Thousands of students from across the globe gathered at MIT April 18-20, 2008 for the Millennium Campus Conference. They traveled as engineers, social entrepreneurs, and volunteers to discuss the importance of eradicating global poverty and learn how they can make a difference as individuals. Among these attendees were three students representing One Here…One There, Inc. (OHOT): Paul Commons, President of the Indiana University OHOT Bloomington's Chapter: Dustin Daniels, President of the Florida State University Chapter; and Courtney Miller from the IUB Chapter.

The conference focused on the Millennium Development Goals, and the progress, or lack there of, that has been made in the past few years. The MDGs are four strategies established to bridge the gap between developing and developed countries – dealing specifically with poverty, disease, famine and conflict. “Since they were first established, President Bush has mentioned them once,” said Professor Jeffrey Sachs, a well-known author and one of the keynote speakers at the conference. “I remember because I almost fell out of my chair.” From that point on, the MDGs were no longer the topic of conversation except among those who cared. Doctors, engineers, social workers and others equally concerned about the dire poverty in which some people lived, continued to search for effective ways of bringing the suffering to an end.

The message was picked up by a number of students – people sometimes overlooked – and carried to countries far and wide. With their idealism and enthusiasm, it was these students who moved to have their voices heard. It was a call to action no one could ignore.

By the second day of the conference, the students had a chance to share their ideas and form partnerships. “We are all here for the same reason,” said Jon Mangum, co-founder of Alliance of Students Against Poverty, one of twenty student-run social entrepreneurships designed to help people of the developing. Each organization had a booth on display on Saturday. One specific exhibit was set up by One Here One There, a non-profit organization designed to help fund primary education for children in sub-Saharan Africa by adding a donation option to the tuition bills of universities in the United States.

Many students are paying up to $48,000 for a year of college. African children need an average of $20 to complete one year of primary school. For a sum that seems so small – especially in comparison to the much larger bills being paid for college – OHOT hopes to gain the support of millions of students nationwide. After the exhibit, this increase in involvement is more likely to happen.

Overall, the exhibit was viewed as a success for OHOT. “Not only did we get a good amount of footage for a documentary about One Here…One There, students were incredibly receptive to the idea,” said Paul Commons. “Furthermore, we got a chance to network significantly.”

Several students from different universities showed strong interest in starting chapters as soon as possible. One young man from Cornell filled out an application as he was standing at the booth. This interest motivated the students of OHOT and encouraged them to keep reaching out to others. The Millennium Campus Conference might have been the beginning of a major growth for OHOT, and those involved could not be more pleased.

Written By Courtney Miller