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COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

Virtual reality event focuses on refugee crisis BY EMMA COLLINS HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU No Lost Generation, a student-run organization, is scheduled to host a virtual reality event today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Centennial Mall to raise awareness about the plight of young refugees around the world. Louisville sophomore Erin Woggon said No Lost Generation focuses on the world’s refugee crisis. She said this event will allow participants to immerse themselves in another life through a virtual reality film that focuses on the life of a young refugee, and the event will hopefully educate participants about the struggles refugees, particularly Syrian refugees, face when fleeing from their home countries. “[College students] are very isolated to the tragedy that’s happening in the world,” Woggon said.

DACA

Continued from Front ed high school in 2012, just a few months before Obama signed DACA, and made the decision to move back to Mexico. “I think he was just hopeless,” Lizbeth said. “He couldn’t work. He couldn’t go to school, so he made the decision to not tell my family—me, my mom and my dad—because he knew that we would try to stop him.” About a year and a half after graduating, José married his high school sweetheart and was able to return to his home, Owensboro. In the meantime, Lizbeth had received her DACA paperwork, getting a job the same day to start saving money for college. “I will have an education, and I will work for a living,” Lizbeth said. “That’s always been the way that I was raised. My family has never taken anything from anybody. We’ve never taken from the government.” Last Tuesday, President Trump ordered an end to DACA, calling on Congress to pass a replacement. In six months, the 800,000 young adults who are enrolled in the program could be deported, including Lizbeth. When Lizbeth heard the news, she was with her boyfriend, also a DACA recipient, who showed her an article from the Huffington Post. “I was in shock,” she said. “I remember, I prayed to God, ‘Please tomorrow tell me this was a joke, or it was just some type of crazy news.’

SGA

Continued from front money. “Not that I disagree with the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, but are you ready to face the backlash if something does happen at the event?” Tackett said. “[SGA] could face backlash from the WKU community and from Bowling Green alike.”

Louisville senior Natalie Webb said participants will put on a cardboard headset similar to goggles. With the use of a phone app, participants will find themselves in a refugee camp in Jordan with a young Syrian girl. Webb said the event is beneficial because it allows people to see the life of a refugee on a deeper level. “We never get that sort of completely immersive experience,” Webb said. This marks the second time No Lost Generation has offered a virtual reality event. Last fall, the group set up a table in DSU and invited people to write on a whiteboard why they support refugees. “We were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who came up and talked to us,” Woggon said. Woggon said the large turnout prompted the group to move the event outside to Centennial Mall this semester to reach even more people. The next day, [Trump’s] statement came out.” One of the first things Lizbeth thought of was her plan for her own future and the uncertainty Trump’s decision brought to her life. A recent high school graduate, she is currently taking classes at WKU and Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College to get an associate’s degree in science. She hopes to enroll at WKU full-time next semester to pursue her dream of becoming a midwife. Lizbeth went to her brother, who told her he and his wife would do anything in their power to help her. “All the students who get DACA, all those kids came when they were young, when they didn’t have a choice,” José said. “A lot of these kids don’t even speak Spanish, or [the language of] wherever they’re from. The U.S. is the only home they know. If [Lizbeth] were to go back to Mexico now, it would be like going to Europe.” In the week following Trump’s statement, Lizbeth said she called multiple lawyers to see what her options were, but they all told her the same thing. She won’t be eligible to renew her paperwork within the next six months, so when it expires in May, she’ll no longer be able to work or study in America unless Congress decides to pass the DREAM Act, federal legislation that offered many of the same protections as DACA. Lizbeth’s roommate, Bianca Soma, said she didn’t know much about the Director of Public Relations Amy Wyer said events like the Bowling Green Pride Festival are “highly secure.” Public Relations Committee Chair Will Hurst said LGBTQ rights are “fundamental rights as Americans.” The bill was approved by a 12-2 vote. SGA also passed Bill 7-17-F which proposed an amendment to the by-

She said the event can be “a stopand-go thing,” and even people who may be in a hurry can briefly stop at the table and put on the headset to briefly look around. Louisville senior Maggie Sullivan, who started the WKU chapter of No Lost Generation, said watching even a small section of the film is beneficial. “Any snippet of the world that you see is very important,” Sullivan said. Sullivan said the virtual reality was unique because it allowed participants to see the life of a refugee without having someone else tell the refugee’s story. “We never want to get in the situation where we’re telling people’s stories for them,” Sullivan said. Sullivan said participants will get to see life in a refugee camp. During the film, the girl sits down with her family for a meal. Sullivan said this part, in particular, stood out to her

because of how similar it was to her own experience of eating dinner with her family. Woggon said WKU’s No Lost Generation works to advocate for refugees. She said in general, No Lost Generation was created in response to the crisis in Syria. Woggon said WKU’s No Lost Generation also focuses on Bosnian refugees because Bowling Green has a large Bosnian population. She said the group works on advocacy efforts, and they are trying to start a mentorship program with Bowling Green’s International Center of Kentucky. Sullivan said any students are welcome to become members of No Lost Generation. She said anyone who is interested can email nolostgenerationwku@gmail.com.

Reporter Emma Collins can be reached at 270-745-6011 or emma. collins399@topper.wku.edu.

In their kitchen, Lizbeth along with boyfriend, Carlos, and her roommate Bianca prepare dinner for the three. SHABAN ATHUMAN /HERALD

program until she met Lizbeth last year, and she has since made several other close friends who are also recipients of DACA. “They’ve been here since they were kids, so sending them to a foreign country just doesn’t seem right,” Soma said. “Even though it’s their home country, it’s kind of foreign to them.” Lizbeth could be the girl you saw grocery shopping last week at Walmart. She could be the girl who sits behind you in class. She might have been the girl who helped you get

your phone fixed at the AT&T store. “We are like anybody else, as much an American as anybody else,” she said. “I’m grateful to have grown up in this country that gave me and my family so much opportunity. I am a student trying to go to school and have the American dream that anybody else wants to have.”

laws of the Student Government Association’s constitution. The bill proposed to strike section 2.4 of the Student Government Association bylaws, which states “…by the other four justices” and replace it with “… by the other six justices.” Public Relations Committee Chair Will Hurst said it is a “numerical error” and the amendment was “not really a big deal.” Senate unanimously

approved the bill. Next Tuesday, SGA will vote on a bill to approve $1,500 for the Office of Study Abroad for study abroad scholarships.

Reporter Emma Austin can be reached at 270-745-0655 and emma. austin177@topper.wku.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @emmacaustin.

Reporter Nicole Ziege can be reached at 270-745-6011 or nicole.ziege825@ topper.wku.edu.

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