Global Citizen Corps: Post by 'Brandon G'

Here's a great reflection on the conference, from the 'opportunities' section of the Global Citizen Corps forums:

'Student Impact Conference'

An excerpt:

"Keep your eyes peeled for next year's IMPACT Conference. Last month, I met
with the two chairs that coordinate the event and I spoke with them about things
that went well, and things that should change for next year. It sounds like they
are planning to make next year's event even better. I'm jealous that I can't
make it!"

Today's youth value human interaction?

I came to the conference with a research group I'm involved with at school. We're studying youth voter mobilization on college campuses, and held a workshop to that effect. All in all, I loved being at the conference: it was an awesome experience. For me, it's like study abroad--the kind of thing that everyone ought to experience at some point in college. The sheer energy of the conference blew me away--hundreds and hundreds of people in one place, all of them passionate about making the world a better place. I could rant for hours. But anyway.

A couple of weeks ago, I took the time to reflect on the conference (as I wrote up a few paragraphs that went into our thesis). Thinking back on that now, I'm curious about a few things. The key points that my group really took to heart from the forums and workshops and everything we attended about youth voting were the importance of peer-to-peer contact, accessibility, and sustainability. I can see, logically, the foundations of these arguments. But here's what confuses me: at the same time that we're talking about the importance of peer-to-peer contact to reach youth, we're talking about the same youth who've grown up probably having more social interactions through technology than in person: we've grown up with e-mail, instant messaging, and cell phones, and now through facebook, myspace, blogs, texting, even video games (I've never done it, but people apparently make friends playing Halo on Xbox: I saw it on Entourage!) and so on to that ever-increasing list. The question that this brings up, for me, is how to reconcile the two. I know plenty of people who are so dependent on technology that they prefer texting someone who is in the next room to talking to that person. So while I see how peer-to-peer contact should be important, I have to ask: is it really?

I'm not trying to discount the value of real human interaction. I just wonder. Maybe our research will be able to work that out!

Speaking of which, if you want to learn more about our research project (which you definitely should, it's awesome!) visit our website at www.votecp09.googlepages.com, or shoot us an email at votecp@umd.edu. We'd love to hear from you!

Re-Connecting with the Conference

During the conference, I attended one of the forums titled "After the Primaries, Before November: How You Can Help Sustain the Momentum of the 2008 Youth Vote." Talking with the other students, I definitely learned a lot about various mobilization tactics. It was interesting to hear about campuses from all over the country.

Students came from all over- west coast, east coast, city schools, rural schools, smaller private colleges, and large public universities. The diversity of students was great and I realized that the type of campus really makes a big difference regarding what tactics are used to increase youth turnout. For example, some schools are mostly composed of commuters and that would make it difficult to do dorm storms.

When we were split up into groups and told to brainstorm a mobilization tactic, we decided on a tactic that could be incorporated on any campus regardless of size, location, and so on. We brainstormed a plan that when students were registering for classes, there could also be a link connecting to a voter registration form. What was so amazing to me was that we recently had a bill here in Maryland regarding the same thing! The bill was called the Maryland Student Voting Rights Act of 2008, and it would have allowed students to register to vote when they registered for classes. Unfortunately, the bill was not passed, but it was so interesting that the idea had been exactly the same.

It's amazing to actually see that the great ideas that I heard from the conference can be implemented in a concrete way. Maybe this bill wasn't passed, but it gives me hope for future plans!

Looking Back

It has been a little over two months since the conference now and I have to say that it was a wonderful and very memorable experience. It had been my first time at a conference, and it was better than anything I had expected. The energy, the enthusiasm, and the passion for advocacy and social action swept me away.

I had been anticipating the conference for weeks prior, but as the weekend came closer, I have to admit that I was not the most thrilled to be there. I was bogged down with homework and tests that upcoming week, and I was missing out on plans with my friends. This all changed as soon as I walked in on Friday morning for registration, though. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the energy and the liveliness of the room excited me as well.

Overall, the conference was a great experience. I learned so much from listening to the speakers, meeting new people, and exchanging ideas with them. The passion that everyone had for social advocacy seemed to shine through their eyes and the passion and excitement was practically contagious.

Amongst all of the great activities and events at the conference, one of the highlights for me was the workshop that our team led. Our team is an undergraduate research team studying voter turnout on our campus at the University of Maryland, College Park. Our round-table style discussion at the workshop led to good conversations about what has been done on different campuses to mobilize students to register and to vote. After reading about different tactics in papers and articles, it was more personal and relatable when I could hear about it directly from the students and administrators from different schools. I definitely learned a lot about various events and tactics that were used, and I hope the others at the workshop and at the conference enjoyed it as much as I did.

Blog post about IMPACT from HeadCount

Check out Drew Granchelli's post about IMPACT on the HeadCount blog: http://www.headcount.org/blog/?p=14

HeadCount was created in 2004 by a group of artists, music industry professionals and fans, all determined to make sure the live music community is well-represented at the polls.

