Spring Break
Students Team Up To Make A Difference
Mariana Souza-Stebbins
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: News
"Those were not students who were there because they had nothing better to do," he said. "To be able to meet with 700 dedicated students and see what they were doing and exchange ideas was a great thing."
"It was really inspirational to see what others were doing, to see the scale people are dreaming," said Kell. "You see someone with an ambitious commitment and then you think 'maybe I could do more,' " he said, referring to a Morehouse College student who committed to distribute one million energy-efficient light bulbs to low-income houses in Atlanta.
The setting in which CGI U took place was also important, organizers said, because the city experienced both the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the national efforts of recovery.
"What better place than New Orleans to put actions into words?" said Kennedy, who on Sunday, with other students, joined Clinton and Brad Pitt in the Lower 9th Ward to help rebuild the city. They prepared the site for the construction of 150 affordable and sustainable homes, a commitment Pitt's foundation Make It Right made at the 2007 CGI Annual Meeting.
"New Orleans is having a second chance in life to really change," said Kell. "Tulane University is going completely green, for example, and a city official said at the conference they will propose to make bicycles the official transportation method there." Kell was amazed at the friendly people and the recovery of the French Quarter, he said, with all restaurants, casinos and entertainment open. "I would go down there in a heartbeat," he said.
As his own personal commitment, Kennedy, who plans on working for a Non-Governmental Organization after graduation, decided to work to establish an individualized Global Health and Poverty major, with a program of courses that would fit into it.
"I developed my own major, but many freshmen don't know they can do it or they get lost and don't know where to start," Kennedy said.
"My personal commitment is to get a link to EcoHusky high on UConn's homepage," said Kell, who added several new ideas to his initial commitment. "We could create an entire section of eco-friendly products at the Co-op, replace the union's silverware with sustainable ones, have a paper drive at the end of the year to encourage students to recycle more paper," Kell said, mentioning only a few of his ideas.
"It was really inspirational to see what others were doing, to see the scale people are dreaming," said Kell. "You see someone with an ambitious commitment and then you think 'maybe I could do more,' " he said, referring to a Morehouse College student who committed to distribute one million energy-efficient light bulbs to low-income houses in Atlanta.
The setting in which CGI U took place was also important, organizers said, because the city experienced both the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the national efforts of recovery.
"What better place than New Orleans to put actions into words?" said Kennedy, who on Sunday, with other students, joined Clinton and Brad Pitt in the Lower 9th Ward to help rebuild the city. They prepared the site for the construction of 150 affordable and sustainable homes, a commitment Pitt's foundation Make It Right made at the 2007 CGI Annual Meeting.
"New Orleans is having a second chance in life to really change," said Kell. "Tulane University is going completely green, for example, and a city official said at the conference they will propose to make bicycles the official transportation method there." Kell was amazed at the friendly people and the recovery of the French Quarter, he said, with all restaurants, casinos and entertainment open. "I would go down there in a heartbeat," he said.
As his own personal commitment, Kennedy, who plans on working for a Non-Governmental Organization after graduation, decided to work to establish an individualized Global Health and Poverty major, with a program of courses that would fit into it.
"I developed my own major, but many freshmen don't know they can do it or they get lost and don't know where to start," Kennedy said.
"My personal commitment is to get a link to EcoHusky high on UConn's homepage," said Kell, who added several new ideas to his initial commitment. "We could create an entire section of eco-friendly products at the Co-op, replace the union's silverware with sustainable ones, have a paper drive at the end of the year to encourage students to recycle more paper," Kell said, mentioning only a few of his ideas.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Give me a break
posted 3/25/08 @ 12:18 PM EST
I am going to use mutiple spoons and forks for each meal after reading this silly article.
I have an idea..lets get rid of trays, cups, plates, forks, everything. (Continued…)
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