This winter, I had the extraordinary opportunity to step beyond that distance and walk through the halls of the UN Headquarters in New York as part of the 17th College Leaders at the UN (CLUN) delegation. Our team worked under the framework of SDG 13: Climate Action, and I had the responsibility of serving as team leader. Together, we developed a policy proposal titled Planting the Seeds to Greener Agriculture: Leading the Global Transition with Punjab’s Sustainable Cultivation as the COP33 Agenda. We dissected the agricultural structure of India’s Punjab state, its reliance on water-intensive rice cultivation, groundwater depletion, and methane emissions.
Our proposal argued that Punjab could become a model for sustainable agriculture through a combination of crop diversification, climate-smart irrigation, and international financial support. More provocatively, we proposed that COP33 should be hosted in India, positioning the country not as a climate problem, but as a potential leader in sustainable agricultural transition. Presenting this in English before international organization practitioners was intimidating, but their feedback—precise, critical, and constructive—forced us to sharpen our thinking. Policy, I learned, is not about elegant ideas alone; it is about feasibility, incentives, and power.
Also, I participated in the 2026 UN Holocaust remembrance Observance in the UN General Assembly Hall and ECOSOC Partnership Forum. Watching diplomacy unfold in real time was nothing like reading about it in textbooks. The language was careful, the pace slow, and yet the stakes immense. Equally impactful were our conversations with Korean professionals working at UNDP, UN DPPA, and UN DESA. Hearing their career paths—filled with uncertainty, detours, and perseverance—was very worthwhile. They did not present success as a straight line; instead, they spoke of curiosity, adaptability, and commitment to the public good. Those discussions helped me sketch a more realistic roadmap for my own future.
None of this would have been possible without POSTECH’s Pathfinder program. It allowed me to focus entirely on learning rather than worrying about finances. What makes this program special is its trust in students: funding is not limited to pre-approved activities but extends to projects we design ourselves. That faith empowered me to take risks I might otherwise have avoided.
The program reshaped my sense of purpose. I have long believed that environmental rights should not depend on where someone is born, how wealthy they are, or how old they are. Yet witnessing how climate change disproportionately harms developing regions made that belief feel urgent rather than idealistic. It strengthened my resolve to pursue graduate studies in environmental engineering and work toward reducing global climate inequality through science, policy, and collaboration.
I also gained something less tangible but equally valuable: a network. Working with students from universities across Korea—each with different majors and perspectives—expanded my worldview far beyond POSTECH. Our intense three months together built relationships that will likely continue through alumni collaboration and shared advocacy. Looking back, New York was not just a trip—it was a turning point. It reminded me that climate action is both local and global, technical and political, personal and collective.
