New Eyes at the United Nations

Andrea Solazzo - Intern at Loretto at the UN

I am very excited and grateful to begin my volunteer position at the United Nations. Thus far it has been a month filled withexcitement, transition and new information. I have only started to learn about the many tasks and opportunities available for exploration during my time with Loretto.

My first day at the UN was filled with committee meetings and learning about the role I could play over the next 8 months! The first meeting we attended was hosted by the Unitarian Universalists. We learned about the relationship between faith-based organizations and, and how the LGBT rights are included in the rhetoric of the United Nations. It was inspiring to hear people from all different religious backgrounds discuss the importance of LGBT rights on an International level and their referencing of actual international law documents to justify their positions.

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After the meeting, Sally and I went to a meeting hosted by the Working Group on Girls, a committee focused on the rights of girls under the age of 18. At this meeting, we discussed the role of the Millennium Development Goals in regard to girls' rights and watched a presentation from UNICEF that displayed what they are doing about these issues internationally. That was all in my first day! What a wonderful introduction to important social justice issues and the current efforts the UN is making to ensure equality and human rights for all people.

Prior to starting my volunteer position at Loretto, I participated in AmeriCorp at my alma mater, Eckerd College. While at Eckerd, I was the Environmental Service-Learning Intern and organized a variety of environmental service opportunities for students locally and internationally. I did everything from assisting in organizing our school's first community garden to organizing and leading a service trip for 13 students to a Berber Village in Morocco for spring break. As a student at Eckerd, I studied Political Science and Religious Studies, with a focus on social justice movements and human rights. I co-founded an on campus group that worked towards a living wage for all facility workers, a task that included organizing students, workers and meeting with the administration to negotiate better pay and benefits.  Service-Learning was a big part of my life at Eckerd. I was fortunate to travel to many places domestically and around the world to not only learn about justice issues first hand, but also work to change them.

I am very excited about my time at United Nations with Loretto! It's a unique and special opportunity to see issues of injustice on an international level and to learn how NGOs and the international community is addressing them. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the UN or have a specific issue that you want me to focus on while in New York. I look forward to being of service to the Loretto Community and learning as much as I can during my time in New York.