This week, we started this week’s class as we do every week going over progress that we have made and work that is still left to be done. Kelsey started our class off on an exciting note, announcing that our website is up and running (you can check it out at pericleanscholars2017.weebly.com). This website will help us share our mission and goals with potential partners and give others a way to contact us. The importance of meeting people and making connections was emphasized when Kendra announced that she has met a former activist who lives in Asheville and worked in Namibia for 2.5 years. We are looking forward to gaining information from her experiences and making future connections such as these. Then the class moved on to awareness and fundraising for Periclean. We are lucky to have Claire available to create Profit Shares, because we know we will start our fundraising efforts soon. Upcoming on the calendar, we are looking forward to the Elon Volunteers Aware Fair and Rising Phoenix Weekend where we can connect with students. Speaking of talking to students and raising awareness, an information session was held on March 5 for first-years who are interested in applying for Periclean Scholars Class of 2018. We were excited to see a good amount of students show up and show their interest and excitement for the program.
Then Sarah got us into the mindset of potential projects by presenting on topics she is very knowledgeable about, which are Drought, Climate Change, and Food Insecurity. With a short presentation, Sarah showed us the desperateness of the situation and made us think about ways we can potentially help. The class acknowledged when thinking about a project, we need to get in contact with alumni and community members in Namibia, so we have a good understanding of the situation and the community’s needs.
We are now questioning and discussing how we want to approach the project: whether we approach a community or organization first or we select a topic and follow that up with finding a community. This is an ongoing discussion, that will become clearer as we learn more from our contacts that we are reaching out to. By next week, we hope to make contact with influential community members in and out of Namibia.
We are excited for the upcoming weeks as we begin to create connections in Namibia!
Kendra and Elli
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