Get to Know Your COA: Andrea Morley

November 26th, 2008 at 9:29 am

Meet Andrea Morley:

It was the summer of 2005, my first semester as a college student. I couldn’t wait to begin my new life and explore all of the options that college life could give! One month after starting school, on July 7, 2005, 52 British civilians were killed in the 7/7 London Bombings. Over a third of my family lives in and around London, so when my mother called me that morning, I was in shock. Luckily, all of my family were safe, but certainly shaken. Then, less than two weeks later, I found out the terrible news that nearly stopped me in my college-tracks- a friend of mine, while in Turkey, was killed by a bombing on her the last day of her holidays. Four other tourists were killed, and 14 were injured.

I nearly dropped out during my first semester because of each of these events. But I came to realize, that there was something that I wanted more– I wanted to know why people would do this, why they would go to such lengths to carry out these actions. But perhaps most of all, I wanted to know what I could do, because now that I was personally affected, I was not content with sitting by and pretending that nothing was happening in the world.

That was perhaps the moment that I decided to continue with my political science studies, specifically conflict resolution and international development. And that is where I discovered the ONE Campaign. I was searching possible organizations to work with once out of college, and this seemed to fit with exactly what I wanted to do. While its direct aim was to fight global poverty and AIDS, it also deals with increasing debt relief, lessening government corruption, increasing international affairs budget and increasing development aid to the world’s most vulnerable countries. Although I kept up with most of the progress and actions of the organization, I have not had the opportunity to work with it until now, my senior year at UF. And now that I am completely obsessed with the ONE Campaign, I hope to inspire others to find something that they can also care about so passionately. Even if it is not the campaign, I believe it is crucially important for our generation to work toward addressing and solving the most crippling issues of our time. Whether that be the environment, economics, technology, or whatever we choose, I believe my generation has the opportunity and obligation to stand up, take notice and speak out for what we believe should change. Never again do I want to be affected by such traumatic and tragic events, and I would never want to have to console a friend regarding the same circumstances.

I believe we CAN make a change, and our time is NOW! My freshman year was not easy, and adjusting to these changes in my life was incredibly difficult, but in some way they gave me such an increased sense of clarity. I know now, and especially through working with the ONE Campaign, that young people can change their surroundings, and can truly have a positive impact on those less fortunate than ourselves. So if you are reading this, ask yourself, what are you passionate about, and what can you do to change your world?

-Andrea Morley, University of Florida