Promoting Peace and Citizenship on Campus and at Home

Anna Diagne Sène (Senegal, UWC Red Cross Nordic, Macalester ’24) came to college resolved to “keep living up to my UWC values of empathetic leadership, global citizenship, and building peace.” The last two Septembers, she led planning for Macalester’s first Peace Day celebrations, “which I hope will become part of the college culture.”

Anna also organized a two-week campus exhibit on genocide and justice. “I planned a webinar during which the executive director of World Without Genocide talked about the genocides in Myanmar, Tigray, and Ukraine and what the path to justice was like for all of them.”

Her work on campus has earned her several honors, including the Outstanding Sophomore of Color prize and the Dorothy Dodge Scholarship, awarded to female political science majors who have contributed to the college community.

Returning to Senegal in December 2022 with a $2,000 grant from Macalester’s Live It Fund, Anna led a three-day workshop she developed for 20 middle schoolers, Xam Sa Bopp Xam Sa Adduna (Know Yourself, Know the World). The participants “learned about and discussed the idea of global citizenship, a topic that is not explored much in our current educational curriculum” in Senegal, she writes.

“The project transformed me, and reaffirmed my goals to use education for peace building,” Anna reports. “Some participants’ parents called me after the project to thank me for involving their children I was immensely touched.”

Even amid the conflicts and violence that plague the world today, Anna reflects, “We can always make the world more peaceful.”

This profile is part of the “Undergraduates in Action” series from the 2024 Annual Report.