SEED students to meet former President Clinton

Six Mt. Hood SEED students will be attending the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) Conference at the University of Miami to introduce innovative ideas that could change the community in their own home countries.

The Clinton Global Initiative started the CGI U eight years ago to engage youth and empower participants to come up with new initiatives.  On March 6-8, the MHCC SEED students will join more than 1,000 national and international students in Florida for the 2015 event.

They are: Julio César Sánchez López, Zayra Gutierrez, and Letecia Castro, all Guatemalan study abroad students; Keyla Souza, a student from Honduras; Ana Blandon, a Nicaraguan student; and Maria Romero, a student from El Salvador.

SEED is a federal organization funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is dedicated to opening college preparatory and public boarding schools designed for students who need a 24-hour learning environment to achieve their full potential, according to the program’s webpage.

SEED recruits international students who would like to study in the U.S. for a two-year study abroad program.

According to Nikki Gillis, SEED and international scholarship programs coordinator at MHCC, participating students have to complete a “commitment of action,” or a plan that will help the communities in their own countries. “Students identify a problem and then identify a solution to that problem,” she said.

Attendees at the conference have to go through an application process in which they must submit their “commitment of action” to the CGI U webpage. All 19 Mt. Hood SEED students submitted their applications, but only six got accepted. “It is not a bad application process; (students) just need to be concise … 150 words or less,” Gillis said.

She encourages all Mt. Hood students to apply for next year’s conference. Gillis said, “It has been a really wonderful opportunity for our SEED students. (It) offers students the opportunities to not just go and listen to things, but really get involved.”

University representatives, topic experts, and celebrities will attend this year’s CGI U Conference to help students gain the skills and knowledge needed to take action on their “commitments.”

The CGI U website reports that because of The Resolution Project – a CGI U affiliate – and other fiscal opportunities, more than $900,000 in funding has been made available to select conference attendees.

Gillis said attending students will learn different techniques of project management, different ways to motivate volunteers in their community, even how to plan your budget and timeliness on projects.

MHCC has had significant success at CGI U.

Two years ago, Glenda Maribel Alfaro Salmeron, a SEED student from El Salvador, took second place with her wood-conserving conventional ovens project. She was invited back last year, and is invited again this year to talk about her project’s success. Last year, another Mt. Hood student won a sizable grant for her project on compost toilets.

Applications are accepted at www.cgiu.org/meetings/2014/submit_your_ideas.asp