John: Everybody, Every Day -- We Are the Leaders of Today

I am now back at Miami University in Oxford, and I have already started reflecting on my experience at the IMPACT conference this weekend. The internet at the Boston Park Plaza cost ten dollars for thirty minutes of use, and I didn’t want to haul my laptop to Northeastern, and thus wasn’t able to live-blog or provide daily updates, so I will consolidate some of my thoughts in this post. But, before I do that, I must say, I loved Boston. Growing up in Philadelphia taught me about city life and though I’ve spent time in Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, D.C., and large cities abroad, I found Boston to be refreshing, clean, and pleasant. I was able to catch up with a few old friends who go to Harvard and Boston College, and able to see Cambridge, downtown, the Charles River, and Back Bay. I enjoyed taking the T everywhere and one of my favorite parts of being in any city is stumbling upon unexpected things, which happened more than a few times on this trip (I got to meet Tom Hanks on the street, and took part in a dance party put on by a group from New York City in a Red Line T car as we rode over the Charles River at night). I found the city's people incredibly friendly, and I hope to return here someday.

Every once in awhile, I’ll meet someone who has a positive impact on me, whether he or she knows it or not. I often write about these people in my ‘other’ blog -- “Life in the Fast Lane” -- and they include people like my peer mentor, Miami’s former Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, and occasionally a professor. After Chase and I facilitated our Scholar-Leader: A Student-Directed Community workshop, which went fabulously, Stephanie gave me recommendations for which workshop I should attend. I ended up deciding to attend “Building a Movement: Ready, Go, Get Set,” facilitated by Wayne Meisel, president of the Bonner Foundation. Though it seems very similar to Miami’s Wilks Leadership Institute, I had never heard of the Bonner Foundation until this weekend, but was left with an incredibly positive impression of both the student Bonner Leaders and of the people at the top of the organization, a few of whom were at the conference. At his workshop, Wayne Meisel talked about making community service a team sport, and about how it’s important for idealistic students to put the community back in community service. In an energizing session in which Wayne made us all stand up, workshop attendees repeated after him: “We are the leaders of tomorrow!” (“we are the leaders of tomorrow!”), “if we wait!” (“if we wait!”), “we won’t wait!” (“we won’t wait!”), “we won’t wait!” (“we won’t wait!”). In the seminar, Wayne had students list reasons why it’s difficult to get other students involved; then, as a group, we discussed strategies that addressed these difficulties. I learned so much from what everyone had to say – from how students pair residence hall corridors with different communities – neighborhoods, YMCAs, schools, etc. to how students get others engaged -- and I have adopted one of Wayne’s catch phrases as my own: “everybody, everyday.” This has been my vision as an Office of Community Engagement Student Service Guide and Honors Program Community Service Associate – to get as many people involved with meaningful, mutually-beneficial service projects every day. Like Wayne said, community service is a team sport. It was incredible to meet a pioneer in the service-learning field and having the chance to attend his workshop and talk to him made the conference go from 100% awesome to 110% awesome.

Another event that was meaningful for me was the hunger banquet on Friday night. I learned that countries with the smallest carbon footprint suffer the most from developed countries’ overuse of fossil fuels, and that global warming harms crops. I hope to bring OxFam America to Oxford – not only for a hunger banquet, but also because it seems they might be able to help with a microlending program a peer in our PLEAS – Peer Leaders for Engagement and Service – Program, which I co-founded, is developing. Also, a Vista volunteer’s story was really emotional: she commented that the school’s Adopt-a-School equivalent has parents who cannot afford to pay the fifteen dollars to keep their children in the program, but her school pours millions of dollars into the athletic program. Finally, I hope to incorporate a Midnight Run, which a student shared with the group, into the Urban Plunges I’m planning – this involves students making bagged lunches for the homeless and delivering them to urban areas in the middle of the night.

Overall, I thought this year’s IMPACT conference went well; I got a lot out of it. It was a weekend of fiery idealism, a demonstration of the convictions of students across the country, a good time for networking and socializing with other student leaders, and a good space for me to learn, rejuvenate, reflect on my experiences, and plan for my future at Miami University and beyond. Also, I like to end some of my blog posts with some inspiration. At various points throughout the conference, the song "World" by the band Five for Fighting came to mind. While I don't know how to get the video to play on this blog, here's a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-kpR32B-Uk&feature=related.

John

Heather C: End of the Road?

I had every intention of posting to the blog throughout the conference, but was somehow always occupied with things like running to the printer or defying the time-space continuum to get a speaker to the conference on-schedule. So, here we are, two days after the conclusion of the conference, and I'm finally getting to blog.

The conference was good. It was good to see old faces, it was good to see new faces, and it was good to feed off the energy of 900+ people who want to spend a weekend learning about new and exciting ways to make the world a better place. It was good to think about the things we did right as a planning committee, and (hard as it is) it was good to think about all the things that we didn't do right...and get the chance to do right next year.

