College Voices
Five Ways Communities are Giving Back to One Another During the Coronavirus
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The Coronavirus is happening to everyone across the world. Everyone’s daily lives are being altered by the virus.
Throughout the world, people remain on lockdowns or stay at home orders. Borders, schools, restaurants, and many businesses are closed. Economies are shutting down.
Unemployment rates are high. People are fearful of their own and their loved ones’ health. Healthcare and essential workers are working copious amounts of hours to keep our society and world afloat.
This time can be scary and unsettling for many people because the degree of uncertainty apparent is foreign to us.
With the prolific amount of uncertainty, people can find commonalities. We are all humans living and trying to just keep hanging in there through these times.
People around the world have united to support and help one another. Despite the different statuses that people hold, people have found ways to connect and help.
People who are strangers to one another have reached out a helping hand to communities. There have been many uplifting stories that have emerged that emphasize the goodness in this world despite the current circumstances.
The Coronavirus has proven that solidarity, generosity, and helping out are contagious forces that bind humans together.
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1. Boy Scout 3-D Printed Earguards for Healthcare Workers
Healthcare workers are heroes. They have been working countless hours and long shifts to help treat people during this pandemic. Healthcare workers have to wear protective gear like masks, gloves, and gowns to keep themselves protected from the contagious virus.
People around the world now have also been advised to wear masks in public as a safety measure. As a result, masks have been a liability due to their demand.
Healthcare workers spend their whole days wearing masks. After a result, they end up their days with facial bruises or cuts on their ears due to the pressure of the protective gear.
A Canadian 13-year-old boy scout decided that he wanted to help health workers. He designed ear guards that could be made with his 3-d printer.
The guard connects to the masks of healthcare workers. The guard elevates the masks so that it does not touch healthcare workers’ ears, therefore alleviating cuts. This boy scout has made 1,300 ear guards that he has donated to local healthcare workers.
His mother made a post on social media that went viral. This post contained what the boy scout was doing and gave access to anyone on how to make and replicate these guards. After this viral attention, an additional 2,000 guards were made and donated to Canadian hospitals for healthcare workers to wear. Healthcare workers have expressed gratitude for this boy scout giving back to them generously.
2. High Schooler Makes Coronavirus Tracking Website
There has been a copious amount of news about the Coronavirus on every platform possible. Oftentimes, this serves as overwhelming to a majority of people.
How do people know which articles to look at? What sources are the most credible and least biased? What are the real statistics and updates of the pandemic? Is the information accurate?
A seventeen-year-old recognized these concerns and decided to make a website. The website, Ncov2019.live, aims to track and update viewers on Coronavirus news. The site is coded as a place to put all of the Coronavirus information together in an accessible and accurate way.
First, it tracks data from various sources. These sources include the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and health departments in one’s geographic location.
Second, the site aims to avoid misinformation. It updates automatically every ten minutes on facts including confirmed cases, deaths, people recovered, and countries where Coronavirus is confirmed. This site has been viewed by millions of people.
The seventeen-year-old often works six hours a day on his site and has been commended on all of his work. He has given back to the community by giving people consistent and up to date information.
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3. Tyler Perry Pays For Seniors’ Groceries
Senior citizens and people who are immunocompromised are at a higher risk of contracting the Coronavirus. Many grocery stores have recognized the danger and they have implemented an hour where only seniors can shop before the store opens to the public.
Tyler Perry took it upon himself to pay for the groceries of seniors in Atlanta and New Orleans. He paid for groceries at 44 Krogers and 29 Winn-Dixie overall in these two locations. Atlanta and New Orleans hold significance to the actor’s life.
He both started his career and grew up in the locations Atlanta and New Orleans respectively.
It was reported that Perry also contributed $21,000 in tips to out of work servers in Atlanta. Many people have tweeted about Perry’s gracious contribution. They have expressed a copious amount of gratitude for his generosity of giving back to themselves, family members, and their respective communities.
4. Teacher in the UK Walks 5 Miles to Deliver Students Free Meals
The Coronavirus has significantly highlighted the inequalities apparent within the food system in place. Many families are struggling to feed themselves and in particular their children.
Many children depend on free lunches or meal plans in schools to have their meals. Additionally, many food banks are having difficulty balancing their supply with the demand of people who need food.
Food banks only have so much food and right now fewer people are donating due to financial constraints. Further, more people are demanding food besides people who already had been doing so due to cut hours of employment and more family financial obligations.
A teacher in the UK has recognized this dilemma. To ensure that his students get their meals, he walks five miles a day to deliver free meals at their homes. The students come from low-income with minimal resources. They would go hungry without the support of the teacher.
Many of the parents of these students are essential workers who are out of the house for many hours. Delivering the meals meant that these children were granted daily with proper nutrition and that they were able to stay inside. Additionally, the teacher was able to check on these students’ wellbeing from afar to maintain social distancing measures.
This teacher stressed the importance of taking care of all children even if they are not physically at school. His actions highlighted the importance of ensuring child safety for students of various upbringings. This teacher gave back to his students in a way that ensured proper health and safety recommendations.
5. Anonymous Donor Donates Gift Cards to All Citizens of Iowan Town
Smaller towns in the United States have been having trouble fueling their local economies. These towns only have so many jobs that are essential due to the lack of shops. In one of the small Iowa towns, an anonymous donor decided to donate gift cards to all 549 residents in this town.
