GES 2008 alum Garrett Neiman is juggling running an independent nonprofit, SEE College Prep with finishing his senior year at Stanford University.  In October, Neiman and SEE co-founder Jessica Perez spoke at the annual College Board Forum held in New York City.  New York Times education writer Jacques Steinberg called their speech "refreshing real world advice" in NYTimes.com's The Choice.  Neiman spoke to GES about his organization: What is SEE College Prep? We are the largest non-profit organization focused on SAT prep in ...

Jet setting around the globe in the name of sustainability, Juan Soriano, a 2009 GES delegate, attended the 2-week UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December 7-18.  As part of SustainUS, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States, Juan represented youth across the US.  Through SustainUS, Juan also rallied behind a cause he strongly supports as a native of Peru, which was to send a delegation of youth from Latin ...

The Global Engagement Summit was born from an email.   It was the longest email Jon Marino ever received.  While Jon Marino was studying abroad in South Africa during his junior year at Northwestern, his friend Nathaniel Whittemore asked Jon to help him create an organization that would mobilize students’ energy to contribute to positive global change.  For the next year, they brainstormed, planned and co-founded GES. (Then known as the International Youth Volunteerism Summit.) In February of 2006, with the support ...

Who says texting can’t change the world? Or at least make a difference. When Josh Nesbit was confronted with a fundamental health care problem in Malawi, he turned to modern technology for a creative solution. With a simple text message, Nesbit was able to transform the entire organization of the hospital where he volunteered last year. Nesbit first traveled to Malawi in the summer of 2007 to volunteer at a rural hospital called St. Gabriel’s, which serves a quarter million people dispersed ...

From an early age, Meixi Ng has been aware of injustice that exists in the world. Meixi, a Singapore native, has worked for Blessing Home since her early teen years, a hostel located in Changrai, Singapore that boards high school students from rural villages. Meixi often developed friendships with some of the students, and in the case with her friend Da, the friendship ended prematurely. Da, a 16 year old, was sold by her parents. “I remember how much Da ...

Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba and co-author of his new biography Bryan Mealer spoke at the first-ever GES speaker event on October 2 2009. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind published in 2009, focuses on William’s impoverished childhood and efforts to build a wind turbine out of refuse in his small Malawian village.  Forced to quit school at 14, William taught himself the basics of electricity and mechanics from school books that were often in English, a language he himself did ...

Sanitary pads are leaving the realm of Kotex commercials, hushed women’s conversations and the deep recesses of purse pockets. For women in Uganda, they have become the difference between hope and desperation. Tune in for today’s "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as Oprah delivers a call to action for all women.  Inspired by the New York Times best-selling book "Half the Sky" by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl Wudunn, this eye-opening hour reveals powerful stories of women overcoming ...