On Janruary 31st, 2024, we met with LREI alumni Naomi Picayo. Naomi shared many experiences and struggles through her journey playing high school volleyball and basketball and college basketball. While she shared many significant struggles, one really stood out to me. From a young age, Naomi played basketball on a co-ed youth club team, but she was the only girl; and when she was around 8 years old, she experienced her first exposure to direct discrimination. Her and her guy friends were playing basketball in the park one day, and there were two people left to get picked for teams. Naomi happened to get picked last and was told: “sorry, we picked him because your a girl, and girls aren’t as good as boys at basketball.” This came as a shock to both me and her at that age. From then on, Naomi continued to push herself and work hard to be better than all the boys at basketball; and now, she has an award sitting in the Thomson Gym trophy case for most points scored in basketball in LREI history.

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On January 12, our LREI 8th grade had the amazing opportunity to visit the United Nations building. During our time spent there, we got to see art exhibitions, conference rooms, and much more. Something I found really interesting is that all the countries that are a part of the UN contribute to the design of the conference rooms or offices, and more or less give a gift to contribute to the decorations and design. Another thing that I found intriguing was the exhibit on nuclear weapons and the destroyed statue found after the nuclear bomb Hiroshima hit. The statue looked somewhat intact on the front, but the back looked melted and destroyed from the nuclear power. I really enjoyed our time here and hope to visit again so I can experience even more!

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Our first interview was so informative and really exciting.We met with a current senior at University of Pennsylvania. This student plays college soccer there, and had a lot to share with us. One really significant thing she shared is that the locker rooms between the men and women are drastically different. According to her, the women’s locker room is half the size of the men’s, has one old couch, and even had a mice problem last year. The men’s locker room on the other hand, has multiple new couches, tv’s, gaming switches, and is double the size of the women’s. Another struggle that they face is the constant feeling that they won’t be listened to. The student we interviewed shared experiences of being ignored by the administration when she shared complaints. The Penn newspaper is also much harsher on the women’s teams. They write things such as “how can the women’s team recover from this tragedy?”, and much more. She is also part of WAA (women’s activist association), and is trying her best to fight for equal rights. In conclusion, we really enjoyed this interview and are excited for our next one!

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