Meet Nicole Pasterczyk: CLAN United Nations Youth Representative
Interview taken 22nd August, 2022
Tell me a bit about yourself.
My name is Nicole Pasterczyk, nickname Nikki, and I go to Lehigh university in Pennsylvania. I study molecular biology on the pre-med track and volunteer for CLAN. I am a UN Youth Representative for the organisation, I just started my role in June, so I haven’t done anything too much yet, it’s a lot about transitioning into the role, but I’m definitely excited to get more and more into the role and take more leadership roles in that.
What motivates you to work hard and to do what you do?
In general, a lot of it is my own character, but it’s also my upbringing. I am obviously American, I have an American accent and all, but my parents are immigrants from Poland, so I’ve definitely had a different upbringing here than what most people have, so I have always been taught a lot from Polish culture, about being resilient. My parents are very independent, they’ve had to do a lot for themselves here so I definitely take a lot of pride in my own culture, and I look up to my parents a lot. I definitely try to take every opportunity that I can, just from inspiration from them and the opportunities they have lost over time and what they have really had to earn. That speaks a lot to my character, I’m sure there are a lot of other things too, but I think that’s what I attribute to it most.
How and when did you start working with CLAN, and what motivated you to do so?
I go to LeHigh university and I work with the office of fellowships. It can be a wide variety of things, it can be research opportunities or internships abroad but I was talking to one person, Elaina Ross, who works with CLAN and she actually told me about the UN program with CLAN. I came to the office looking for opportunities more related to research and interning, especially for molecular biology, but she wanted to get to know me, and I told her, when she asked, “why are you studying this?”, and she wanted to understand me more as a person. My brother has a rare genetic disorder called Phenylketonuria (PKU), and luckily we’ve had the treatment and options to give him a good life. If you’ve never met him before, you’d assume everything would be completely normal, but that’s because he has great treatment here in the US. So, I’ve always been exposed to his genetic disorder, the treatments and all, and I’ve always been interested in genetics because of that. So, when I learned about CLAN, and that they fight for children with NCDs, and finding more treatment plans and getting access and awareness for them, I think Elaina kind of connected the dots for me there and I found that CLAN would be a great option for me.
What do you do within your role as a UN Youth Representative?
Right now, it’s hard to explain, because I’m just starting out. One thing I worked on was the event for the UN High Level Political Forum (UNHLPF), working on presentations for that with the other UN Youth Representatives, getting information from the team at CLAN across different countries and working with them for creating the presentations. Currently what I’m working on with my other UN Youth Representatives is the draft for the Commission on the Status of Women 67th Session (CSW67 Event). What I’m specifically doing for that, is the theme for this year's conference is technology, so what we’re trying to do is connect New-born Screening with the women’s issue in technology. Looking at how different upcoming innovations in New-born Screening can provide better help for children with NCDs and it becomes a women’s issue because it is specifically related to conditions like CAH with ambiguous genitalia and difficulty in diagnosis. I’m working on that as well. It’s a lot of bobbing around a bit, and a lot of transitioning. It's definitely a lot for me right now, but I’m getting used to it and I’m excited to handle it and take on more as it goes.
What was the most inspiring moment within your work with CLAN thus far?
So, something that was very inspiring was when Kate directed me to take more control of the New-born Screening aspects with CLAN because I like what she saw in me, in seeing my connection with New-born Screening, because the only reason my brother new about his PKU was through New-born Screening, and we knew two days after he was born. He was able to get the treatment he needed. I like that Kate saw that I had a connection in New-born Screening and that I saw the importance of it, and she let me take a handle of it as I have a personal connection in seeing how important it is that disadvantage children, in lower-income countries and Indigenous populations, they don’t have the New-born Screening, so they tend to die and have lots of health issues, as they don’t know that they have a disorder and can’t get the help they need, so, I definitely really appreciated that she saw what I saw in New-born Screening and she’s letting me take more a lead on that.
What is some advice you would provide others who would like to get involved with the UN Youth Representative program?
