7 August 2026

By Judi Eppele, Community Development Student at UC Davis 

In our new community voice series, students share their experiences on participating in a U21 programme, reflecting on the ideas, connections and moments that have shaped them along the way.

Our first story comes from a student at the University of California, Davis, whose journey through multiple U21 opportunities, including the Global Citizen programme, the RISE Awards and most recently the U21 School for Sustainable Policy Leadership at McMaster University, has strengthened their belief in the power of global collaboration to create meaningful change.

A friend of the world

When I tell people I’m studying the environment, they usually say one of two things. Either: “That’s great, we need more people like you!” or “How are you not sad or hopeless all of the time?” The latter would always surprise me, as in my classes I was constantly learning from and about passionate people who devoted their lives to conservation, sustainability, restoration, and more. Hope was pervasive, and not unfounded. And as I’ve continued on through graduate school, this hope has only grown–specifically for me, through the lens of sustainable development and international collaboration.

Over the past few years, I have had the honor to participate in all currently available programs hosted by Universitas 21 (U21), gaining a more global perspective and strengthening my skills in communication, international collaboration, and ability to progress the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I have earned the U21 Global Citizen certificate in 2024 and 2026, focusing on SDG 4 and 13, respectively. Here, I was able to participate in discussions with students from across the globe on how we can progress the SDGs in our own communities and beyond. During this past academic year, I was nominated for a U21 RISE (Real Impact on Society and Environment) award based on the creation and implementation of the inaugural SDG Symposium, supported by UC Davis’ Global Affairs and Global Impact Fellow program via the Global Learning Hub. Finally, and most recently, I participated in the 2026 U21 School for Sustainable Policy Leadership, hosted by McMaster University in Canada.

Learning from other cultures

Throughout these programs, I have learned a lot from my peers–thanks to the diverse experiences and perspectives shared throughout our time together. For instance, when thinking about how to approach our case study on an alternative and sustainable energy solution, we were not only balancing the regular dynamics of a group project but deciding how to do so in a way that best incorporates the individual expertise we hold and “how things are done” in our home countries. In my case, UC Davis has already been working on a campus-wide switch to alternative and sustainable energy, called The Big Shift. Therefore, I was able to pull from direct accounts of how an American–and specifically, Californian–university handles this type of shift, from funding sources to community engagement to policy barriers and opportunities. Having groupmates with lived experiences from Bolivia, Sweden, Canada, and China gave me the opportunity to see how else a project like this could be implemented, and what other aspects should be brought into account that I may not have previously considered. It is this type of work that is not only incredibly fun and fulfilling for me, but is something that will become increasingly necessary in the coming future as we work together as a global community to combat the impacts of climate change.

Lessons from the U21 School for Sustainable Policy Leadership

My recent experience at the U21 School for Sustainable Policy Leadership challenged me to work with fellow students to propose an alternative and sustainable energy solution for McMaster, drawing on the lectures, group discussions and field trips throughout the week, alongside our own personal expertise. Key takeaways include: the importance of being a global citizen and working together for meaningful and impactful progress; a shared responsibility for planetary health; noting what is missing and who is/isn’t at the table; creating and implementing sustainable, resilient, and scalable solutions that people want; the importance of grounding one’s work in curiosity, collaboration, and impact; the importance of working alongside Indigenous groups and meaningfully incorporating Indigenous Knowledge (IK); and that addressing climate change is a fundamentally technical, economic and social problem.

The program was especially meaningful to me as it was an in-person weeklong event, in which I was able to form close relationships with many of my peers. I count myself lucky to not only have friends across the world, but connections with the future leaders of sustainability and global collaboration. It is programs like this that have truly changed my life–academically, professionally, and personally. Academically, I have been inspired to learn more about the different universities in the U21 cohort, and will be starting an online Master of Science in Sustainable Development through University College Dublin this Fall. Professionally, I plan to follow a career in environmental education and global sustainability, with hopes of being a professor or program advisor one day. Personally, I now have pieces of my heart scattered across the globe, and a home away from home in Sweden, Bolivia, Chile, New Zealand, Panama, England, Canada, France, and more!

Thank you to U21 and my home campus, the University of California, Davis for providing such wonderful and globally-focused opportunities for students. The hope is pervasive, and not unfounded.

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