This March, 12 Babson students will attend the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative University, established by the former president to generate innovative ideas that address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. During the meeting, more than 1,100 college students will collaborate on their ideas with a goal of taking action after the conference ends. CGIU asks students to focus on five broad topics: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health. Here’s a glimpse at the selected Babson projects.
Brian Hickey ’16
Nourishing Education in Rural Africa
Mission: To establish gardens at disadvantaged rural schools to help provide nourishing lunches, thus encouraging attendance and helping students to focus better.
Michael Kliska ’16, Adriana Contreras ’16
Believe in Baseball
Mission: To encourage people to donate used equipment and clothing
to youth teams and organizations while creating a platform that provides information on the recipients and tracks projects.
Pooja Prassana Kumar, MBA’16
Orora Global
Mission: To help women in villages in India that have limited access to electricity and resources to develop technical and communication skills with an aim of reducing the use of harmful kerosene.
Sam Melville ’17
Envoscrubs Global
Mission: To create a biodegradable cleaning wipe that uses an all-organic solution, making the wipe safe for cleaning any surface, including dishes, without water.
Marvin Tarawally ’17, Karoline Aaen ’17
The School Improvement Project
Mission: To improve the performance of high schools in Liberia by using creative problem solving and action-based planning to increase operational efficiencies.
Yulkendy Valdez ’17, Krystina Posada ’17, Josuel Plasencia ’17
Ya Si! Young Women Advocating for Change Through Internships
Mission: To offer a five-day residential program for 20 to 30 high-school girls that develops their professional and personal skills, and to provide a pipeline for internships and job-shadowing experiences.
Emily Purdom ’18
Kominote
Mission: To provide women refugees with job training and employment by teaching them to create accessories out of unwanted textiles; done in partnership with the Lowell, Mass., location of the International Institute of New England.
Danielle Rubenfeld ’18
Bouncing Back: Empowering Youth Through Resilience
Mission: To teach elementary students about resilience by organizing a relay race hosted by Babson undergraduates. The program will culminate in a relay race and tailgate held at a sporting event with an aim of raising funds to fight hunger in Greater Boston; a goal is to expand the program to other colleges.