about how can I think more explicitly about the U.N. goals,” Shirk said, “and connect those to student service projects to make that connection.”
In order to turn possibility into progress, another thing that is important for acomplishing the sustainability goals is getting people to volunteer, Eisenberg said.
“I think they’re definitely plausible, but I think we need a lot more volunteers,” Eisenberg said, “because I don’t think people realize how crucial of an issue this is right now at the state of our world.”
Jones said for the United States to advance, humility is important in recognizing that not everything has to be reinvented.
“There are some places in which other nations can lead us, can guide us in what they’ve done,” Jones said, “what has succeeded, what has failed. We can learn from them. And it shouldn’t be crazy to say that. Especially given the fact that we have done that in the past.”