I'm back to my day job now at PledgeBank (which you should check out if you haven't already), and it's a little lonely to sit in my living room without the din of 900 people echoing in my ears. The good news is that we're already starting to think and talk as a planning committee about what next year will bring, and how we can improve the weekend to include more people, teach about more issues, appeal to more learning styles, and gather together more campuses.

We'll be sending out an online evaluation in the next few days so that you can share your thoughts with us. In the meantime, please feel free to send thoughts our way by emailing chairs@campusconference.org. If you have compliments, complaints, suggestions, or shout-outs, email us -- we're eager to hear your impressions of this year and your ideas for next year!

The good news is that, though we've reached the end of the road for 2008, 2009 is just around the corner!

Thanks to everyone for a great conference!

Posts from Better World Books

See CBO Jack Hanlon's first post about IMPACT here.

See CBO Jack Hanlon's second post about IMPACT here.

See Rocky Mountain Regional Director AbbyRae LaCombe's post about IMPACT here.

Quique: Day 3

A description of the events I attended on Sunday:

-Equal Expectations, Equal Access: Early College Awareness workshop. A group from Lassell College presented on a program they had with a public school in downtown Boston where they would do activities to raise college awareness. I think the best part of the program wasn't necessarily raising awareness, but the fact that they would tutor kids in math and reading. I think the best way to make students want to go to college is by getting them to find learning to be something fun and useful, schools are not very good at this task and mentoring programs are the way to get this done. It was a good workshop, there were many interesting comments.

-The Privilege Line: The Privilege Line is an exercise where the students line up in a line and then step forward if they are privileged and backward otherwise with respect to a set of 60 questions read by the speaker. Depending on how far in front you are or how far back you are you can see how privileged your past life has been. Of course there are many variables in play in an exercise like this, as the questions aren't black or white, and many of them are about what you perceive, so it seems like being paranoid would make you step backward more often and being naive would make you step forward more often. The exercise was interesting, but the discussion that followed it was more interesting as we got to hear the thoughts of many of the students and why they thought they were in the back, or in the front, how we could be unaware of how privileged we have been and how we can use this information to let the generations to come all be in better situations.

-Closing Session: The closing session had three speakers. The first one talked about mentoring and since this is something I do I was very interested in his words. I think he did a good job to make mentoring sound important. The second speaker was Jarret Barrios, who was state senator of Massachusetts at some point. I liked his speech, the speech was a bit metaphysical as it was based on a book by Borges. He talked about how the analogy of the infinite library in Borges story "The Library of Babel". As a fan of Borges' short stories it was fun to listen to this speech. I thought he talked about important values in society and I liked his quote of the statue of Liberty. What I didn't like that much is how the word America was used over and over again. Personally, I like thinking more about how the world should be and not how America should be.

The third speaker was Staceyann Chin and from the get go it was clear that this wouldn't be a normal speech. The speech started slow with a couple of jokes, then all of sudden she moved away from the microphone and started giving the speech in her own voice. The speech was very powerful and very intense, it was even uncomfortable to listen to it, but one could feel her passion and her thirst for justice in the world. She recited a poem that I thought was great. It is hard to describe how powerful this performance was, it was an event I don't think I'll ever forget.

This concludes my journey through this conference. I thought the conference was great in showcasing how to raise awareness of issues, but I don't know how good it was in terms of getting action done besides raising awareness. I guess, the main thing I got out of the conference is that energy and passion for justice can motivate people to work harder for a better world.

Josh: Connecting the Grassroots and the Netroots

Catching up on some news from yesterday...

The online networking session run by Youth Noise was a huge resource, introducing me to at least 20 new websites for collecting news, creating change, and connecting with others. We had a really good debate about how much we can do online and how much traditional, person to person organizing is still needed. There was some great arguments for both online organizing and offline activism. In the end, I still think that a movement demands us to engage offline and build relationships face to face even while we leverage the transformative technology that is available online to maximize our efforts.

Here are a few of the websites that the group discussed: http://www.youthnoise.com, http://rethos.com, http://www.kiva.org, http://www.invisiblechildren.com, http://www.daylife.com, http://tenbyten.org, http://www.pingg.com, http://veeker.com

There were others – but that should keep you busy for awhile.

Josh Stearns - Free Press/Stop Big Media/ Save the Internet

Quique: Day 2

The day started with a nice breakfast (I can't believe I was up so early) and then lots of workshops, here's the description of the one's I went to:

-Better World Books: In this informal drive, 4 presenters talked about Better World Books and how to do drives on campus to get books to donate to them and sent to places like Africa, SouthEast Asia and Latin America. Better World books sells used books that they collect on drives to donate to places around the world. Their system is made to make the most funding available possible to places of need, plus helping by being environmentally aware. I liked this presentation a lot and now I will check their website whenever I want to buy a book instead of checking Amazon.

