On Sep. 21, Rowan Weir, Mills College junior and treasurer of The Pagan Alliance, attended the U.N. International Day of Peace in New York City as the United Nations Pagan youth delegate.
Weir went to the event on behalf of the Patrick McCollum Foundation, an organization that promotes religious diversity and world peace.
According to Weir, McCollum, an internationally recognized spiritual leader, visited The Pagan Alliance last semester to have a private meeting with the officers. The U.N. contacted him to select someone to represent the young Pagan demographic so he asked club president, Kristen Oliver, who she would recommend. She chose Weir.
“[McCollum] felt like being a student at Mills connected to the people he was looking for, and [Oliver] would know, and she suggested me,” Weir said. “…I was flattered, honored.”
Weir then sent in a letter or application that she spent a lot of time deliberating over.
“I really wanted it to be a very good representation of what I felt like I could get out of the experience,” Weir said. “I guess he must have felt the same way as I did.”
Weir then found out over summer that she got selected to be a U.N. Pagan youth delegate.
“I felt really enthusiastic in a very emotional way,” Weir said.
Prior to leaving for New York City, Weir said she was excited for the event and wondered how it may “catch her in the moment.”
Weir also hoped that the U.N. International Day of Peace would be an opportunity to get good personal connections and perspectives from the people attending.
“They have a lot of different experiences I feel I can learn from,” said Weir. “I’ll be able to sort of continue to get that perspective of the peace process that’s occurring, not just from a U.S. perspective, but kind of that global [perspective], maintaining that awareness picture.”
