A handful of George Washington students spent their April 5-7 weekend at Washington University in St. Louis, participating in this year’s Clinton Global Initiative University, an event that brings ambitious young people from around the world to help make their ideas for change a reality.
This year’s commitments from GW students ranged from making blankets for homeless people to educating the D.C. community about HIV/AIDS and building an LGBT-inclusive mosque.
Jane Wallis, a junior majoring in public health, pitched an idea to expand HIV/AIDS education to teachers and parents in the D.C. area.
Ms. Wallis, a GW soccer player, is already involved in the Grassroot Project, a nonprofit that taps NCAA Division I students from GW, Georgetown and Howard Universities to educate middle school students about HIV/AIDS through sports and games. Ms. Wallis proposed providing incentives to get teachers and students involved in the program, too.
“A major goal of the Grassroot Project is to eliminate the stigma and discrimination surrounding the disease so that we can better promote testing and treatment to avoid the spread of the epidemic,” Ms. Wallis said. She added that including adults “seemed like the logical next step,” so they can learn and reinforce messages about HIV/AIDS to their children.
CGI U gave Ms. Wallis a lot of information about funding the commitment, she said. In a time when government cuts threaten public health initiatives, Ms. Wallis said it was important to justify the need for a program and find alternate funding routes when necessary. The contacts she made networking at CGI U are already a good start, she added.
Nadia Nayar, a junior majoring in political science whose “Blanket Buddies” commitment aims to provide the homeless with a blanket that can keep them warm in the winter but also be used as a pillow in the summer, said she also learned crucial information about seeking sponsorship to help fund her commitment.
And the opportunity to meet actor Matthew Perry, Chelsea Clinton and actor Jada Pinkett Smith were also highlights for Ms. Nayar, she said.
“The speakers were amazing to hear, and the participants were even more awesome to connect and network with,” she said. “I would say that the highlight of the weekend was interacting with all the different participants and speakers.”
For first-year systems engineering Ph.D. student Mohammad Nayebpour, who proposed a commitment to build the first LGBT-inclusive mosque in the United States, commentator Stephen Colbert’s interview with former President Bill Clinton was especially exciting.
“The fact that he made his Monday night show at CGI U made me feel important,” he said.
Helping to open this past weekend’s event was Matthew Wilkins, B.S. ’12, a founder of Pedal Forward, which aims to build low cost, environmentally friendly bikes using bamboo and donating a percentage of proceeds to charity. Mr. Wilkins, currently a master’s student studying biomedical engineering, shared the stage with President Clinton during a one-minute speech about Pedal Forward and its long-term goals.
Mr. Wilkins served as a mentor for a few dozen students who proposed transportation-related commitments—but he also got the chance to attend workshops and network himself.
“I got a lot of business cards this weekend,” he said.
But the main takeaway, according to Ms. Wallis?
“I think the most useful thing I learned at CGI U is the willingness of the educational community to help others throughout the world, whether in public health programs, environmental sustainability initiatives or economic solutions,” she said. “Our generation is ready to help level the global playing field to make opportunity a more universal term for individuals. It is important to realize the potential we all have, and CGI U helped to inspire this for me.”