Growing up, I really didn’t think too much about kids. I didn’t have any younger brothers or sisters that I played with or helped to take care of. I didn’t do much babysitting. I wasn’t even a camp counselor. I did tutor and mentor an elementary student through a high school club I was involved in, but it was only for one year. My tutoring and mentoring experience in high school led me to flirt briefly with the idea of becoming a lawyer and working alongside one of my sheroes, Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. However, I defined myself by other identities that mattered more to me at the time - being a Black African American girl, Christian, middle class, daughter, student and amateur dancer/actress.

Given all this, parenthood wasn’t even on my radar. So, you can imagine my surprise in 1999 when I married my now former partner and started seriously thinking about becoming a mom. I wanted a boy first and then a girl. I figured if my daughter had a big brother, he would protect her and she would defend him - (Now, I see how patriarchal my thinking was back then, but I digress). I surprised myself even more in 2001 when I decided to become a mentor with Sister’s Circle, Inc, a relationship-based mentoring program for middle and high school girls of color from inner-city Baltimore neighborhoods. Mentoring Imani, a 5th grade girl and later Shamera, a high school girl until they reached college was one of the scariest, joyful and most impactful experiences of my life. Looking back, I had no idea how to relate to them at first, but I will be forever grateful to Imani and Shamera who taught me how by just by being themselves.

Little did I know that my mentoring journey would help prepare me for the biggest challenge and greatest joy of my life - mothering my daughter. In 2003, I was blessed to give birth to one of the smartest, coolest, most beautiful old souls that I’ve ever met: Mia Rosa. Over the years, as she’s grown from a baby to a teenager, and so have I - emotionally, mentally and spiritually. You see, becoming a mother forced me to get serious about why I am here on this planet and very clear about how and for whom I needed to pursue my life’s work: to co-create a more loving, respectful, just and inclusive world for my daughter and all young people. It’s to give back to them and pay forward all that I can. It’s to push them when they need a boost and catch them when they’ve fallen. It’s to be the wind beneath their wings so they can soar to higher heights.

Imani, Shamera, Mia and all the young people in my life kickstarted my journey from a diversity educator and volunteer mentor to inclusion advocate and social justice change agent. I’ve made more than my share of missteps along the way and I still screw up more than I care to admit. But, I’m still striving to be the kind of woman, mother and global citizen that will help make this world better for them. Despite all the divisiveness and challenges facing our human family, every day I look in Mia’s eyes and I become a little more hopeful; a little more brave; a little more steady and a little more ready to push back against oppression and inequality in all it’s forms. So, I rise for Mia, and in doing so, I rise for all our children.

Name:Marios Levi

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Formlabs

Position Title: Print Production Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s):Mechanical Engineering

Work Term:Summer 2017

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

I worked at a 3D printing farm. A print farm is a space that has dozens of printers that we print sample parts on. The printers I worked with are Formlab's Form 2, so they are SLA (resin-based) printers. Although SLA has a much better surface finish and detail than regular FDM (plastic filament) printers, there is a lot of post-processing required, like cleaning each part with alcohol, as well as UV curing each part. I help the team of 8 I am with to clean and cure the pieces, and also assist with CAD'ing new sample parts for different market verticals.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I worked at UMBC's Keith R. Porter Imaging Facility (KPIF). It is located in the basement of one of the biology buildings, and deals mainly with microscopy. At the KPIF I worked to convert microscope image stacks into 3D models, into 3D printable files fit for the Form 2 which we also have. I have been to the career center multiple times, so my resume was well and up-to-date. I loved working with the Form 2, so I called up the company that makes them, and after weeks of interviews, I got the position.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?

What I enjoyed most about Formlabs was the culture, and how much it related to my future career goals. I relocated to Boston for the summer, and the city itself was well worth it. Although Formlabs has over 200 employees, it still maintains the startup culture that is expected with such a new company. In this way, most employees were in their 20’s so we saw eye to eye with a lot of topics relating to 3D printing and rapid prototyping. Similarly, I loved the team I worked with, especially because they were all knowledgeable about the technology.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

Some of the parts I helped design will be sent to people all over the world. In addition, the resin tanks we use in the printer wear out after a couple uses, and we throw them out often. The only problem was that there was some small amount of resin still in the tanks which is not great for the environment. To fix the problem, me and another intern worked together to build an efficient UV 'curing chamber' that cures the remaining resin in the tanks before disposal.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

If you are passionate about anything, don't stop at nothing to get an internship or career in that field. "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." I love 3D printing, so I pursued and got this job. In the same way, do not limit yourself to internship finding through just traditional routes (like job finding sites, career center, etc.). Although you should take advantage of those resources as much as you can, try finding and contacting people in your field in any way possible to get your name out.

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When I was asked what “I Rise For” the first thing I thought of is empowering others. Empowerment has many meanings for me because it can be used with entire populations but also everyday interactions with others. Some people have the tendency to fix other people’s “problems”. A lot of well-intentioned people end up hurting the ones they try to help by doing things for them because they are not practicing empowerment.

Empowering others means to listen to those you are assisting first. It doesn’t matter what intentions you have because it is not about you or what you think, it’s about them. Especially with a marginalized population, who have quite often experienced someone else making the rules for them, it is important to understand that what they want comes first. The next steps will be what they think is right for them. We have to assume they have the capacity to make decisions for themselves because they know their situation best. Empowering others means that you give others the opportunity to choose what happens to them because they already know what they want to but aren’t necessarily given the chance.

Empowering others means not doing things FOR others but WITH them. Empowering others means reserving your opinions on what someone needs to do and support what they think they need to do. The bottom line is, they know their situation better than you do. Empowering neighborhoods means governments and organizations should talk to community members before making decisions that will affect the neighborhood. Empowering others means helping someone in crisis by giving them options and resources why letting them make the decision about what their next steps look like. I Rise for empowering others.

Ever since terrorists attacked on 9/11, people started discriminating against Muslims. How ironic it is that, people would disrespect them, show them hostility, and then exaggerate that they are terrorists; this unfortunate reality is not logical at all. There are obviously criminals who come from all different backgrounds, but it’s sad to say that the term “terrorists” is used to describe Muslims. There is the popular stereotype “all Muslims are terrorists,” as well as the opposite “not all Muslims are terrorists.”

I started wearing a hijab when I was a junior in high school. I was planning on wearing it during the summer before my junior year despite the hate and discrimination that I was aware of. I wanted to wear it so badly that I hid this desire from my parents. So without their knowledge, I was planning to wear it. Because of this, they found out that first morning of my junior year when they saw that unique piece of colorful scarf wrapped around my head with my outfit. I can imagine how concerned they felt about my unexpected decision, but they didn’t force me to take it off. Instead, they kept implying and suggesting that I shouldn’t wear it. Despite all this, I guess I was curious as to what my life would be like with my hijab in the real world.

To my surprise, it wasn’t as horrible as I expected. In fact, my teachers and classmates treated me with as much kindness and respect as they had before I became a hijabi. Because of this, hope and happiness rose in my heart, which got me to believe that there are people out there who know for sure “not all Muslims are terrorists.” However, for those who do see Muslims as terrorists, I just hope that they can widen their mind, open their eyes, and observe our behavior, ethics, and conduct. This will enable them to see the character of Muslims so they’ll come to believe that Muslims also have morals and manners. If this happens, then Islamophobia will decrease and our compassion towards one another will strengthen.  
I Rise Against Islamophobia & Religious Oppression