-Faces of Homelessness: Three ex-homeless people gave a talk about their lives and the point that got across was that homelessness can occur to anyone. The first speaker, James, has a college degree, worked at NASA for seven years, had another good job in government for thirteen years and then all of a sudden went into a bout of depression and after going downhill ended up losing his family and his home. Someone seemingly living the American dream became homeless. The second speaker also voiced how she went to becoming homeless from one day to the next (she actually had 48 hours to evict her house). The third speaker, Kyla, was only thirteen yet spoke eloquently. She's the daughter of the second speaker and I could tell the room was in awe at how clear and eloquent the young girl was. The workshop made a big impact on me.

-End World Hunger: This was a workshop led by Oxfam. I was interested in seeing what they would do as I donate money to their organization. I thought the presentation was very good and I had fun working in a group to discuss how to raise awareness doing a series of events at our campuses (we were dispersed in four groups of between six and eight people).

-Film Screening "The Education of Shelby Knox". I was very interested in seeing this movie, specially after reading it had been selected at Sundance (Sundance is a great film festival). The movie follows Shelby Knox for three years in Lubbock, Texas in her fight to put sex-ed in public classrooms in Texas. It was very surprising to me (even though I grew up on the border with Texas) to see how much hate there is in those parts of Texas against homosexuals and how close minded they are with respect to sexual education. Texas is a big state and my city (El Paso) is quite far from Lubbock (later Shelby would tell me that Eastwood High School in El Paso has good sex ed). There's a lot of interesting things to reflect on this movie. One is how there are many people that are very good (you could see people working for a cause), two is that you can change people's minds with facts, the best example is how Shelby's parents because of their love for their daughter were very open to the information and besides being very conservative and Republican were supporting Shelby all the way. The documentary was very good and I got a lot out of it. I also enjoyed the Q&A session with Shelby as she had some more information to give us and some closure on some of the things that have happened since.

It was a long day as it started very early, but it was great, I had a lot of fun and I felt that I learned a lot.

-Quique, Dartmouth College

Laura: What a day!

Today has been so busy! This morning we came to campus for our workshops. I went to a great session on the millennial generation and political engagement and enjoyed conversations with students from around the country about their perspectives on politics. We also came up with some ideas about how to increase political engagement on our own campuses--some pretty creative ideas including the use of social networking sites like facebook, involving students in public policy research, and making greater connections between students and politicians. We also had a great discussion about local vs. global issues and which are more effective on our campuses in involving students. 

For workshop sessions two and three, I joined more practical, skill-based sessions on facilitation and recruiting. First, I headed to a workshop on the roles of effective facilitators. It was a great opportunity to practice facilitation skills and get ideas about how to train the students I work with to be better facilitators. The recruitment session was great as well, giving me the chance to talk with folks from other campuses and organizations and start to think about the programs I work with to increase our numbers--and the engagement of the students involved in our programs. 

We just finished our keynote session for the evening, with three great speakers: Robert Gittens, the Vice President for Public Affairs here at Northeastern; Wayne Meisel, the President of the Bonner Foundation; and Shelby Knox, a young activist and star of the film The Education of Shelby Knox. 

One of the best things about this conference is the networking, and of course, the reunions with old friends! It's been great to see folks I haven't seen in a while and get to have conversations about things that matter. I'm also enjoying the chance to hear about innovative new projects that leverage technology to raise funds and serve the public good. I've been talking with Robert Tolmach and learning about an organization he works with, Changing the Present. From their website you can give gifts that support a wide variety of causes. One of the things I know a number of folks will love is the facebook application they've created. On facebook, you can give "gifts" for $1, like a picture of a cupcake on a friend's birthday. Changing the Present has created an application that allows you to use that same $1 to give a gift that will support things like rescuing orphaned chimpanzees, providing schoolbooks for children, or supporting an all-female de-mining team. I've given a few gifts on facebook (mostly since I just know that little picture of a tiara will make my friend smile), and I'm excited about this creative new way to make the $1 I spent on that virtual gift go a little further and do a little good. It's creative projects like this that make this conference so inspiring: inventive ideas to serve the common good. The opportunities fair, open yesterday and today, was full of neat ideas like this. 

It's been a long day and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's workshops. (Well, first a good rest, but then the workshops.) Before that, though, I'm here at the Bonner Program reception, where students from Bonner programs all over the United States have gathered to discuss civic engagement and the connections between service and politics. It's pretty awesome to see so many (looks like 150+) students here engaging in this kind of discussion!

--Laura Megivern, Johnson State College

Josh: Media Reformers Pack the Room

Just finished with my morning session on “Student Action for Media Reform” and met a ton of amazing people. The little classroom was packed with almost 50 people from all over and with a range of interests: journalism, technology, anthropology, media studies, and much more.

