A group of Duke students brought their ideas and best global health solutions to the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) in St. Louis last weekend, and their contributions were recognized. Their ideas ranged from ways to improve sanitation, to malaria and education of underprivileged youth – many of which were a part of the Duke ChangeWorks Startup Challenge.
Duke CGIU, the second largest student team represented at the event, included global health Program II student Katie Guidera whose malaria awareness program was a winner of the Social Venture Resolution Challenge. Other winners of the challenge were Duke juniors Prachiti Dalvi and Pranali Dalvi. The Dalvi sisters also went far in the CGIU Bracket Challenge for their idea to develop a mobile science lab for reaching and teaching underprivileged children in India.
First-year medical student Ashwin Agarwal, and former DGHI fieldwork student, also presented MusicianCorps Campus Network, an effort to engage more college student musicians as teachers, mentors and care workers in public schools, veterans hospitals and other high-need settings in the U.S. At the event, he and his team made a commitment to launch a network of 10 student-led music service clubs from universities across the country by this fall.
Robertson Scholar Dimeji Abidoye was recognized for his mEducation program to provide high school students in West Africa with access to interactive study materials through mobile phones and computers.
Engineering student Connor Cotton also shared his energy and environmental security idea that involves using human feces and urine to generate electricity and provide nutrients for a fish farming operation in rural Northern Togo. He shares these reflections from the event.
CGIU was launched in 2007 by President Bill Clinton to engage college students and inspire new ideas for making positive change in the world. The initiative invites students each year to submit their innovative ideas and take steps toward solving them.
For details, photos and updates from the event, visit the Duke CGIU Duke group on Facebook.
