Committed To Action
March 15, 2008
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Spring Break has never been so good. 700 college students from all over the world used the time off to converge on Tulane University to make formal commitments to help change the world in ways big and small.
President Bill Clinton convened the first "Clinton Global Initiative U" at Tulane from March 14-15 to bring together hundreds of students and university officials to get them focused on ways to make a positive difference in areas of real need.
"CGI U" is the college version of the Clinton Global Initiative which has fostered more than 1,000 commitments, by individuals in more than 100 countries, which have the potential to improve the lives of more than 180 million people.
Tulane students are committed in dozens of ways from recycling drives, helping to restore Katrina-affected schools, helping to open health clinics and offering legal representation to low income individuals, to name a few.
Tulane University committed to open at least two community health clinics to provide indigent care in New Orleans, a project that could serve as a national model in other cities.
Heather Cook and Christy Heffernan graduated from 2006 from Tulane and were inspired by President Clinton's commencement address then. Both went to work for CGI full-time and were in New Orleans helping with the program's logistics. "We were both Katrina graduates and I think we all picked up on how important it is to get involved and to reach out to people in need and to do something outside of yourself," Christy said. "It taught us to go out and work for yourself but also work for others," Heather added.
For more info, visit www.cgiu.org.
