Despite the challenges that we face in our own societies, young college students don’t give up on their passions and aspirations. On Friday September 16th, the annual Millennium Campus Conference brought students and nonprofit-organizations from around the country and across the globe to gather at Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts for a weekend long discussion of United Nations Millennium goals, focused on international development and global poverty. Students were able to network, discuss problems and solutions, and be inspired by each other. A positive energy flow ran through the panel discussions as young people shared their personal stories of how they are trying to make a difference in the world.
Dick Muyambi, a young college student in the United States, was awarded $10,000 USD. Wanting to give back to his impoverished homeland, he started the ‘Bicycles Against Poverty’ Project to promote economic activity in Northern Uganda. The project would provide families with bicycles as a means of transportation and a tool for economic development.
Julia Silverman, having graduated from Harvard University in 2010 as an Anthropology major, quit her job at the World Bank to pursue her invention of “the sOccket”. What started as a simple assignment for her engineering class, turned into an innovative invention that has the ability to save lives. Without the background of an Engineering major, Julia had an advantage to look outside the box of turning a simple object like a soccer into an energy-generating tool. The sOccket was showcased and tested as highly successful in South Africa during the World Cup last year. The sOccket is now being mass-produced as an energy generator, community builder, and health tool. Julia’s advice to students was “be crazy!” Sometimes in order to find your true passion, you need to take a step out of your comfort zone and try something new.
With many other inspiring young leaders, including actress Eliza Dushku and Australian Co-founder of Global Poverty Project Hugh Evans, a strong impression was left on the students that attended the conference. To end the weekend, Jason Russell, Co-founder of Invisible Children, and Somalian singer-songwriter K-naan sent the students off with the challenge and motivation to make positive change happen. With a standing ovation, Jason Russell, Co-founder of Invisible Children, hit the nail on the head with his words. “Just start living the way you want the world to be and people will follow”.
While college students get so bogged down with social pressures to go to graduate school or find a job after graduation once we enter ‘the real world’, we can’t let our passions slip out of reach. This is ‘real life’ as we know it. We’re young, capable individuals. As Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see in the world”.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Mt Holyoke chapter.