The School Fund Gala at Brown University

On April 28, the air hummed with energy and excitement as the guests entered Maddock Alumni Center at Brown University to join The School Fund team in celebrating education and a year of tremendous growth. Music wafted through the air, providing a backdrop for the mingling and engaged conversation of the guest. Over 80 guests attended including such distinguished individials as Katherine Bergeron, Dean of the College, Peter Weber, Dean of the Graduate School, Roger Nozaki, Associate Dean and Director of the Swearer Center, and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar, Special Assistant to the President.   Professors who have advised our project such as Professor Barrett Hazeltine and Professor Josef Mittlemann also came to support The School Fund.

Sandra Hartkopf, Ally Chi, and Paul Hlatky came from Boston University to join the Brown School Fund team.

The evening began with a brief presentation by Laila Handoo, Saeed Hassan, Macon McLean, and Matt Severson on The School Fund: our history, website, partners, and hopes for the future.  We have had an exciting year; The School Fund is now funding students in 8 countries (Haiti, India, Kenya, Malawi, Panama, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zimbabwe) and working with 13 partner organizations.  We share with audience, our video of President Bill Clinton announcing our commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative University meeting to scale to 500 students in 11 countries.
As always, we had several computers open to www.theschoolfund.org, and over the course of the evening raised over $500, 100% goes to students’ school fees.

The School Fund Team at Brown University

The School Fund at Brown Gala was a success! We appreciate the support of everyone who came and everyone who was there in spirit. It was great to see so many people interested in supporting our efforts to make education more accessible and funding education more accountable and transparent.

The School Fund at the Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting

On April 1, President Bill Clinton convened over 1000 university students in San Diego for the 4^th Annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) meeting.  The conference ran from Fri through Sun on sunny UCSD’s campus with discussion ranging from improving global health to generating inter-cultural dialogue to providing education to the world’s most impoverished youth.  It’s always thrilling and inspiring to be alongside so many peers itching to make a positive impression on the world.

As an attendee in past years, I was incredibly excited just to be in the same auditorium as President Clinton.  This year was a particular treat as we, and our commitment to scale The School Fund, were presented on stage to the entire CGIU student body and invited to a special luncheon with President Clinton.

The School Funds Matt Severson shows members of the Project Rishi team. San Diego, CA . TSF 2011

I traveled to CGIU this year with my team mate Saeed Hassan a (lucky :D) freshman at Brown University who joined The School Fund Team last fall.  Like me, he had a personal encounter with the lack of access to education in the developing world that nudged him into action.  His cousins, in Kenya, were unable to afford secondary school fees, and their journey to a better life was therefore cut short.

Saeed has joined the team, and brought with him energy and passion for this work, and is now helping Tim Eisen (Brown ’11) manage new partnerships.  We have a growing team of 22 university students from Boston University, Brown University, Cornell University and the Unniversity of Pennsylvania.

The three-day conference began with a networking session and opening remarks by Mandy Moore (who tweeted about us by the way!).  We had the iPad out, and were actively showing our peers the website.  People our age tend to get it really quick, and many people were excited about the prospect of partnering with us, and putting students they work with on the site.

We were told to arrive one hour early to the RIMAC Auditorium, where the Opening Plenary was.  We got there right on time, practiced going up on stage, and were told where to stand (complete with those little tape markers all over the floor).  Then about 15 minutes before the start of the session, we were ushered back stage where secret service paced about, and technicians whispered in hushed voices through headsets.  We were stationed in a small room off to the side of the stage, waiting for President Clinton to announce our commitment.  We were the first ones up.

The School Funds Matt Severson and Saeed Hassan are recognized by President Clinton. San Diego, CA . TSF 201

As he read our names, “I’d like to invite up to the stage Matt Severson and Saeed Hassan from Brown University, for their commitment called The School Fund,” we walked up the steps to an auditorium packed with over 3000 people.  It was quite the moment, standing there besides President Clinton.  We were probably meant to look straight ahead, but I couldn’t help and steal a few glances backwards, to watch one of the people I admire most in the world talk about The School Fund, what we have accomplished to date, our plans for the future, and why education is such a critical issue.

The rest of the weekend was a blur.

TSF High School Challenge!

The School Fund is moving into American high schools with the High School Challenge! The Challenge sets out to foster compassion and service leadership in bright young students all across the country. Connecting students from high schools in Rhode Island and California, the Challenge encourages schools to complete philanthropic and outreach activities for points. Top earning schools will earn a $1000 grant to reinvest in education via theschoolfund.org. The High School Challenge started March 1st and will continue until April 9.