By Max Lynch Fordham University (GSB’19), FSIC Student Leader.
The Changemaker Student Summit is a conference on social innovation, designed specifically for students. It will be located at the University of Northampton and will span over 4 days. The first day will be focused on ice-breaking and networking between conference participants, the second on identifying inequalities and recognizing privilege, the third on taking action against inequalities, and the fourth day will be about committing to action beyond the conference.
I am going to this conference because I am a passionate member of Fordham’s Social Innovation Collaboratory(FSIC), looking to bring change to both the Fordham community and the world. Due to some of the strong work that I have done for the FSIC, I was asked back in March if I would like to be sent to this conference. There was not much deliberation to my decision, and after a quick phone call to my parents, I knew that attending this Summit was something that I wanted to do.
I will also be attending the Summit with Lincoln Center’s Sahcha Pierre-Louis(GSB’18). Sahcha, an active member in Social Impact 360(previously known as Compass Fellowship) and creator of a Good Mornings event on sustainable business fashion is also passionate about fighting inequality. Together Sahcha and I have spent many hours planning and preparing for this trip.
By attending the Changemaker Student Summit I expect to develop my own Changemaker attitude, and more importantly learn about different social innovation systems that I can implement at Fordham. I recently got the opportunity to speak with Fordham Executive in Residence and mentor Brent Martini who pointed me to a few things to listen for while at the conference. He told me to find out what is being done with social innovation in both the curriculum and co-curriculum overseas, and also to find out where other social innovation programs at foreign schools stand, so that we can benchmark our own Fordham program. Having this advisory conversation before my trip was very helpful to finding out how I will make the Changemaker Student Summit a success.
As I look forward to my upcoming flight from LaGuardia to London I am met with many forms of excitement. I am anxious because it will be my first time flying without my parents, and because I have a lot of pressure to make this trip a success. Beyond anxiety, I am comforted by the facts that I do well in conference type situations, that I have done a lot to prepare, and most importantly by my passion for change. The 2016 Changemaker Student Summit is bound to be an amazing experience.
I would like to give a special thanks to Carey Weiss, Brent Martini, Brendan Dagher, and Fordham for making this opportunity possible.
To find out more about the Changemaker Student Summit, click here.