The Challenge will culminate at The Summit March 3.
"The Challenge Summit is a student-led global awareness campaign and conference," said Julia Wiard, coordinator of the Center for Leadership and Ethics. "It's challenging Auburn students to find something they're passionate about, be it poverty, hunger or gender inequity. We really believe that Auburn students are the best and the brightest. We really believe they have the ability to solve some of these global challenges."
The Summit will be held in the Shelby Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be a day of breakout sessions and keynote speakers.
"The breakout sessions will be everything from how to get funding for your event on campus to how to get people involved in your cause," Wiard said. "It's going to be a good mix of student presentations and people who are experts in their fields as well."
Participants will be able to see what other Auburn students have done to make a difference and learn key skills needed to make a change.
"We have the founder of a group called B-Remedy, which is basically a website that people can go to and say, 'I have these skills or products to donate,' and they try to match them with organizations that need those things," Wiard said. "Like if someone had landscaping supplies and there was an organization clearing debris after a storm, they'd try to match those together."
Presentations during the day will demonstrate the severity of global poverty.
"The Global Poverty Project is doing their '1.4 Billion Reasons' presentation," said Nathan Warner, event coordinator and senior in chemical engineering. "It's an international campaign led by leaders in the international development world. People have called it the 'Inconvenient Truth' for global poverty.
"It's raising awareness about the causes of extreme poverty and what we can do at Auburn to make a difference with that issue."
Wiard said the Summit will help students with and without experience to find ways to serve.
The idea behind this philosophy is once students are aware of the problems, they will begin to help solve them.
"What's cool about this is that in Auburn, we live in a bubble, so the Summit is an eye-opening experience," said Virginia Moore, event coordinator and junior in education. "It gives you a place to find your niche and get involved with it."
At the end of the event participants will be asked to pledge their support in making the local and global community a better place.
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