{"id":8207,"date":"2022-11-09T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/?p=8207"},"modified":"2022-11-14T10:54:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T18:54:32","slug":"student-spotlight-tali-ilkovitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/2022\/11\/09\/student-spotlight-tali-ilkovitch\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight – Tali Ilkovitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Oregon State University Honors College encourages its students to enact change around them and become leaders in promoting it. Honors College student Tali Ilkovitch has risen to this challenge. Hailing from Maryland, Tali is a fourth-year student majoring in natural resources in the College of Forestry. Tali, who uses they\/them pronouns, has always felt a deep connection to nature, and since coming to Oregon State they have developed a passion for learning about the land they inhabit, especially through Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Tali hopes to use the knowledge they gain through their major and the Honors College to help promote traditional ecological values and techniques, saying: “I feel like learning more about TEK gives me further insight towards contributing to more equitable forms of climate change mitigation and natural resource management.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tali considers their identity to be a major factor in how they approach the world. Their Jewish faith inspires them to work to better their surroundings, especially through the tenet \u201cTikkun Olam\u201d (repairing the world). Their queer identity also shapes their worldview, motivating their drive for solidarity among people who need it, as well as giving them a good understanding of the nuances of privilege in their work. They aim to build community through being mindful of differing experiences and collaborating with fellow students and members of the Oregon State community. \u201cI found my advocacy skills and [my] empowerment throughout my time here. I\u2019ve been able to learn a lot more about how to do my part in bringing forth social justice and making the world a better place through different avenues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Advocacy and Community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tali is passionate about community service and restoring community health. \u201cMy focuses are abolition, survivor advocacy and community building. People having their basic needs met is important to me.\u201d After noticing a lack of stable resources intended to help marginalized communities, Tali has made it their mission to create a safe space for students who feel unrecognized by the university. They have pushed for expanded anti-racist education in the wake of the George Floyd murder in 2020 and are constantly working to ensure that their fellow students feel as safe as possible on campus. \u201cI have a greater understanding of how institutions work, how to navigate them and how to, hopefully, make them more equitable and safer, especially for marginalized communities.\u201d They also play an active role in the Really Really Free Market, which aims to “decommodify basic needs and distribute free resources to the community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tali has a strong interest in preserving stories of advocacy and change and are writing their thesis on archiving student activism at Oregon State through various media such as zines and storytelling. Tali created their own zine, Surviving OSU<\/a><\/em>, featuring the stories of OSU students that have survived assault and are advocates for survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of their classes and advocacy work, Tali plays guitar in Polypore, a punk band, with other Oregon State students. They consider performing in the band to be an essential part of their activism, as they take pride in having \u201cthe opportunity to create safe and joyous spaces where I can bond with my community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Advice for Aspiring Agents of Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After four years at Oregon State, Tali has interacted with many different people, including some who have expressed apprehension towards Tali\u2019s activism. Their words of advice for anyone on the fence about getting involved with a cause are: \u201cI\u2019m just like you. Anyone can do this work, there\u2019s nothing that makes me more qualified. Anyone can fight for a better community. Your time and resources you have to give are valid, it’s okay if it\u2019s not a lot. All the power you need to do that is within you.\u201d They acknowledge that it is easy for students to feel burned out in college and recommend taking care of your health when you need it, not after. They believe you can\u2019t move forward with your goals if you have exhausted yourself. \u201cCaring for yourself is an act of resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0By Katelyn Maloney, Student Writer, Honors College<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos of Tali playing<\/em> guitar courtesy of Mitchell Widharma Photography<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oregon State University Honors College encourages its students to enact change around them and become leaders in promoting it. Honors College student Tali Ilkovitch has risen to this challenge. Hailing from Maryland, Tali is a fourth-year student majoring in natural resources in the College of Forestry. Tali, who uses they\/them pronouns, has always felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11332,"featured_media":8208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,1395124,1048851,1306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","category-hc-student-spotlights","category-homestories","category-student"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8207"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8225,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8207\/revisions\/8225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}