These three students found Net Impact programs that helped them get involved with their communities and pursue their goal of making the world a better place. We’re taking a step back to showcase their work and see how they're shaping some impressive goals for the future.
Kick-starting an Impact Career with Green Energy Audits
Getting Started
Coming from Utah, Mimi West, an incoming MBA student at Darden, wanted to get back to her sustainability roots and work with small businesses. She always wanted to do something meaningful and was excited when she found out about the Green Impact Campaign’s green energy audits, which let anyone assess a business’ energy usage and make cost-saving recommendations. Completing a grand total of 14 in just a couple of months, Mimi left her community better equipped for sustainable practices and dedicated to implement them in their businesses.
Future Aspirations
Now settling into her new home in Virginia, she sees Darden’s Net Impact chapter as the best next step toward her ultimate goal: designing a brand of biodegradable plastics and starting a company to distribute them. “Businesses across all sectors constantly use plastics," she says, "and I want to drive a trend toward sustainable versions.” After getting her MBA, she hopes to work in a decision-making position for consumer packaged goods so she can influence the use of different types of plastics. She's also working on a video to promote green energy audits and a blog about sustainability and brand management. She’s clearly living out her own advice when she suggests, “Start small. Work up to expand that network, and you can change the world.”
Spearheading Createathons on a Path Toward International Impact
Getting Started
During her junior year at Yale, Christina Tsai wanted to bring something new and exciting to campus. Drawing on her liberal arts background and special events planning expertise, she organized Yale’s first Createathon. A Createathon is best described as a social impact hackathon where teams help organizations find solutions to specific problems. In one month, she recruited in 6 nonprofits, 24 participants, and a handful of graduate mentors for the event. She wanted to provide an opportunity to “get inspired by what can be accomplished in one day with the community.” Everyone left motivated and equipped with great ideas -- a few students even landed summer internships through the event. The impressive turnout and tangible results got the community so hyped that there have been multiple requests to make this a bi-annual event.
Future Aspirations
Christina is now entering her senior year and finishing up her pre-med degree. She wants to work at a social enterprise after graduating and hopes to continue to medical school later. Christina says she's passionate about a variety of fields, including international development, health, and civil rights. She believes cross-sector collaboration is the most effective strategy for any problem. There was no better way to showcase the potential in multidisciplinary approaches than to organize a Createathon. Set on taking this insight with her for the long run, Christina aims to apply this approach to her ambitious mission to make a global impact.
Semester-Long Research Project Leads to Big Dreams
Getting Started
Ever since coming to America to study at the University of San Francisco, Kelly Oxenham had two goals: gain professional experience and get involved in social justice. She got the push she needed when she joined the Net Impact chapter at USF. This network came in handy when she stumbled onto Projects for Good, where she immediately took on a human trafficking research project. As part of the human trafficking project, she and a team of three other students compiled a report to assess the risks of trafficking for girls in several South Asian countries.
Future Aspirations
It’s been a couple of months since the project wrapped up, but she's still thinking about her experience. Kelly developed the research, leadership, communication, and time management skills that she had been seeking. In addition, she finally got to apply her passion for community development. Seeing this project through from start to finish gave her a huge confidence boost, especially as an international student still adjusting to the U.S. After graduating, she hopes to land a social impact job and continue in the nonprofit sector. In the long run, she dreams of establishing her own social enterprise, where she aims to set up collaborative pursuits with people all over the world.