“How it all Started”: UIMF during Presidency of John McClure
Mr. John McClure presented in-person in Utah Valley University class on United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
Mr. John McClure presented in-person in our class on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at 12:00 PM. He spoke on his experience being a Utah Valley University (UVU) student and what he has accomplished since. He is currently, as of January 2024, an Assistant Director for the Center of National Security Studies at UVU and is teaching some classes as well. During his time at UVU, he pioneered the making of the Utah International Mountain Forum (UIMF), a coalition of student clubs, in 2011 and is the former president of said forum. UIMF focused on advocating for improvement of lives and livelihoods of mountain communities in the State of Utah and worldwide. As a clubs coalition, UIMF implemented a student-engaged learning (SEL) initiative. SEL stimulates students to work together as one team on resolving certain practical problems and they rely on their teacher to mentor them in the case they are not able to find answers. The SEL model, developed at UVU, relies on traditional and non-traditional students working together, when non-traditional or more mature students could teach their younger peers with life experiences. But traditional, or younger students, could also share their own skills particular to them. Due to this, as club members they could work jointly in class and beyond the class on many issues.
Mr. John McClure during the lecture.
Mr. John McClure worked with Dr. Abdrisaev, the mentor for UIMF since its founding and the teacher for our current class, and his other classmates to research the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocacy and implementation with special focus on mountain communities. They also worked on finding ways to get UVU better integrated within the United Nations Sustainable Development process, while representing mountainous regions. John McClure and his peers met with legislative officials within Utah as well as internationally to discuss more about what sustainable development meant and how to incorporate that locally, statewide, nationally, as well as globally. As part of the UVU team, John McClure hosted a Women of the Mountains Conference in Puno, Peru in 2012 and after that participated at the historic United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20). In their class time, they studied how this conference adopted a program for further adoption of SDGs by the international community and the United Nations. Mr. McClure went on after graduation to work for Utah State Department of Public Safety. He has graduated with his Master’s degree on terrorism from St Andrews University in Scotland and is working on his PhD. He continued a career in security, specifically terrorism, while keeping his priority on incorporating sustainable development.
After listening to Mr. McClure explain what he has accomplished in the last 15 years, it widened my perspective on how far my own voice can be heard if I am willing to put in the work. I am considered a non-traditional learner: a full-time student, about to graduate this coming May 2024; I am working with UVU as a student representative for the Affinity Groups committee, helping them be more inclusive as well as understand what life can be like for non-traditional students; I also work part-time in the Herbarium at UVU both to earn a small income and gain invaluable experience in my field; lastly, I have a family at home, which is one of my highest priorities. I take my job as a mother seriously and want to be the best example I can be for my son, my husband, and even myself at times. Life gets rough and I am often asked “how do I do it?” My shortest but honest answer I usually give is that “if you want it bad enough, you will make it work.”
(L to R): Stephan Atkinson, UIMF President, John McClure and Janessa Purcell, UIMF Vice-President after presenting gifts
After learning all the great things that Mr. McClure has done since being a student at UVU and hearing that he was raising a family in the middle of it all helped me see the level of dedication he had pursuing his passion. He mentioned that he would wake up two hours earlier than his child to get in the reading he needed to get done while practicing how to read faster and comprehend better. Through his experiences, he learned how to write better papers, type faster and become more efficient. I can thoroughly relate since I have done late nights to get studying done after helping my son get to sleep and waking up early to get the day started. I have had to miss out on family vacations to get my homework done so that I wouldn’t fall behind. Overall, what I am trying to say is that if you want to pursue your passion and see where it can lead you, no matter what your circumstance, you will make it happen. Whether that means to pursue a degree, or to work your way up the company ladder, or to become an entrepreneur and start your own business.
Group Photo with dignitary
I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I worked a job where I worked directly with animals. This job included manual labor, working through all four seasons, seven days a week, no holidays off, with crap pay (luckily, I had coworkers so we could alternate days off). Yet, it was the most satisfying job I have ever had. My goal is no longer to become a zookeeper, but I want to work in conservation, working on solutions to the climate change crisis. But, because of the hard work I was willing to put in, and the patience and support my family has given me, I have been able to get myself to where I am today
Danielle Keysaw, a Utah Valley University student: major in biology and minor in environmental studies
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