By Day GreenbergThe Daily Northwestern
This weekend, college students from around the world flocked to Northwestern to learn from experts and from each other in the second International Youth Volunteerism Summit.
“It is not focused on awareness of issues, it’s about building the capacity to engage in those issues,” said Nathaniel Whittemore, a Weinberg ’06 graduate who organized the first IYVS weekend in his senior year. “It involves thinking structurally, and it’s focused on a process of change.”
Fifty students from the U.S. and abroad attended this year’s four-day summit, which focused on helping students develop their ideas for workable non-profit programs, said IYVS co-director Page Hubben.
From Thursday to Sunday, students attended workshops, small-group discussions and a career fair that brought 40 non-profit organizations to Norris. Students also had the opportunity to volunteer in Chicago.
“By the time everyone left (Sunday), everyone knew everyone else in the room, and that’s a great feeling to leave with, to be able to actually remember every single person that’s in the program,” said Hubben, a Weinberg senior.
The young leaders who attended the summit have international experience in global health, education, finance, development, networking and working with children, said Medill freshman Alyssa Eisenstein.
“Because the summit happens to be at Northwestern, the Northwestern students had the great opportunity to learn and connect with fascinating young leaders from around the world,” said Eisenstein, who worked on the press team for IYVS.
The weekend’s events depended on the work of about 55 to 60 NU students. Staffing this “skill-building, knowledge-based” summit meant covering tasks like helping delegates fly into Chicago and setting them up in hotels or students’ apartments.
Su Yuen Chin, a 20-year-old international delegate from Malaysia, said “it was worth my 23-hour flight. I can’t really tell how good it is in words.”
Chin, a computer science freshman at the National University of Singapore, flew in Tuesday and volunteered in Chicago with other IYVS attendees at the Heartland Alliance Center and at the Centro Romero Agency. Both organizations work to help recent immigrants settle in the United States.
“Malaysia doesn’t take in refugees, so this is an experience I would never get in my country,” Chin said.
Chin has traveled to several countries for family vacations, and this is her second time in the U.S.
“It’s exactly like the movies,” she said. “Anything you see on ‘The O.C.,’ ‘CSI,’ ‘Third Watch,’ ‘Alias,’ it all looks the same.”
Chin was eager to connect with the other students who came for the weekend.
“I wanted to meet other people who have the same interests as me,” Chin said. “In Asia, when you tell people about volunteering, the conversation stops there because volunteering and community service are not really big there. But here people like to discuss issues.”
Stephen Okello, the country director of Uganda Conflict Action Network, was invited to the summit to share his experiences. He said he was impressed by the energy of the students who attended.
“Everybody has a story to tell yet they are impassioned by what they want to do,” Okello said.
Hubben said she anticipates a few quiet weeks before IYVS begins planning for next year and that she welcomes students to join the team.
“We got a lot of positive feedback,” Hubben said. “I had at least 10 delegates hug me goodbye and personally thank me. It’s really great to have other people be as excited as we are.”
Reach Day Greenberg at [email protected].
