Important Note

This is a disorienting time for all of us. As a community, we are thinking of everyone who has been affected by COVID-19 and the current restrictions due to the pandemic. As a group, we are thankful that our school, Champlain College, made the difficult but smart decision of moving to remote instruction, and we are grateful to everyone in the college community who continues to support us.

Despite being away from campus, the Social Impact Scholars will continue to find ways to collaborate and make a positive difference, especially in these difficult times. Our upcoming Speak Out event (to be presented virtually in mid April) will focus on raising awareness of issues related to the spread of the novel coronavirus, which is having such a devastating impact on the world.

As COVID-19 continues to spread and international travel becomes more and more challenging, we recognize that our planned service learning trips abroad may seem like impossible dreams. While the health, safety and security of the SI scholars and of all students is our highest priority right now, we also choose to hope and look forward. We will therefore continue to plan and raise funds for our service trip in March 2021. Should this trip need to be postponed, rest assured that all funds will be used for service trips in the future. We hope you will contribute.

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Champlain College is an innovative small college that focuses on professional education, with a strong liberal arts complement, and an emphasis on preparing global citizens. The Social Impact Scholar Program takes these three aspects of Champlain College's education and intentionally integrates them with the passion many of our students have for creating positive social change. Social Impact Scholars are not just preparing to thrive in their professional careers, but to push their professions towards greater equity, justice, and responsibility. Social Impact Scholars are not just learning to become members of the global citizenry, they are making conscious efforts to address and solve numerous social and political problems, both locally and around the globe. The SI Scholars are an intentionally diverse cohort, whose ideas and skillsets and personal stories from many different "corners" come together and create something synergistic, new and exciting. These exceptional students work individually and collaboratively to create a positive social impact that will create a better future for all of us.

Why donate to our Social Impact Scholars Making a Difference Everywhere campaign?

Champlain Colleges Social Impact Scholars program is raising funds to ensure that next academic year (2020-2021) ALL of our twelve 3rd year scholars will get the opportunity to partake in an international service trip.

Our goal is to send our scholars to Zanzibar in March 2021. The total cost of this travel will be $33,000 . We are hoping to raise one-third of that amount, $11,000, through this online crowdfunding campaign. We plan to raise the remaining funds through grants, various College funding sources, and several local fundraising events.

Both of the planned travel experiences will provide our Social Impact Scholars with valuable learning experiences, specifically:

--Expanding their global perspective and adaptability through a ten- or eleven-day cultural immersion experience

--Growing their sense of confidence and sensitivity when working within culturally diverse situations

--Raising their own, and others, consciousness around international environmental issues

--Identifying, analyzing and communicating about international issues of political and/or social urgency

--Demonstrating their commitment to work actively in an international community context with the goal of achieving significant positive social impact

--Making connections between their own major program of study (i.e. Game Art, Social Work, Filmmaking) and the ability to address world issues, as well as integrating a new cultural perspective into their future work

Highlights of the trip to Zanzibar: March 5 through March 15, 2021

Students will spend nine nights in accommodations on Pemba Island. Each day will involve a local tour or experience, or day travel elsewhere in Zanzibar (including Misali Island, Unguja and Changuu (Prison Island).

Service opportunities will include work with:

-- The Kidike Environmental Conservation Club https://envaya.org/kecc

-- The Techdren Project https://www.techdren.org/about-us

Scholars will also focus on the history and legacy of the Slave Trade in Zanzibar:

-- On Unguja, students will visit the touching and dramatic slave monument/memorial at the Anglican cathedral. This visit also includes an interactive exhibit on the slave trade in Zanzibar, and a visit to the holding pens that are still preserved in the cathedral basement as an historical monument.

-- As part of the same tour, we will visit the home, and the tomb, of Tippu Tip - the most notorious Zanzibari slave trader, and discuss his role in the triangle slave trade.

-- We will also visit the caves near Makunduchi where enslaved Africans were often held prior to their transportation to Oman or India. This is currently also a Mizimu (or spirit shrine), and remains a place of wonder and horror for locals to this day.

Your contribution will make a significant difference in the lives of these 12 Social Impact Scholars, and these 12 will, in turn, make a significant positive impact on the world around them!

-- $2,800 will fund one scholar's full service trip.

-- $1150 will cover the cost of round trip flights to and from Tanzania (Zanzibar) for one scholar.

-- $500 will cover the cost of all hotel accommodations in Zanzibar for one scholar.

-- $300 will cover the cost of all meals for one scholar while they are on their international service trip.

ANY AMOUNT YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!