This past Saturday, November 27, student impACT leaders Marissa Mirbach and Kyra McAndrews organized an activity that brought the team together while developing our ability to tell our stories and pitch our ideas.
After introductions, we engaged in an activity that asked the question “What led you to impACT?” Team members were asked to draw the events in their life that led them to impACT.
Sophomore Jen Vacarro discussed her frustration with the divide between the corporate and the non-profit world, which drew her to impACT’s theme of social innovation and the best of both of these areas.
Senior Kyra McAndrews, meanwhile, shared how deeply she was touched by Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone. in the memoir, Beah recounts his time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. The story spurred her desire to make a difference in the world, and she was excited to find like-minded individuals upon coming to CMC. These experiences are what led McAndrews to co-lead the impACT initiative.
The common themes among team members were a desire to make a difference in the world as well as a frustration with the traditional way many global issues are approached.
After a short break, we reconvened to create their “dream headlines.” Team members wrote the headline announcing a solution to the problem that most bothers them in the world.
We wrote things like “Solution to All Mental Illness Discovered”, and “Revolution in Food Industry Eliminates Poverty.” We then walked around the room and left comments on each other’s dream headlines. We were so inspired by each other’s missions- as we enter our paths into making global impact, we definitely have our work cut out for us.
Overall, the activities served to highlight the commitment of the team to social entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the diverse experiences and interests that led them to become involved in the impACT initiative.
-Hannah Bottum ’17
impACT Claremont 