A Full Circle: Year 3 from an Alumna’s Perspective
Buenas Tardes!
It’s Anjelica, one of the GYLI – Costa Rica coordinators again. Today I am writing not as a coordinator of the Year 3 program, but as an alumna of the GYLI 3-year experience.
10 years ago I began a journey that took me sailing across the Atlantic in La Amistad, a renown tall-ship that moved forward the anti-slavery movement. There I met students and faculty members from across the U.S., and learned from Dr. Ulrich Johnson about multi-cultural identity through the 5 C’s of Awareness. The foundation of GYLI, the 5 C’s made me reflect on my own identity, and the way I perceived and related to others. I continued to use the 5C’s as a lens to the rest of the GYLI programs.
| Color | Attributes that cannot be changed |
| Culture | Values – beliefs – symbols – shared history |
| Class | Individual and group identity as it relates to power relations |
| Character | Unique aspects of an individual person |
| Context | The reality in which individuals/groups exist based on time – location – economics |
The following year, I had the opportunity to reconnect with my GYLI cohort in New Mexico at the Lama Foundation, a spiritual community and retreat center. During the second year of the GYLI journey, we dived deeper into intrapersonal leadership through a 5 hour solo (probably the toughest part of my GYLI journey), and a hike up Flagg mountain.
The capstone trip was Costa Rica. I traveled with my GYLI cohort — at that point a group that I considered my family. Through workshops and hands-on experience, we moved from an intrapersonal leadership mindset to interpersonal mindset. Students attending Earth University taught us about their collaborative efforts to learn and apply environmental sustainable solutions to agricultural problems. I was surprised to discover that the Earth students came from around the world — Bolivia, Kenya, and Haiti — and were planning to return to their communities to share their knowledge.
As the GYLI 2014 students return from their homestay, I can’t help but recall my own 2006 homestay. If I could pick one experience that stands out of the 3-year journey, it would be my homestay in Finca Maria Jose, with Dona Ana.
2006 at Dona Ana’s Finca
2014 reunited with Dona Ana again!
Over a 3-day stay, Dona Ana welcomed me and my GYLI friend, Ami Shah, into her home. She taught us about her small enterprise, an organic soap co-op she formed with women in her community.
You are probably wondering how I have integrated the lessons learned with GYLI over the past 10 years. While in high school, I was able to apply my Leader Learning Plan (LLPs) through work-shops on the 5 C’s. After graduating from GYLI in 2006, I went off to Columbia University, studied Political Science, and continued to learn about interpersonal solutions to community problems. I’ve also kept in touch with GYLI, and had the opportunity to intern in Costa Rica in 2007, and coordinate a 2010 program in New York.
10 years after I began GYLI, I’m here again at Earth University — circling back on my GYLI journey. Some things have changed, others have stayed the same — Dona Ana is still hard at work with her soap making co-op. I’ve gotten closer to the mission of GYLI, specifically to finding environmentally sustainable solutions to the energy problems in rural areas. I now work in San Francisco at SolarCity, a clean tech company that develops and installs solar panels in the US. I hope to dive deeper into the renewable energy sector, and see myself collaborating with students like those from GYLI and Earth University to address the energy needs of our generation.
Of course, I also plan to join GYLI on future adventures. Matt Nink has always been a vibrant source of energy and I find that working with him and the GYLI community grounds me by taking me back to the basics.
Pura Vida,
Anjelica Hernandez GYLI class of 2006.