I’m so brand new to this, so I’m just trying to get into the groove of things. I would say, don’t be intimidated by the work, at the end of the day, you’re doing something in your own free time, it’s all voluntary, you’re doing it for a good purpose and you’re doing it out of your heart, not for any other reason. I’m doing it because I have a personal connection to it, and I want these children to have the access that my brother did, because he has this in the US, but there’s so many kids who don’t have this access. At the end of the day, sometimes I feel like I’m being on this work, I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing quite yet, it’s a little overwhelming, but I’m trying to take a step back and say, “you know what, you’re doing the best you can right now, you’re going to be great this, you’re doing this for the right reasons”, so that’s what I would say to a new UN Youth Rep if they would come into the program. Just be proud that you’re doing this and that you were selected for this and the work will come, you’ll get better at it over time.
How has working with CLAN, or seeing CLAN’s work, shaped your worldview?
It has exposed me to different perspectives because living in the United States, you don’t see as many Indigenous populations, and at least just living in cities, the background where I’m from, living in Pennsylvania in the United States, I haven’t been exposed to this issue. All of a sudden, I got into CLAN. I'm hearing about all these issues, about how it’s so important that these kids get access to medicine and technology. It’s a completely different worldview. We’re so comfortable in first world countries, of course we have issues in our own countries, but it’s nothing like this, so, it’s definitely broadened my perspective about the health crisis that’s going on internationally and how everyone just needs to do the best they can to contribute to that.
What are your goals for the future?
With CLAN particularly, I want to get a clear view of what exactly I want to do. I also want to get more comfortable with all the applications so that I can get a clear view of what I want to accomplish with CLAN and contribute to the team the best I can. So, I hope that with CLAN that I get a better idea of - I already know these issues are so significant - but working on all this awareness over time, and i want to use this experience to help me become - I want to be a doctor because I’m pre-med - I hope this experience will really give me the perspective and knowledge that in the future, I want to be a doctor, so it will give me a different background, working with teams, and children that don’t have the same access they do in first world countries, and it will make me a better doctor. It gives me more compassion, it gives me more social awareness, that some families don’t treat these things because they don’t know their children have it, they don’t have the opportunities or the technologies or medicines to treat it, so I won’t be so close-minded as a doctor and it will help me to have definitely much more diverse perspectives and be more versatile in my treatment, in my thinking, and then, possibility starting programs to help these children in disadvantaged areas
Interview taken 22nd August, 2022
Tell me a bit about yourself.
My name is Nicole Pasterczyk, nickname Nikki, and I go to Lehigh university in Pennsylvania. I study molecular biology on the pre-med track and volunteer for CLAN. I am a UN Youth Representative for the organisation, I just started my role in June, so I haven’t done anything too much yet, it’s a lot about transitioning into the role, but I’m definitely excited to get more and more into the role and take more leadership roles in that.
What motivates you to work hard and to do what you do?
In general, a lot of it is my own character, but it’s also my upbringing. I am obviously American, I have an American accent and all, but my parents are immigrants from Poland, so I’ve definitely had a different upbringing here than what most people have, so I have always been taught a lot from Polish culture, about being resilient. My parents are very independent, they’ve had to do a lot for themselves here so I definitely take a lot of pride in my own culture, and I look up to my parents a lot. I definitely try to take every opportunity that I can, just from inspiration from them and the opportunities they have lost over time and what they have really had to earn. That speaks a lot to my character, I’m sure there are a lot of other things too, but I think that’s what I attribute to it most.
How and when did you start working with CLAN, and what motivated you to do so?
I go to LeHigh university and I work with the office of fellowships. It can be a wide variety of things, it can be research opportunities or internships abroad but I was talking to one person, Elaina Ross, who works with CLAN and she actually told me about the UN program with CLAN. I came to the office looking for opportunities more related to research and interning, especially for molecular biology, but she wanted to get to know me, and I told her, when she asked, “why are you studying this?”, and she wanted to understand me more as a person. My brother has a rare genetic disorder called Phenylketonuria (PKU), and luckily we’ve had the treatment and options to give him a good life. If you’ve never met him before, you’d assume everything would be completely normal, but that’s because he has great treatment here in the US. So, I’ve always been exposed to his genetic disorder, the treatments and all, and I’ve always been interested in genetics because of that. So, when I learned about CLAN, and that they fight for children with NCDs, and finding more treatment plans and getting access and awareness for them, I think Elaina kind of connected the dots for me there and I found that CLAN would be a great option for me.
