My name is Samantha May, and I’m a senior majoring in Political Science and International Studies and minoring in Womyn’s and Gender Studies. Tomorrow night I’ll be getting on a plane headed toward Buenos Aires, Argentina as a part of the Human Rights in Argentina program. This will be my first time abroad. and the first time I’ll be away from my home for an extended amount of time. So naturally my anxiety is unbelievable. Even though I’m feeling anxious leading up to the flight, I’m thankful for the Genshaft/Greenbaum Passport Scholarship that I received to help pay for my trip.
I’ve been looking forward for this trip for three years, when I first heard about it during my freshman year at USF. I want to dedicate my life to furthering human rights globally and want to take any chance that I can to educate myself further on these issues. During my time at USF I’ve been involved with various human rights-centered student organizations, including leading United Students Against Sweatshops for the past year. We are currently leading a campaign to have our university affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium, an independent labor rights monitoring organization. While this is my first experience organizing for international human rights, I want to continue this work with other organizations and causes after I graduate from USF in the spring.
While in Argentina, I want to increase my fluency in Spanish. I’ve been taking Spanish courses since the 7th grade but immersion in a Spanish-speaking country is the best way to learn! I also want to learn more about human rights issues from a non-Western lens and become a better global citizen overall.
Adios, talk to you in Argentina!
If you’d like to learn more about the USF Argentina Human Rights program, click here.
