By Regional Organizer Kaelee Krege
As the MC gathered together one last time, I couldn’t help but notice how much we had grown over the last 6 months. We had traveled to DC with purpose, and we weren’t going to leave until we had a clear strategy for this semester (except for the flights home that we probably shouldn’t miss… and luckily no one did!). We met with our new partners at United to End Genocide (UEG) over lunch and made sure the student voice (your voice!) was at the table. Our Student Director, Daniel Solomon, would have made you all proud as he articulated the voice of our constituency to the new folks at UEG. Later, we really dug deep into what the chapters are saying, wanting, and doing. Regional Organizers from every region were represented, which means so were the students from every region, allowing us to continually put ourselves in your shoes as we planned for the semester. We talked about how our chapters can be the locus for organizing and for discussing new ideas about R2P, DRC, and any other acronyms that need exploring. We are also constantly blown away by what our chapters are doing, so we also realized we need to amplify everything you do from panels to protests, from bake sales to lobbying.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’ve never known a group of people more capable and more in love with STAND than this year’s MC. And that is why I know that this new semester is going to be a big one for STAND and for our movement! Comment if you agree or disagree! We love to hear feedback.
There’s more to come about our take aways from the retreat as we continue our conversations with all of you to inform the assumptions and national strategies that came out of this weekend.