Author: calebjmoss

On March 9, 2019, I came in first place and was named the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Student Of The Year for the greater Los Angeles area, at the grand finale celebration held in the Taglyan Complex. I was co-captain of my team named “Caleb’s Cause.” My team raised over $170,000 to fight a deadly disease that I have personally fought for over five years. Caleb’s Cause ranked 8th nationally, with 608 teams competing nationwide.

The Students of the Year is an exciting leadership development and philanthropy program in which high school students participate in a fundraising competition to benefit LLS. Every dollar raised counts as one vote. The candidates/teams who raise the most money at the end of the 7 week competition earn the title Student(s) of the Year. For motivated high school students, this program ensures they stand out among their peers when engaging with colleges and/or future employers.

This was an amazing journey, from start to finish. I was responsible for assembling my team, strategizing, marketing, fundraising, and public speaking. In addition to speaking in front of the many hundreds of people at the final Los Angeles gala, I spoke in front of my entire school. I am very proud of every member of my team. They were incredible.

Since my team raised over $100,000, I was provided the privilege of directing our funds to research of my choosing related to Leukemia (i.e., causes including environmental if any, treatments, processes, etc.). This research, as well as all efforts on behalf of the LLS, is one of the things that made my experience so meaningful. As a winner in Los Angeles, I was also invited to attend a national conference in Philadelphia to meet the researchers who receive grant funds from LLS (covered in another blog entry).

On January 8, 2018, I was honored to be selected as a member of Congressman Ted Lieu’s inaugural Youth Advisory Council (YAC) for a two year term.

YAC students meet with a diverse group of peers from their community to discuss issues of importance, and they work directly in Representative Lieu’s office to collaborate on key issues for young people in California’s 33rd district.

I am honored and proud to be a part of this council.  It is an excellent forum to discuss topics of importance to youth, including environmental issues, woman’s rights, and border security issues or lack thereof.  We meet regularly, and Congressman Lieu joins us whenever possible.  I see first hand how passion is turned into political action which can effectuate policy and law.

I visited China from 7/6/17 to 7/18/17.  It was a fantastic experience, and I highly recommend seeing the country.  The people, food, sites, and culture are incredible.  I felt safe the entire trip.  It was one of my favorite experiences ever.

The very first thing my family and I experienced, even while still inside the airport, was the smog.  It was very unfamiliar to us, notwithstanding that we live in Los Angeles and are not foreign to air pollution.  The air was brown, hot, humid, and definitely impacted our breathing.  Our eyes were immediately irritated.  It is no exaggeration to say that smoke billowed from smoke stacks all around Beijing.  This was likewise the case in Shanghai and Chongqing.  The air was better in less urban areas such as Chengdu, Xian, and the Yangtze River, however, it wasn’t great.

I couldn’t help but consider the terrible health consequences of being exposed to the polluted air.  I was only there for approximately two weeks.  Many locals wore masks.  In my mind I equated the air to a person smoking.  While perhaps not as concentrated as cigarette smoke, the Chinese people breath in their polluted air 24/7.  The health impact of this intrigued me.  I had long considered what impact the environment had on myself when diagnosed with Leukemia.  I found myself wondering on a more global scale what health impacts the environment (via pollution) was having on the Chinese people.

 

 

I was very excited to travel down the Yangtze River to the Three Gorges Dam.  I had heard about the costs and benefits of this tremendous environmental project, and I was anxious to witness it first hand.

The dam spans 1.2 miles in width and 600 feet in height, and was one of the largest and most expensive engineering projects in the world. The dam’s 32 generators produce enough clean energy to reduce China’s reliance on coal, and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  This is a huge benefit, as anybody who has been to China would tell you that the smog there is harmful to breath.

The downsides to the project are that 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,352 villages were submerged and 1.2 million people had to be relocated as a result of the flooding.  It also negatively impacted the biodiversity of the Yangtze and prevented soil deposits from flowing downstream, thus increasing the possibility of flooding.

We had the privilege of meeting locals that had been displaced by this project.  It was incredible to speak with them about their experiences.  No matter how one views the dam project, the tenacity and graciousness of the local villagers and farmers was nothing less than amazing.

Chengdu was a great a great place to slow down and experience the natural environment in China.  Most people haven’t seen giant pandas in person, and of those that have, most have only seen them in zoos far from their natural habitat.  Chengdu is the home of giant panda.  It is moist and humid, with plenty of bamboo everywhere.

The research center is a conservation base, scientific research and breeding base, public education base, and educational tourism base.  The base is famous for the protection and breeding of endangered wild animals that are unique to China, including giant pandas and red pandas. It is honored as “the national treasure’s natural paradise and the people’s land of idyllic beauty” for its beautiful environment of overlapping mountains, clean water, lush trees, and chirping birds.

It was a joy to witness the giant panda in person.  Although it was humans that negatively impacted the giant panda in the first place, it was nonetheless great to see the giant panda flourish.

Sometimes it is nice to relax and take in the beauty of our environment.  Today we hiked at Denali State Park.  We kayaked and took in the natural pristine beauty, wildlife, and views.  I wish everybody could see the breathtaking views.  People would no doubt think twice before destroying and/or polluting the environment.

I volunteered with a friend to help clean Polliwog Park today.  Polliwog is a great local park.  It has a large pond, amphitheater, playgrounds, a botanical garden, and concerts in the summer.  It is also a natural collection zone for water during storms, and often floods.  Water is only pumped out when the water system can handle the additional water.  As a result, the park accumulates unhealthy trash and other debris.  It is a very busy park, particularly in the summer when concerts occur, and as such there is naturally a lot of trash left in places other than garbage cans.  There is a great variety of wild life, including geese, ducks, and turtles.  There is a lot to cleanup, and I enjoy helping to keep this park safe and healthy.

Taking off in a plane from water was not at all like expected; rather, it was very smooth taking off and landing.  We flew to a known bear sanctuary to observe from a pontoon boat.  While keeping our distance, we saw black bears in their natural environment.  We were hoping to see a brown bear, but unfortunately they didn’t show up.

The bears are typically seen where salmon start to go up smaller streams.  It is easy to understand why any disruption of the environment would cause devastating effects to the natural life.

It was amazing.