The Salton Sea and I by Izel

The Salton Sea and I by Izel - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

I participated in the Leadership Institute and Training Program (LITP) to make a difference in my community. The LITP is a non-profit organization that serves the Latino community. As a member of the organization, I created a project that would help raise awareness on a pressing issue in my community which is the contamination of the largest lake in California, the Salton Sea.
I made 4 trips to the Salton Sea to gather the information. I took pictures that I thought would be impactful to the public. In addition, I had to research information about the harmful pesticides, the approximate amount of barnacles, and its salt level. The reality was that those living near the Salton Sea were most impacted given the possibility of cancer, asthma and other respiratory problems due to poor air quality. This inspired me to be dedicated on my task because it was unfortunate to see people living around the lake and having to deal with the contamination on the daily.
I created a slideshow of pictures illustrating the inappropriate disposing of harmful items such as tires and different metals. After gathering all of the information we presented our project at the Salton Sea Summit event at UC Riverside to solve the citizens concerns. I realized that the Salton Sea wasn’t being taken care of and seeing that I was able to make a positive impact on my community, I didn’t hesitate to take that chance. We tried to the best of our ability for the project to be an eye opener to the people. Although this was a small project, in the end the impact on my personal growth was more than I could have asked for. I learned that in order to create change to an issue I first have to bring awareness to it and educate our community. I couldn’t just wait for something to happen on its own. Teamwork, hard work, and determination was needed in order for this project to happen. I hope future politicians take my project along with hundreds that are out there and take them into consideration.