Meet this week’s campus celeb, Maddie Welsh. Just last week, she and her two teammates won the Clinton Global Initiative University Commitments Challenge in Arizona. She hopes that with their team’s idea, they can create a texting service that will help family members reconnect after a disaster. Basically, Maddie’s a rock star who is going to change the world. Read on to learn about her and her amazing work!
Name: Maddie Welsh
Year: Sophomore
Major: International and Area Studies
What is CGIU? CGIU is a conference held by the Clintons at a university every year. College students create ideas or projects to help change the world in all kinds of different ways and some get invited to attend the conference.
How did you get involved with CGIU? I have applied for CGIU before, but this was the first time my group has been invited to attend.
What is your team’s idea? My team’s (Daniel Feinberg, Caitlin Lee, and I) idea is to create a texting service to reconnect family members in a disaster situation. All currently available services require Internet, which isn’t often accessible during a disaster situation. Our service would work on the mobile network or from a satellite phone that the Red Cross always has available.
Have you always been interested in this area? I’ve always been interested in global challenges.
What is the next step for your team? The next step is to start creating the software and start talking to cell phone companies.
When you’re not solving the world’s problems what do you like to do for fun? I love to travel!
Maddie(second from right) and her teammates with Jimmy Kimmel and Chelsea Clinton
Be sure to keep following Maddie and her team’s work! It’s sure to be a success!