Forums, Conferences, and Symposiums galore

What an adventure this second semester will for I-ImpactNow! Here's the rundown of some of our bigger commitments that we will be (or are thinking about) participating in between March and May of 2011:


The Nobel Peace Prize Forum

Luther College, the team's home turf, is hosting the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Forum this year from March 4-5. Sponsored by five midwestern colleges founded by Norwegian immigrants, students from Augburg, St. Olaf, Augustana, Concordia, and Luther College will be attending. The purpose of the Peace Prize Forum is to give recognition to international peace efforts and to offer opportunities for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, and the general public to share dialogue about the dynamics of peacemaking and the underlying causes of conflict and war.

....And I-ImpactNow will be there! Kiflu, William, Ezra, and I (Kristin's in Peru...and yes, we miss her a lot) will be hosting a workshop on Saturday at 1pm. It's titled "Students Collaborating on Irrigation to Fight Hunger in Ethiopia," and here's the description:


As a college sophomore, Kiflu Tesfaye received grant money to implement an ambitious project he devised for a community in his native Ethiopia.  The project, “Collaborating on Irrigation to Fight Hunger” has positively impacted 20 rural families through the creation of a farmers' cooperative, the installation of an irrigation system, the planting of seasonal crops that now command better prices in the market, and the construction of a barn to store the cooperative's crops and tools.  Inspired by project's success, Tesfaye and a group of other students have formed a non-profit organization, I-ImpactNow.  Their mission is to harness innovative ideas and collaborative efforts across the breadth and width of communities in order to create a more sustainable way of life that fosters self-empowerment and alleviates the cycle of poverty.  This workshop will explore how a modest idea paired with student energy can lead to something much bigger.

This is going to be fun.

Clinton Global Initiative University

From April 1-3, the team will be in San Diego, CA at UC San Diego for CGIU. Kiflu was accepted to this conference last year, but he didn't manage to attend for various reasons. Now that we're larger, stronger, and more organized, it's about time we go and show them what we've got. At the conference, we'll be attending workshops and absorbing all the information we can from other growing non-profits, what they are doing correctly, the mistakes they've made, etc. In this large pool of similar-minded folks, we'll also be able to share experiences of our own project with everybody else. This should be a very valuable learning opportunity for the group.

Luther College Student Research Symposium

This isn't confirmed yet, but we're definitely thinking about applying to this. The Student Research Symposium is hosted every year at Luther. In their own words:

"The Student Research Symposium is a full-day event held each spring to celebrate the vibrant intellectual life and learning at Luther.  Students share their research and creative work with fellow students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, parents, and the broader community. This year’s Research Symposium will be held on Friday, May 6.  Classes are suspended for the day, to allow all community members to participate.  The Symposium will highlight the best fruits of the scholarship, research, and creative activity of students from disciplines across the college..."

Another valuable outlet for us to share our experience with the world, inspire budding world-changers, and spread our cause!