However – I forgot to had around a sign up sheet so if you were in this session drop me an email: jstearns@freepress.net so we can continue this conversation.

We talked a bit about what was wrong with the media – but focused most of our time on what we can do about. Folks in the room were already working on a number of exciting projects and from what I could tell were really interested in how media reform intersected with the other issues they cared about.

After a quick discussion of the StopBigMedia campaign – we broke into pairs and discussed the how the media was serving us and what a better media might look like. The media gets a free license to use the public airwaves and in return are supposed to serve the public, so we spent some time talking about what it would look like to serve the public. People called for more investigative journalism, more diverse viewpoints, more context and local issues, more youth oriented reporting, and more.

Once we have a vision of a better media we talked about a few ways to get there: 1) Write Your Local Stations: Stations all have to keep a public record of any complaints they get so you can help build the case for a better media by writing your station. 2) Inspect Station’s Public Record: you can view a stations public record and write up a report about what you find there – publish it in the local paper and spread the word about how the station is serving your community. 3) Fight a License Renewal: use that info to petition the FCC to deny a station its license to broadcast. 4) In-district Meeting: Then meet with your policy maker and ask them to hold these stations accountable to serve the local community.

You can find tips and tricks on how to put a campaign like this together at www.freepress.net or www.stopbigmedia.com.

More to come soon…

Josh Stearns Free Press/Stop Big Media/ Save the Internet

Stephanie: Liveblogging the Scholar Leader Session

Hi everyone - I'm Stephanie, a grad student at Miami University of Ohio and a member of the Conference Planing committee. I'm liveblogging a workshop session facilitated by two of my students, John and Chase.

10:27 - Great job, John and Chase!

10:25 - John and Chase wrap up the session by having the group share emails. Together, we decide to create a Facebook group to continue the conversation beyond the conference. A few people stick around to ask specific questions about the program.

10:20 - Participants have begun to share different challenges and concerns that come up with student-directed communities, including awareness of diversity issues and the needs of students of colour, and building connections with other student groups that have similar goals.

10:15 - A concern for each 'corridor' has been the issue of bathrooms - should they be separate for men and women, or shared? One student shares the concept of the 'E' system - an 'E' is velcroed to the door of the bathroom, meaning Everyone can enter. If a student who is using the bathroom would prefer that only Men or Women enter while they're inside, they can turn the E 90 degrees to the left or the right to become an M or W. I think many student-directed communities wrestle with the issue of sharing bathrooms, and this seems like an innovative solution...

10:10 - In the simulated community meeting, the group is sharing their newly-created corridor policies with one another. They are also sharing their ideas for service and engagement projects; I get the sense that this opportunity to share different service models is particularly interesting for the students.

10:00 - The group has come back together, and John is presenting the model he developed - the 'engagement IMPACT model' that represents the different levels of engagement for scholar leader. The first level is engagement within the scholar leader community; the second is engagement on campus; and the third is engagment in the community. As John points out, engagement with the college and community helps deepen the sense of community and the learning outcomes within Scholar Leader.

9:55 - The participants are identifying some of the challenges of the scholar leader model - in particular, the lack of continuity from year to year in a one-year residence program. They are wrestling with the conversation of how to maintain the best aspects of the culture and having continuity from year to year, while still allowing each group the autonomy to having their own identity

9:50 - The conversation has shifted, and participatns are taking the opportunity to ask questions about the scholar-leader model. One member of the group asks how the community unity is maintained when some of the students have scholarships and some don't, so they have different levels of motivation to participate?

9:35 - Students are now grouped with people who have similarly coloured keys, to have corridor meetings. In Scholar Leader, students are responsible for developing corridor policies, but also for creating programming as a corridor. Just as in the real-life scholar leader, a period of silence is eventually broken by a tentative suggestion to hold a service project twice a month, which gives way to a tumble of ideas.

9:30 - The roommate meetings are concluded, the sound issue is fixed, and we head back into the workshop space.

9:16 - Oops! Suddenly, our workshop room is filled with music from the DVD playing next door. Chase ushers the group outside, and the roommate meetings continue in the hallway. As in Scholar Leader, students work together to decide the policies that will be in place in their shared room for the year.

9:15 - In order to teach people about their living learning community, John and Chase are conducting the workshop as a simulation of the first day in the community. Chase has handed out colourful keys to the participants, to 'match' them with roommates and corridor mates.

9:10 - Students are still coming in, so we've switched to a go-around for the introduction. The participants are a mixture of students, RAs, and professional staff who direct volunteer or residence hall programs. There is even a staff member from a residential high school for gifted and talented students.

9:05 - Great! There is a good turnout for the workshop, about 10 students. Chase is introducing them to one another with her usual boundless energy.

