 "Photo: Courtesy Anna Pepper")
Senior civil engineering major Anna Pepper’s experiences as a mother have motivated her to help families who are suffering in developing nations.
“If my kids were ever hurt, I just can’t imagine not being able to help them,” the 39-year-old married mother of two said. “We’re human, we’re at the top of the food chain and we’re all in this together.”
Pepper was accepted to attend the third annual Clinton Global Initiative University conference from April 16 to 18 at the University of Miami. She will be working with nearly 1,500 students, university officials and activists from around the world to take action on global challenges.
CGI U is modeled after the Clinton Global Initiative, which former President Bill Clinton established in 2005 in order to get non-governmental organizations and global leaders to talk about and confront the world’s most pressing problems, such as education, poverty alleviation and climate change.
“President Clinton wanted to start CGI because he really believes in the capacity of everybody to give back,” said Keisha Senter, director of CGI U. “He also felt that you don’t have to wait until you get to that level in your life, be it with wealth or accomplishments, to give back in that way.”
CGI U’s young leaders don’t just discuss world issues; they act on them.
“What distinguishes CGI U is we don’t want you to come and just talk about why you’re leaders and why you want to change the world — we want to hear how you’re going to do it,” Senter said. “It’s completely about action.”
Students are required to make a Commitment to Action, a proposal to fix a local or global problem, in order to attend the conference.
CGI U selected 1,200 students to attend this year’s conference based on criteria such as the innovativeness and sustainability of their commitments.
Pepper is the treasurer of UCF’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders and said her commitment is based on a project EWB has worked on since 2008.
The chapter is raising $30,000 to build a clean water cistern in Mare Brignole, Haiti, which is about 13 miles outside of Port-au-Prince.
The closest clean water source to Mare Brignole is a spring that is three miles away.
“Our chapter has been committed to helping people in Haiti since long before the earthquake, and we want to follow through on that commitment,” Pepper said.
Asaph Mauck, president of EWB at UCF, and three other students from the chapter have also applied to attend the conference in support of their project.
“[CGI U] will help to guarantee the success of the project,” Mauck said. “It’s an outstanding source for networking and fundraising.”
The project is scheduled to be completed in December, and although Pepper is graduating in May, she plans to remain committed to the cause.
“Because I want to follow through with my commitment, I’ll continue to help the chapter beyond graduation,” she said. “I feel very determined to follow through on the promise I made to the community.”
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