What do you do within your role as a UN Youth Representative?
Right now, it’s hard to explain, because I’m just starting out. One thing I worked on was the event for the UN High Level Political Forum (UNHLPF), working on presentations for that with the other UN Youth Representatives, getting information from the team at CLAN across different countries and working with them for creating the presentations. Currently what I’m working on with my other UN Youth Representatives is the draft for the Commission on the Status of Women 67th Session (CSW67 Event). What I’m specifically doing for that, is the theme for this year's conference is technology, so what we’re trying to do is connect New-born Screening with the women’s issue in technology. Looking at how different upcoming innovations in New-born Screening can provide better help for children with NCDs and it becomes a women’s issue because it is specifically related to conditions like CAH with ambiguous genitalia and difficulty in diagnosis. I’m working on that as well. It’s a lot of bobbing around a bit, and a lot of transitioning. It's definitely a lot for me right now, but I’m getting used to it and I’m excited to handle it and take on more as it goes.
What was the most inspiring moment within your work with CLAN thus far?
So, something that was very inspiring was when Kate directed me to take more control of the New-born Screening aspects with CLAN because I like what she saw in me, in seeing my connection with New-born Screening, because the only reason my brother new about his PKU was through New-born Screening, and we knew two days after he was born. He was able to get the treatment he needed. I like that Kate saw that I had a connection in New-born Screening and that I saw the importance of it, and she let me take a handle of it as I have a personal connection in seeing how important it is that disadvantage children, in lower-income countries and Indigenous populations, they don’t have the New-born Screening, so they tend to die and have lots of health issues, as they don’t know that they have a disorder and can’t get the help they need, so, I definitely really appreciated that she saw what I saw in New-born Screening and she’s letting me take more a lead on that.
What is some advice you would provide others who would like to get involved with the UN Youth Representative program?
I’m so brand new to this, so I’m just trying to get into the groove of things. I would say, don’t be intimidated by the work, at the end of the day, you’re doing something in your own free time, it’s all voluntary, you’re doing it for a good purpose and you’re doing it out of your heart, not for any other reason. I’m doing it because I have a personal connection to it, and I want these children to have the access that my brother did, because he has this in the US, but there’s so many kids who don’t have this access. At the end of the day, sometimes I feel like I’m being on this work, I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing quite yet, it’s a little overwhelming, but I’m trying to take a step back and say, “you know what, you’re doing the best you can right now, you’re going to be great this, you’re doing this for the right reasons”, so that’s what I would say to a new UN Youth Rep if they would come into the program. Just be proud that you’re doing this and that you were selected for this and the work will come, you’ll get better at it over time.
How has working with CLAN, or seeing CLAN’s work, shaped your worldview?
It has exposed me to different perspectives because living in the United States, you don’t see as many Indigenous populations, and at least just living in cities, the background where I’m from, living in Pennsylvania in the United States, I haven’t been exposed to this issue. All of a sudden, I got into CLAN. I'm hearing about all these issues, about how it’s so important that these kids get access to medicine and technology. It’s a completely different worldview. We’re so comfortable in first world countries, of course we have issues in our own countries, but it’s nothing like this, so, it’s definitely broadened my perspective about the health crisis that’s going on internationally and how everyone just needs to do the best they can to contribute to that.
What are your goals for the future?
With CLAN particularly, I want to get a clear view of what exactly I want to do. I also want to get more comfortable with all the applications so that I can get a clear view of what I want to accomplish with CLAN and contribute to the team the best I can. So, I hope that with CLAN that I get a better idea of - I already know these issues are so significant - but working on all this awareness over time, and i want to use this experience to help me become - I want to be a doctor because I’m pre-med - I hope this experience will really give me the perspective and knowledge that in the future, I want to be a doctor, so it will give me a different background, working with teams, and children that don’t have the same access they do in first world countries, and it will make me a better doctor. It gives me more compassion, it gives me more social awareness, that some families don’t treat these things because they don’t know their children have it, they don’t have the opportunities or the technologies or medicines to treat it, so I won’t be so close-minded as a doctor and it will help me to have definitely much more diverse perspectives and be more versatile in my treatment, in my thinking, and then, possibility starting programs to help these children in disadvantaged areas
