Stefania Marchese

Monfalcone, Italy

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What has been your favorite class at COA? Why?
I must say Feminism and Fundamentalism because it naturally brought together focus areas of great interest for me, such as Anthropology and Human Rights related issues.

What classes have you taken at COA?
Human Ecology Core Course
Contemporary Culture and the Self
Beyond Relativism: Negotiating Ethics in the 21st Century
Full Contact: Improvisation Workshop
Left, Right and Future: Alternative Political Philosophies
Biology I
Biology II
Writing Seminar
Feminism and Fundamentalism
History of Filmmaking (1895 – 1945)
Chemistry I
Intermediate Spanish I YUCATAN
Intermediate Spanish II YUCATAN
Advanced Spanish I YUCATAN
Immersion Practica in Spanish & Yucatecan Culture

What was your favorite lesson/lecture/discussion/project at COA? Why?
Interestingly enough (I say so, because I am not a scientist) I must say that I learned the most from my final project for Biology II. My interest was in finding scientific answers to my moral questions about racial discrimination. With this project I tried to show how racial discrimination is not just morally unfair, but also scientifically incorrect.

What is your dream occupation?
To work for the creation and the development of a society with an increasing consciousness towards Human Rights, and, in particular, free from racial and ethnic discrimination. I am hoping to work for NGOs or international organizations such as the United Nations or Amnesty International, but in a department that truly allows me to create and nurture personal human-to-human relationships.

Do you work on or off campus? If yes, where?
I am working for the Admissions Office.

What do you see yourself doing after COA?
To continue in the path I am creating for myself, with regard to Human Rights education and development, I am hoping to enroll in the University for Peace, a graduate institution based in Costa Rica that, in cooperation with the United Nations, aims to educate young people by giving them the tools to act as real agents for social change in the world.

What is happiness to you?
Happiness to me is Peace. Peace not intended as passiveness, as boredom; not intended as a day without war, waiting for the munitions to be sent. Gray Cox, professor at COA, once made me think of how we do not have in the English dictionary, or in any I know of, a verb or an action to explain the active status of "making peace." We say "to fight," "to shoot," "to kill," "to bomb." We do not say "to peace." Peace is in our mind a negative concept. Peace exists when there is no war. Happiness, true happiness, to me will be when we will be able to embrace Peace as an active concept. As a verb. As "I peace you. Would you peace me back?"

Have you had an internship? If so, doing what? Where? If not, what are your plans, if any, for your internship?
For my internship I worked for the Commission for Human Rights of the State of Yucatan (Mexico). My main task was spreading awareness of Human Rights/Responsibilities to children and adolescents in the schools of the city of Merida and of the surrounding villages. I also wrote a book/manual on the Values of Human Rights that will be used as a document of reference for future work (workshops, talks, conferences) of the Commission and of other Human Rights related organizations.

What are your ideas for your senior project? If you have already done one, what did you do?
I am in the process of writing a play that will draw mostly from real life examples, condemning discrimination and spotlighting the importance of Human Rights to prevent and fight discriminatory practices. Theater is and has always been a big calling for me, and I feel that the stage is a great place to learn/speak/discuss important topics like this one. Technically my inspiration comes from the realm of Theater of the Absurd (Beckett and Pirandello mostly), while the techniques of Augusto Boal and of Theater of the Oppressed will lead me to find a fair balance between art and political/social propaganda.

What do you like to do when you're not doing school work?
I should say reading and volunteering. But I will say Facebooking and dancing.

What came first, the chicken or the egg?
The egg. Scrambled. And they were two, because one scrambled egg is never enough.

Why did you choose to come to COA?
Because of the values of cooperation and sustainable future that are behind the school and its people. Or behind the people and their school. I am glad they weren't just pretty words on the website.

What do people say is your most marked characteristic?
Irony/Sarcasm, Moral strength