In this specific town, there is one grocery store and two food places. The anonymous donor divided evenly the amount of money in gift cards between the three stores.
The goal of this was to help fuel the local economy, precisely by contributing $82,350 spent amongst the 1,647 gift cards distributed. Each household received $150 in gift cards with a note saying that it was not a scam.
The note also said if the household did not want the cards they could call the city hall to pass them along to others in need. The gift cards fostered a sense of giving back because 50 families gave them back for families more in need.
The gift cards inspired the citizens of this town to make a difference and help their community. They expressed extreme gratitude for the anonymous donor as well.
Good news during the pandemic is contagious but often overlooked. Often, the media tends to focus on the negatives of the pandemic. Of course, the severity of this pandemic is not one to be downplayed. Life as we know it is halted right now and people are falling ill. However, it is also imperative to recognize that there are still positives happening frequently in the world around us today.
This helps unifies us and reminds us that there is, in fact, a light at the end of the tunnel. It is extremely uplifting and inspiring to hear how people can largely impact the lives of strangers. It is also important to note that these people did these acts just out of the goodness of their hearts.
With the uncertainty of the Coronavirus, it is important to take care of oneself, others, and communities. I challenge all of you here to do something that makes you feel good and to do something generous.
So what are you waiting for? How can YOU make a difference TODAY? How will you give back? Look around and you will see that there is a lot you can do.
College Voices
5 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Actually Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions in 2023
With 2021 finally over, and many making plans for a better year, these are some easy ways to stick to your New Year’s Resolutions.
The year 2022 is finally over, and we have a new year to look forward to!
If you’re anything like the majority of the world’s population, you’ve made New Year’s resolutions in the past—and broken them within a month.
But you keep making them, because you enjoy the optimism: beginning a new year on the right foot, promising to be a better, more fit and a more skilled version of yourself.
Here are ways you can stick to your New Year’s Resolutions in 2022
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Tell people about your resolution
Usually, we’re told that peer pressure is a bad thing. But in the case of a New Years’ Resolution, it might be just what you need. Positive reinforcement (encouragement and support) from your friends and family can push you to learn the guitar, lose the beer belly, or whatever it is you want to do in this new year.
Disappointment (or the fear of it) can also push you to work harder toward your goal. If the cost of failing on your resolution is a whole bunch of awkward and sad conversations, maybe that’ll keep you on the straight and narrow.
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Break it down into manageable chunks
This is something essentially everybody tells you about anything, but it’s true. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step—and continues, step by step.
A New Years’ Resolution isn’t accomplished all at once, but rather gradually. Don’t push yourself too hard, and don’t get down on yourself if your goal is still a long way off.
Set realistic markers along the way, and at each one check in with yourself. That way, you’ll get a sense of accomplishment as you go, and you’ll see your progress stack up.
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Care for yourself
Treat your New Year’s Resolution as what it is: a gift. When you accomplish it, not only will you get the benefit of whatever your goal is, but you’ll feel more confidence and pride in yourself.
This feeling of accomplishment is full of benefits: it makes you better poised to chase down the next opportunity, better prepared to be a positive influence in the lives of others, and can even make you live longer.
In making a New Years’ Resolution, and caring about yourself, you’re giving the best present you can give yourself, so don’t think of it as correcting something that’s wrong about you, but giving yourself another thing that’s right about you.
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Forgive yourself, don’t define yourself
When a friend who’s made a mistake comes to you for help, do you immediately tell them that they’re worthless, that everybody knows it, and that they should just give up already?
No, but this treatment is something of the norm when it comes to yourself. Unfortunately, many of us treat ourselves this way; we are quick to criticize and slow to forgive.
Strangely enough, this negative self-talk often gives us permission to betray our resolutions.
If you resolve, in 2023, to cut down on carbs and one night you give in to the urge to order a bunch of pasta on Postmates, don’t beat yourself up for it the next morning.
Accept the mistake and continue working toward your goal the next day. Don’t decide you’re undisciplined, gluttonous, and have failed.
Everyone messes up a few times and forgiveness is the best way to move forward.
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Use your resolution as a chance to explore new horizons
We all have ideas about who we’d like to be, and we all face the realities of who we are.
While a person who wakes up every morning at 6 a.m. and works out in order to get a clean, fresh start to the day is certainly admirable, that person might not be you. In making resolutions, pick goals that flow organically from who you are.
If you don’t know who you are (because who really does?) then go into a resolution with flexibility.
If, for example, your resolution is to get fit, don’t force yourself into a box with it. Instead, try different exercises, intensities, and intervals.
Don’t stick yourself in the gym for a 45-minute routine with weights when what you’d really enjoy doing is going to a yoga class or going for a run.
Realize that everybody is different, and rather than changing yourself into somebody new, your resolution can be a way of discovering who you might already be.
Think of it as an exploration. Let things develop, and commit to remaining open and focused.
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The year, 2023 will likely be another challenging year. You already know why, so there’s no reason to repeat it here.
But remember that you got through 2022, and if your resolution for 2023 is to just survive it sane, healthy, and maybe a little wiser—that’s totally fine.
It’ll take some doing, but you’re definitely further along than you think you are.
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College Voices
The Overwhelming Mental Health Impact of Climate Change