Quique: First Day

I arrived at the conference at 2:30pm. I headed over to one of the forums but the combination of arriving late to the forum plus being tired from traveling made me not be able to follow much of what was being said. For the rest of the day I was more prepared, so I'll go ahead and describe that:

-Oxfam Hunger Banquet: Going in we were randomly given one of three papers, each representing lower, middle or upper class. I got middle class. The lower class sat in the middle of the basketball court, the middle class sat on the bleachers and the upper class sat on special tables that looked fancy compared to the rest. There was some talk about disparity in the world, but the talk wasn't as powerful as the actual event when we each got different food. Upper class had pasta, sauce, bread sticks and plenty of food, the middle class had one serving of rice with beans and the lower class had a serving of rice on a napkin. We could see what we each could eat and this was more powerful than any words said. Very few people shared (as happens in the real world) and all one could do was eat what one have and maybe crave the better food of the higher class or feel pity for the lower class. The division is much more than just food as if one tries to share food with the lower class one feels like an alien to them. The problem of inequality in the world is complex and it takes courage to fight against the things in place to share the loot with everybody. The banquet was quite an interesting experience. A round of comments followed, then at the end one of the leaders of Oxfam gave a speech about how climate change affects the world and specially affects poor people. I hadn't thought about the effects of global warming in this fashion before.

-Opening Session: I had a great time at the opening session mainly because of the great job Ryan and Ned Rymer did. As an introduction Ryan was very funny and filled the room with his positive energy. I thought the speech by the Dean of northeastern (he was the dean of arts if I am not mistaken) was pretty good and uplifting, but I think the best thing for me was the talk by Ned Rymer. His talk was funny at points (the pictures from his youth), interesting and very encouraging. It is great to know that there are people out there working on programs to give better education and whose main purpose is serving the community. I liked the very optimistic tips he gave at the end and his reflection on his mistakes and how they helped him learn. The last talk was also interesting, it is illuminating to find about the passion behind famous programs like "Vote or Die".

In summary, I had a very good first day and I am very happy the opening session was uplifting, specially after the banquet which was hard knowledge.

-Quique, Dartmouth College

Kaila F: Very first blog ever!

Hi!  My name is Kaila and I am very excited to be attending another amazing student conference(this is my first time blogging, so bare with me).  I am here with an incredible group of motivated, intelligent, and superb beings, a group from Johnson State College, located in the wild, frozen lands of Northern Vermont.  

Today an especially incredible opportunity arose for us Vermonters.  A group of students on our campus is currently planning to do our own Oxfam America Hunger Banquet.  Our hope is to educate the local community about hunger that many people are faced with every single day.  Tonight, we had the chance to experience the event that we are planning (like mad!) to host at our very own small campus.  

I do not think I realized how much this event would mean to me until I experienced it firsthand today.  I knew the in's and out's of the event, which class coordinated with which color character card.  I knew what the speakers would be saying throughout most of the event.  I knew that people in the different classes would be eating foods representing the different poverty levels of the world.  But how can one prepare for the emotions that arise during, as well as following the event.  For me, it was quite unexpected.  After memorizing statistics and hearing about the horrible situations people face in their daily lives, I thought it wouldn't get to me this time.  When in fact, it was quite the opposite.  As I walked out of the Cabot Gymnasium this evening, I thought about everything that affects hunger.  I thought about why people, who have so much, cannot share with others?  Why are people so hungry in Haiti that they have to resolve to eating dirt cookies?  We are all human beings.  We all deserve to live happy and healthy lives.  What makes this world so unfair, so unjust that this poverty can continue everyday without drastically changing?

Tonight I realized that this problem, this epidemic of hunger, needs to stop.  Things need to change.  Tonight I am fasting for those people who do not have a choice whether or not they receive a portion of rice for their meal.  Tonight I am fasting for all of the children in the world whose last words on this earth are "Mommy, I'm hungry". 

This experience was a very positive one.  We walked away from it even more informed than we already were.  Now we have been given the tools to get out into our community and give others the tools and support they need to move into positive action.  Without the education, there is no action.  Without the action, there is no change.  I wish luck to every student out there trying to make a difference in this world.  We have the ability to create change, so keep fighting for what you believe in!

Laura: Here and at Friday Forums

Hi, I'm Laura, on staff at Johnson State College in Vermont in the Center for Service Learning. I came down this morning with four great students and the (also awesome) VISTA from our office, and we are so excited to be here! After a yummy lunch I'm now liveblogging in a Friday Forum workshop called "Not Your Average ASB: Alternative Break Foundations and Innovations." We started out by talking about the different models of programs represented by all the students in the room (about 45 or so). All these folks are interested in engaging in intensive direct service during breaks--and it's presented by Jill, a staff member from Break Away. 

The discussion centered around different components of quality alternative breaks: direct service, drug-and-alcohol-free policies, education, diversity, orientation, training, reflection and reorientation.

The conversation moved towards cultural sensitivity in substance-free policies and the importance of pre-trip education. The discussions programs have before heading out can ensure that the service we perform is as beneficial to the community as possible, and that we get the most out of the experience itself. 

