Where in DC could you discover interactive design thinking, the challenges of international service, and how the principles of the Leadership Compass help you better manage a team? And all in the same day?
LearnServe International’s 1st Social Action Summit!
The Summit, held on Saturday, March 1, 2014, was co-hosted by American University and made possible by the Lisle Global Seed Fund. Over 125 local high school students – and some adults! – got crash-courses in skills and tips for making their ventures and ideas a reality.
We kicked off with a welcome from American University representatives Page Hogan with the College Programs for High School Students, and Steven Angelsmith from the School of International Service. The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network got us energized and meeting new friends with their ice-breaker activities.Summit attendees chose from a selection of breakout sessions presented by LearnServe alumni and staff, volunteers with City Year DC, and professionals in social media strategy and community organizing. We also had a panel of Returned Peace Corps volunteers, including our own Ryan Dalton and Allison Eriksen, discussing the importance of community engagement and stakeholders in launching new community programs or ventures.
Our closing session began with Malachi Byrd (Fellows ’13, founder- Write for Change) of DC Youth Slam and Split This Rock sharing his poem “Dreaming,” found below. The keynote speaker was Katie Monroe, Senior Advocate for National Partnerships at The Innocence Project. We followed her journey of working to exonerate wrongly convicted criminals after her mother was wrongly convicted of a crime. She shared her own experiences of turning passion into action and encouraged us to find our passions and do the same.