FEBRUARY 21, 2020 — UTSA senior Jay’Len Boone is a big believer in conversation. From his internship at CivTechSA to his nonprofit work with Sustainable Youth in Action, he says the most valuable experience he’s gained has come from simply listening to his fellow students. That’s why he tries to strike up a chat every time he gets the chance.
“They always ask me, ‘Jay’Len, why are you talking to us?’ And I always say, ‘Because you’re an expert in something I don’t know,’” explained Boone, who is an Honors College student, a double major in global affairs and sociology, and a 2019 Truman Scholarship finalist.
His willingness to converse goes well beyond a thirst for knowledge. It’s an approach that emphasizes compassion, community and cross-collaboration—three C’s that are at the root of just about everything Boone has accomplished as a student at UTSA. The Ypsilanti, Michigan, native has rubbed elbows with local and national leaders while embracing activist causes and working with his peers to tackle grand challenges.
—JAY’LEN BOONE, Honors College Senior
Boone’s interest in public service began in his high school years. He was compelled to launch the U-N-I campaign against violence in Cypress, Texas, and his interest in activism only grew from there. He would go on to found his own nonprofit, Sustainable Youth in Action, as a sophomore at UTSA. SYA’s mission is to empower young people to craft solutions for global sustainability issues as well as social issues in their communities. The nonprofit aims to equip students with the necessary tools and connections to take their entrepreneurial and socially conscious ideas to the next level.
“We want people to get out of the bubble here at UTSA and get to know Greater San Antonio,” Boone says of SYA and its membership. “We want to get them engaged with the city and solve social issues through education, advocacy and innovation.” Through an internship at CivTechSA that was part of the Honors College’s Citymester program, Boone was able to connect SYA to innovators such as Tech Bloc chief talent officer Dax Moreno.
Over the past year Boone has gone from addressing issues at UTSA and in San Antonio to tackling the some of the world’s most significant problems. Because SYA’s aspirations largely aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development goals, Boone was selected by the United Nations Association of the United State of America as Youth Observer to the United Nations for the 2019–2020 school year. He was chosen from a competitive pool of more than 200 students.
Boone has engaged directly with many global issues pertinent to the UN’s goals, studying in South Africa as a Global Poverty Project Curtis Scholar, interning in Hong Kong as a Cultural Vistas fellow and working with communities on the ground in Saudi Arabia and Japan.
One of his greatest passions is encouraging actions that can reduce the threat of climate change, a topic he spoke about at the 2019 Social Good Summit in New York. He has met with young people and spoken at high schools, colleges and conferences around the country as part of his duties as UNA-USA Youth Observer, and if anyone knows the incredible value of making those connections and having those conversations, it’s Jay’Len Boone.
“So many of us have this mission to draw from our experiences to think forward and make things better for the next generation,” Boone says. “Wherever I end up after UTSA, it’s going to be with that mission in mind.”
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Learn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual EventLearn to use Zotero®, a citation manager that can help you store and organize citations you find during your research. Zotero can generate bibliographies in various styles, insert in-text citations and allow you to share sources with collaborators.
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Student Union Ballrooms 1 & 2, Main CampusJoin this fun event if you want resume and interview resources, a job or internship, a snow cone from Kona Ice and to socialize.
Sombrilla PlazaIn partnership with San Antonio Metro Health, join us for a special lecture series during Public Health week! An esteemed panel will discuss the job market’s impact on public health departments in Texas municipalities.
Retama Auditorium (SU 2.02.02,) Main CampusThe Task Force for the Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence, Cyber, Computing, and Data Science at UTSA initiative will hold a virtual Campus Forum to discuss their findings in Phase I (data gathering). UTSA faculty, staff and students will have an opportunity to ask questions and share ideas before the Task Force moves into Phase II.
Virtual EventThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
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The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.