Drexel University students decided 2025 was the year for Earth Day to evolve into Earth Week. From face painting to gardening, the week of April 20 was saturated with holistic events to celebrate the Earth. On Thursday evening, students and community members were invited to vocalize their thoughts and emotions about the climate on the Dornsife Center lawn. The title of this open mic embodied its message: “One World, One Fight.”
Under a pinkening sky, roughly 35 attendees lounged on blankets as performers stepped up to the microphone. Oliver Vecellio, a Drexel student and the Creator’s Studio Director at the Dornsife Center, emceed the event. Kicked back in the grass with his own microphone, he added enthusiastic support for each person who offered a unique act, all of which varied significantly.
“The most important thing in life is community. With community we can really do anything at the end of the day,” Oliver says. He asked every performer to note their favorite aspect of the Earth before proceeding with their act. Responses often included seasons, fruits, animals and land that supports the human community.
A grandmother local to West Philadelphia wrote and performed a poem titled “Armageddon, Not Today,” seeking to instill hope in younger generations. The piece was dedicated to her grandchildren, who sat together amongst the crowd.
Many Drexel students also shared their appreciation of the planet through poetry, while Music Industry majors hyped the crowd by rapping.
One speaker declared, “I believe it is important to know how to say, hello, goodbye, please, and thank you in as many languages as possible,” and proceeded to teach these words in the Irish language. Evidently, this event was genuinely for everyone.
At one point, two young boys from Mantua raised their hands to take the grass stage. Presumably below the age of ten and without family present, the boys spoke on the struggles of being a young black person in America today.
One boy wrapped up his speech about “crazy kids” and “racism” with, “and Trump is president!” Following his friend, the second boy spoke to the crowd with confidence: “I have been bullied, harassed, and jumped a few times.” He went on to call the people who beat him up “potty-mouths.” He noted that when he became tired of it, he would relinquish force in return, and said he felt that “everything was going to change cause it feels like everything around [him] is [his] fault.”
He pressed his palm into his eyes and sniffled back tears, and the crowd jumped in with reassurance: “It’s not.” With the crowd’s encouragement, the boy proceeded to rap “Godzilla” by Eminem.
As the sun tucked behind the Dornsife Center Building, the final performer instructed all attendees to rise from their blankets. The intro to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift rolled out of the speakers, and feet began to shuffle as an impromptu dance party began.
Twenty Drexel student organizations contributed to making the event possible. There was significant support for the event from the Undergraduate Student Government Association, where Victoria Rodriguez serves as chair of the Civic Engagement Committee.
“When you collaborate with an org, the event always comes better… we’re trying [not] to create the feeling of competition,” Rodriguez says.
One World, One Fight Open Mic was one of several events organized by the Creator’s Studio at the Dornsife Center. The Creator’s Studio is one of the center’s many sections. At its building on 3509 Spring Garden Street, everything from karate lessons for children to digital navigation classes for the elderly are offered.