It's so great to be here talking about alternative breaks. As an undergraduate I was a trip leader for alt breaks and now as a staff member it's been wonderful to continue conversations and working with students around alt breaks. 

We're talking about things to discuss with host organizations before going. It's important to learn about the organization's mission and the community needs they serve. Host sites can also be great resources for learning about the community you're in--they can tell you what to do when you get that little bit of free time! We've been talking about how organizations determine what needs exist in the community, and how the organization addresses those needs. 

In discussing re-orientation (or what I think is one of the most important parts of an alternative break experience--"what to do when you get home"), one student described going abroad and feeling isolated after returning home. Our discussion centered on how we can minimize that isolation when we return. Some groups I've been a part of don't want to leave each other after that week, 10 days or couple weeks of service together. (Of course, others are a little different--especially after a long time in a van together!) So re-orientation can be things like getting together, swapping photos or sharing the food that you enjoyed on your trip (like philly cheesesteaks after traveling to Philadelphia :) ), but it can be bigger than that too: one student described going on a trip focused on prison reform. After returning to campus, a number of his fellow participants have worked to start clubs and activist efforts focused around prison issues. There are other examples in the room, too: with connections to sustainable coffee-shops, using construction skills in building our own homes, and changing majors or career plans. 

In discussing diversity, one student lamented her difficulties in recruiting male participants. One solution offered by another was to have male trip leaders prominently visible in recruitment efforts; another solution was to use "male language"-- talking about adventure instead of feelings and "gushy stuff." Another idea is to recruit in classes--especially core curriculum classes, and to pair trip issues with targeted recruitment to courses (e.g., a trip focused on children or education advertised in an education class). 

Break Away has a model of how alternative breaks can lead to active civic engagement, called the Active Citizen Continuum. Hearing how folks have made connections and changes in their lives after service trips has been  great--and that the model Break Away uses doesn't necessarily always fit everyone, and of course in alternative breaks we're not trying to force anyone to become more engaged in community and civic life. As a student and now a staff member--and in my personal and academic life as well--I've seen how service (for me it was always more than just alt breaks) can lead to new choices and priorities. My service work helped me narrow my field of study (from human development to adolescent and youth) and figure out what kind of job I wanted to have, what kind of work would be most fulfilling. In fact, I came to this conference as an undergrad. It gave me a great opportunity to learn more about all the exciting work going on around the nation and the world. I made so many great connections then and it led to me changing some of my service work: I had volunteered with youth substance abuse prevention and leadership programs, and I started making connections to service and activism (and in fact, now run workshops for high school students on activism--and how they can bring about social change in their schools and communities). I'm so glad to bring students I work with now to this conference--hopefully they'll have the same kind of experience I did! 

We've split up into small groups depending on where are programs are in their development, and are discussing program structure--whether programs are student-run, staff-run, or a combination.  Sitting with similar groups, we're discussing the timeline of planning trips. It's also great to get to the nitty-gritty and talk about logistics! We're talking about fundraising and how trips are funded. One student is discussing successes with doing personal visits to local businesses, and asking family members to donate towards the participants' trip costs. Some groups have had success with silent auctions, and a creative one I've heard so far is to have a guitar hero tournament. (I've always wanted to have a rock-paper-scissors tournament to raise funds!) One great idea we're discussing is to tie donations to a concrete item, such as hardware (the example given was nickels for nails--give a nickel and you've just provided a nail for the group to use). 

One great idea I just heard was a campus that encourages trip leaders to buy postcards during their trip and send notes to campus administrators (and big donors) thanking them for their support. How wonderful! I'd love to get a note like that (hint, hint guys...) A related idea is to use the alumni offices to find alumni association chapters in cities where alt break groups have traveled, then see if the chapter might like to visit with the current students--whether it's hosting for dinner, career networking, or even asking alumni to join in the service projects.

We ended the session with round-table discussions in small groups about innovative and best practices in alternative breaks hosted by students and staff from several campuses. Thanks for a great session, everyone!

(and now, off to the opportunities fair)

--Laura Megivern, Johnson State College

Learning, Sharing, Networking, and Collaborating: We Can't Wait!

Hello! I must say, I am very excited that I have the opportunity to attend the IMPACT conference this weekend and to facilitate a workshop on Saturday morning. I am a sophomore at Miami University in Oxford, OH who has been involved with several leadership and engagement initiatives. I am a Service Guide with our Office of Community Engagement and Service -- for this role, I lead Miami students on Saturday morning volunteer outings to social service agencies in Cincinnati and Oxford. I also work as the Community Service Associate in the University Honors Program; in this role, I plan our Urban Plunge immersion programs and coordinate an EITC tax campaign and the PLEAS (Peer Leaders in Engagement and Service) program. I'm also working with a visionary Oxford resident by leading the student volunteer charge on a grant-based disaster relief kit project, which provides low-income families in Oxford and surrounding communities with emergency kits.

