Students Attend Clinton Conference

On April 5-7, five students attended the sixth annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference at Washington University in St. Louis. The students were selected from a pool of applicants from colleges and universities around the world to participate in the event. The trip was sponsored by the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE).

Founded in 2007, the CGI U conference was inspired by the structure of former President of the United States Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative, which brings together global leaders who are committed to facilitating change. CGI U draws the next generation’s leaders together each year to discuss and debate problems within five “focus areas:” Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health. In order to participate in CGI U, educational institutions must commit to giving a minimum of $10,000 in funding to students for the implementation of CGI U-selected projects.

The five students who attended the conference, Rana Abdelhamid ’15, Rabeya Jawaid ’16, Betty Kobia ’16, Armel Nibasumba ’16 and Rachel Sider ’14, returned to campus feeling inspired by the weekend’s events, which included a plenary session titled “Getting off the Ground: Stories of Starting Up,” moderated by former President Bill Clinton and featuring remarks by Chelsea Clinton, as well as alumnus Shabana Basij-Rasikh ’11.

“It was super inspirational to be able to engage and build relationships with such incredibly passionate young people,” Abdelhamid said. “The entire experience just made me so much more optimistic about the future.”

To apply for a ticket to the conference, students had to submit a “Commitment to Action,” detailing a plan of implementation for a challenge of their choice that falls within one of the five focus areas. CGI U then selected 1,200 students to receive grants ranging to make their proposed commitments a reality. The five Middlebury students who participated in CGI U received funding in the form of two MCSE summer grants: a Davis Project for Peace grant and a MCSE fellowship.

Jawaid, who hails from Karachi, Pakistan, received $3,000 from MCSE to implement her Commitment to Action over the summer to provide deaf women in Pakistan with vocational training.

Jawaid worked with deaf Pakastani women two summers ago and wanted to continue her project, but lacked the necessary funding until now. Using her MCSE grant, Jawaid will purchase sewing machines to enable women to make and sell clothing.

“Before Middlebury, I knew I wanted to make a change,” Jawaid said. “But here there’s so much studying and it’s so busy, so [CGI U] is a great way for me to get back to what I believe in and get inspired again.”

Jawaid was impressed by the College’s commitment to CGI U, as the MCSE paid for her and the other students’ plane tickets and hotel fees.

“The school is really committed to helping students attend CGI U and carry out their projects,” she said.

MCSE Associate Director of Operations and Development Heather Neuwirth ’08 is excited that the students had the chance to participate in such a special conference.

“It’s a really important chance for our students to learn about projects of other like-minded undergraduate and graduate students,” she said.

The MCSE will be posting a recap of the CGI U conference for those who could not attend within the next couple of weeks.