News and Events
A Heart For The World
photo: markswisher.com
By Baird Tipson
Any student will tell you that some of the most important learning takes place outside the classroom. When I meet with groups of alumni, I can almost be sure that they'll tell me about the faculty members who gave them direction during office hours, the classmates and teammates who became lifelong friends, the future spouse they first met here in Chestertown. I never get tired of seeing the looks on alumni faces as they remember central events in their lives.
On occasion I also hear about student organizations that came to shape alumni lives. I'd like to tell you a little about two organizations that do a superb job of preparing our students to be productive members of the communities where they will eventually settle. I'm pretty sure that one of my successors, two or three presidents down the line, will be hearing alumni stories about them.
The first is a group called Students in Free Enterprise. They take as their mission "to bring together the top leaders of today and tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world through the power of business." It's hard to ignore WC SIFE; almost every day on my way to the locker room I see the giant bin labeled "Shoes for Ghana," where we place our used running shoes. SIFE's partner, PPPF Africa, sends these shoes to street entrepreneurs in Ghana, and the proceeds from their shoe sales support the mission of the Perpetual Prosperity Pumps Foundation (PPPF) to provide tools for sustainable farming, plants, animals and training, as well as a water pumping system. Once SIFE gets 600 pairs of shoes—and they're nearly there—they'll have enough to pay for the entire program for one farming family.
When Mickey Elsberg called from Chestertown's Junior Achievement program asking for volunteers, I knew where to send him. Working with our Education Department, SIFE recruited 14 student volunteers to fill every elementary and middle school slot in Kent County. SIFE's big project this year revolves around a partnership with our local African American Heritage Council. SIFE has developed a draft of a business plan to complement AAHC's strategic plan to convert Chestertown's G.A.R. Post #25—one of only two primarily African American G.A.R. buildings still in existence—into a museum and cultural center. They're sponsoring a fundraiser and helping prepare materials for an upcoming capital campaign. They deserve their tagline, "A head for business. A heart for the world."
My second example is the Washington College chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Every March since 1999, a Habitat Team has used Spring Break to travel to a far-flung community—this year it's Columbus, Georgia—and assist a local family in building a house. They spend the rest of the year raising money for their trip and making presentations to groups such as the Chestertown Rotary Club about their endeavors. By working alongside people in the communities they serve, including the future owners of the house who contribute "sweat equity," the Habitat Team comes to understand some of the challenges facing members of those communities.
SIFE and Habitat are just two of the many student organizations that challenge our students to learn about concrete issues and apply their knowledge outside the classroom. Their work does Washington College proud!
President Tipson and his wife, Sarah, have donated four pairs of sneakers for SIFE's Shoes for Ghana drive.