Miami University is a unique place, and there are many good people here who know a lot about engagement, networking, collaboration, and leadership. I established my adopted definition of leadership through an enlightening October conversation with Dr. Denny Roberts, our former Associate Vice President for Student Affairs who is now in Qatar building his own division of student affairs at Education City, a consortium of prestigious universities that came together in the Middle East (I have a feeling that a few of these universities will be well-represented at the conference this weekend). After we met at LeaderShape last August, Denny nominated me to be the student representative on our Leadership Steering Committee. In our October meeting, which took place a week before he left for Qatar, Denny and I were discussing my steering committee role, as well as my LeaderShape Vision. The topic of defining leadership came up, and Denny, author of Deeper Learning in Leadership, gave me my adopted definition: leadership equals conviction in action. I and many of my colleagues at Miami are putting our convictions in action, and we can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing.

At Miami, we face a variety of issues ranging from the divide between Greek students (35% of our student body) and non-Greek students to mobilizing students to be civically and politically engaged to defining our leadership hallmark. Because I work in two service-based offices (OCE&S and Honors) and am invested in so many initiatives, I've witnessed collaboration result in wonderful things, but I can't wait to learn how offices and organizations at other universities work together. Another issue that comes up at Miami is building community in our residence halls. Rachel Chase, Stephanie Raill and I will be facilitating a workshop titled, "Scholar-Leader: a Self-Governed Community." I am a current Scholar-Leader, Stephanie is our associate director, and Chase is the RA for the program, which is housed in Elliott and Stoddard Halls, the two oldest residence halls west of the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania. Admission to the Scholar-Leader program is through application and students receive scholarships that cover approximately half the cost of housing each semester. We are a unique community because of our small size (70 residents between the two buildings) and because each corridor creates its own policies, and residents -- not the RA or the director -- are responsible for creating programming within Scholar-Leader, on campus, and in the larger community. We are running our workshop like it's the first corridor/all-community meetings of a new year school year; using this framework, we'll be addressing issues such as the role of the RA and advisory council, how we engage through programming, group leadership, our autonomy, and how we build community. We are anxious to hear what other universities are doing -- our seminar is highly interactive, so we encourage you to come to our 9:00 workshop on Saturday and share your perspectives!

Chase, Stephanie and I met yesterday to finalize our plans -- we'll be leaving Miami's campus tonight at midnight to catch our flight to Boston. We're a little worried about the weather. Three students from Miami's Wilks Scholars Program/Wilks Leadership Institute will be joining us. I can't wait for the IMPACT conference to commence.

-- John Hummell, Miami University Sophomore, hummeljd@muohio.edu

Josh - Couldn't Be a Better Time

The IMPACT conference is set to be a tremendous event thanks to the tireless work of the organizing committee (thanks y'all!). For the work I am doing, this event couldn't come at a better time.

I am a community organizer for Free Press - a national organization focused on giving people across the country a voice in the media debates that shape everything we see, read, and hear. I work on our Stop Big Media campaign and our Save the Internet campaign.

This is a moment of truth for American media - everywhere we turn big companies are trying to push the public out of the picture, off the airwaves, or trying to disrupt the free flow of information online. But at the same time - students and citizens across the country are stepping up in huge numbers and are making an impact in their communities and in Washington DC.

I just got off the phone with some students in Chicago who filed comments with the FCC about the future of the Internet. Last week I was in Boston with students who were organizing against Comcast's blocking of the internet. Last year Seattle students turned out in huge numbers to demand more local independent and diverse media.

I look forward to hearing about what is happening on your campuses and discussing ways to fight for a media that really represents all people, addresses our issues, and serves the public.

Josh Stearns - Free Press/StopBigMedia/SaveTheInternet

Jenny--The Sponge

Hello, my name is Jenny and I recently accepted a Director of Civic Engagement position at a community college. My responsibilities include community service events, civic activities and involvement, getting a service learning program off the ground, and diversity programming. This is my first "grown up" job since finishing grad school and the position is a newly created job at my institution. I have experience with service learning and volunteerism as an undergrad, but now the tables have turned! Add all of this to the fact that I was previously unfamiliar with the community college atmosphere AND the actual physical community in which my college is located--needless to say, I have a lot on my plate! I am coming to IMPACT hoping to be inspired and looking for new ideas for my programs. I hope that many of the ideas will be adaptable to the community college. Most of all, I just want to learn! I suppose you could call me a sponge.

I am also looking forward to visiting Boston and I can't wait to see what activities are in store. I've never traveled further north than Indianapolis! I can't wait to eat some authentic clam chowder. :)

I hope to meet other young campus administrators from across the nation, but I fully expect to be inspired by the passion of the students I anticipate meeting at IMPACT. See you soon!

-Jenny, Director of Civic Engagement, Ivy Tech Community College Sellersburg, IN