People across the globe are being affected by climate change. Global warming and climate change are having detrimental effects on the Earth such as increased flooding, hotter temperatures, wildfires, and droughts. Wildlife and ecosystems are being destroyed. Sea levels are rising. The list goes on and it can be overwhelming to take in the effects of climate change. This is why mental health is being greatly affected by climate change, particularly in teenagers and college students.
Climate Anxiety
Anxiety related to the global climate and fear of environmental doom is often referred to as eco-anxiety or climate anxiety. This anxiety is a legitimate reaction to a serious problem. A large population of Generation Z is burdened by climate anxiety. This is because they are concerned about their futures considering the state of the Earth and the fatal implications of climate change.
A contributing factor to climate anxiety is the lack of action currently being taken by political leaders. Many leaders in positions of power are avoiding climate issues rather than solving them. This has prompted members of younger generations to step up and fight for change. Young activists like Greta Thunberg have taken the lead in protesting climate injustices. But watching older generations sit back while climate change is destroying the planet can lead to feelings of frustration and anger, which are common symptoms of climate anxiety.

Climate change can be a controversial topic and there is a fair amount of conflict surrounding it. Everyone reacts differently to the topic: many people shut down when climate change is brought up and they avoid the subject altogether. Others are fearful of the effects of climate change and want to help but feel powerless. And some people are eager to take action and do their part in combating climate change.
Many teenagers and college students have made efforts to reduce their carbon footprint by making lifestyle changes. Going vegan, carpooling, and shopping sustainably are some of the many ways to cut down on carbon emissions. But unfortunately, big corporations are some of the main contributors to climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions––a major contributor to climate change––are the highest they’ve ever been. This leaves young generations as they have difficulty believing that they can make a difference.
How Climate Change Affects Mental Health
Every continent on the Earth is now affected by climate change. Meaning, climate anxiety is a global issue and can affect anyone, regardless of location, wealth, or privilege.

