A couple of weekends ago, on March 30th, I was lucky enough to participate in the Lowcountry Citizens’ Summit! The event was from 10:45am-3:45pm and was hosted by CofC’s very own Honors College. The day welcomed all those who were dedicated to learning more about the pressing issues facing both our society in general, as well as our Charleston community. Students, faculty, and community leaders joined in the Stern Center for a panel discussion, followed by boxed lunches provided by City Bistro! The remaining hour and a half, we spent time participating in breakout sessions.
Dr. Folds-Bennett introduced the panelist that would be speaking on the topic of “Redefining Leadership.” There were five individuals, all different ages and having different backgrounds and professions. Their leadership ranged from being involved in the Charleston School District, the Shared Future Project, the College’s Farmer’s Market, the League of Women Voters, a local education-rights activist, and a very own CofC faculty member! These individuals were all asked several questions from an Honors College student that was in charge of leading the discussion. Questions were all surrounding the topic of leadership (i.e. “What kind of leader are you?” or “Can a leader be made or are you born a leader?”). Each member offered a unique perspective to each question and was able to pull from their own experiences to provide the audience with a wide range of answers.
After several aspects of leadership had been touched on, the discussion dove into more about the issues our Charleston community faces. Most of the panelists answered with something similar to the following; racism, classism, education, climate change/sustainability, and many more that most people do not even realize. This lead into the audience being given the opportunity to then ask the panelists any questions they wish. The panelists, again, answered the questions thoughtfully and offered several solutions and perspectives.
After a quick break for lunch, we were each given the choice as to which small-group “breakout session” we wished to participate in. The choices ranged from justice, to southern hospitality, to hunger and homelessness, to leadership. I chose the topic of southern hospitality, because underneath the description it touched on environmental aspects, which are of interest to me.
Thus, in my small group, we first talked about the “myth” that surrounds our city and about how when you tell people you go to the College of Charleston they are in awe because “Charleston is so beautiful!” However, in reality, those that have not spent a lot of time in this city, do not really know or understand that Charleston faces many societal problems, ranging from racism, classism, gentrification, sustainability issues, food waste, and large amounts of homelessness. We like to put bandaids on these issues and make the tourist areas (i.e. King Street) all pretty, for economic reasons, when the majority of the rest of the peninsula is suffering in other ways. This was one of the most influential parts of the day, in my opinion, because it made me think of our class, and how everything is truly connected. It made me use more systems thinking and more interdisciplinary.
At the end of the small discussion, each of the groups came together and told the larger, entire room about their findings and conclusions. Overall, I thought the day was productive; I learned about several problems that exist around me all the time that I had no idea about. However, at the same time, I still feel overwhelmed, because there are so many! All I can do is continue to talk about these problems with other people and educate others and do my part to ease their effects.
