5 Wesleyan Students Attend Clinton Global Initiative University in Chicago, IL

During Fall Break, Director of the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship Makaela Kingsley, Anthony Price ’20, Ferdinand Quayson ’20, Frederick Corpuz ’20, Katie Shewfelt ’20 and Momi Afelin ’19 traveled to Chicago, IL for a weekend of networking and inspiration in the social impact and entrepreneurship fields.

Their first event was a Wesleyan lunch hosted by Peapod co-founder Andrew Parkinson ’82. A number of alumni came to Peapod’s headquarters to hear from our students, and learn more about the landscape of social entrepreneurship at Wesleyan today.

Katie Shewfelt ’20, Frederick Corpuz ’20, Ferdinand Quayson ’20, Momi Afelin ’19 and Anthony Price ’20

The group then joined 1,000 other students from around the world at the annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) at the University of Chicago, an experience which Katie Shewfelt ’20 described as “enlightening and galvanizing.” Those students, representing more than 100 countries and 300 colleges, made over 700 Commitments to Action, including efforts to combat the opioid crisis, provide experiential education programs for minority youth in Chicago, promote maternal health in Vietnam, and combat climate change in Nigeria. Our Wesleyan cohort found the event to be very helpful as a networking opportunity. Momi Afelin ’19 runs Rural Access, “a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering local youth to be vessels of health education in their communities in rural Guyana and Ethiopia.” At CGI U she was able to meet other people doing similar work and “was able learn from their success and failures.” Some students were able to take away tangible skills that they can apply to the work that they are doing. For example, Frederick Corpuz ’20, founder of SALIN Ed., a project increasing access to online tools in the Philippines, learned about different manifestations of micro-financing and the advantages of digitizing money of the poor. Anthony Price ’20 said that he valued the opportunity to “share my continued commitment in changing the way we educate high school students to be successful in the workforce through my work at Be The Change Venture 509 (a)(2).”

Makaela Kingsley and Ferdinand Quayson ’20 (CGI U Campus Rep) have this to say about the event: “CGI U pushes students to take action on the local and global issues they are most passionate about. As campus representatives, we are glad to serve as connectors between Wesleyan and CGI U, linking some of Wesleyan’s best changemakers with this unique opportunity.”

Are you interested in attending CGI U next fall? Contact Anthony Price at adprice@wesleyan.edu