Many people are mentally affected by climate change because they have been faced with natural disasters, such as wildfires, serious storms, or flooding. While everyone reacts and copes differently, many survivors of these environmental disasters have some sort of lasting psychological trauma. PTSD, anxiety, depression, and grief are some of the many mental health issues that people who have lived through natural disasters struggle with.
But you don’t need to be directly faced with a natural disaster to feel climate anxiety or despair over the state of the Earth. Just witnessing and learning about climate change is enough to cause mental health issues. There’s a sense of impending doom or existential dread that can wash over you when reflecting on climate change and its effects.
Why Climate Anxiety is Often Overlooked
Climate anxiety is often overlooked or brushed off. This is because it can be difficult to discuss mental health concerns because there are still stigmas surrounding mental health. Climate anxiety is also typically not taken as seriously as other anxieties or mental health issues. This is because many people do not understand the serious, detrimental impacts of climate change.
What to do About Climate Anxiety
- Talk to friends and family about climate change.
Listen to their thoughts on the matter and discuss your own thoughts. Talk about the negative impacts and grieve with them. It can be healing and helpful to share your concerns with others.
- Become a part of the solution!
It is important to stay informed on environmental topics and to use your knowledge for good. Join a climate justice organization at your school or in your community. Connecting with others who also care about climate change can ease your worries and fears about the Earth’s future. Climate organizations are making a difference in your community and educating others on climate change.

- Join protests.
If there are protests near you, make a sign and join in. Marching with other people who care about climate injustices is empowering. Protests help spark change by informing others and raising awareness.
- Do what you can to help the environment.
It is important to do what you can to reduce your own carbon footprint, but don’t become overly consumed with it. Eat a more plant-based diet, bike or carpool when you can, and use reusable bags. But try not to worry about how each of your actions will impact the environment. Those who experience climate anxiety often feel guilty about taking part in activities that affect the environment, like driving. Just do what you can and that will be enough.
College Voices
How Social Unrest America Mirrors Social Unrest Abroad

With all of America’s recent and pressing events, it is easy to inadvertently ignore major happenings abroad. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest are not limited to American soil.
When the coronavirus began spreading across the globe earlier this year, world leaders reacted to the virus as they saw fit. Fast forward to today, and the virus continues to ravage many parts of the world, increasing the number of total cases to over 50 million people. With the addition of social unrest due to racial injustice, the world seems to have a daunting amount of crises.
Throughout this difficult time, countries imposed restrictions and limitations on their citizens in order to curb the contagion. In certain places, these limitations persist today. Subsequently, people are growing increasingly impatient as the pandemic remains as present and dangerous as it was in March. Indeed, many experts claim that the feared next wave of the virus is now in effect.
The prevailing threat and restrictions put in place have led citizens in some countries to protest. In Spain, for example, citizens have flooded city streets touting messages such as “Stop the dictatorship” or “Madrid says enough.” Unfortunately, certain rabble-rousers have taken it upon themselves to escalate these protests into less peaceful demonstrations of social unrest.

In Madrid, rioters turned unnecessarily violent, setting fires in the city, smashing windows of local shops, and assaulting police officers. These riots do not appear to be the result of spontaneous action but rather a coordinated effort planned through social media.
If the story of peaceful protests being undermined by violent extremists sounds familiar, you may be remembering the various riots that took place in America. The George Floyd protests, unfortunately, broke down into senseless social unrest, resulting in property damage and theft to numerous cities throughout America.
Just as the coronavirus pandemic is not isolated to this country, public assemblies due to racial injustice have also formed globally. As protests advocating for social justice started in American cities, foreign citizens heard the rallying cries. Demonstrations from South America to Europe, to Africa, have echoed the message of the Black Lives Matter movement, demanding justice and equality for all citizens, regardless of skin color. A spokesperson for the Belgian Network for Black Lives, Stephanie Collingwoode-Williams reflected, “people think about how it was relevant where we are.”

Although American protesters set positive trends to confront one crisis, its leaders have not been as successful in combatting the coronavirus. Out of the roughly 1.27 million deaths suffered worldwide, 239,000 of them were American.
This is by far the largest death toll of any country; in addition, America also holds the record for the most cases, by well over one million. These eye-opening statistics naturally lead to critics pointing to this nation’s shortcomings in dealing with the virus. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, worldwide perceptions of America have been in decline. Recent violent outbursts from police officers, coupled with the mismanagement of the pandemic, have exacerbated this fall.