Cornellians gathered inside Willard Straight Hall at Cornell’s second Global Health Club Fair Monday, an event that highlights opportunities for students to get involved in global health initiatives on campus.
Clubs participate in the Global Health Fair sponsored by the Cornell Global Health Student Council in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room yesterday. (Samantha Briggs / Sun Assistant Design Editor)
The fair had tables from 14 clubs, ranging from project teams to crowdfunding initiatives, where students could speak to club members. It was hosted by Cornell’s Global Health Student Council, a blanket organization that connects over 20 global health organizations across the campus, according to GHSC president Alex Leto ’16.
Leto described the fair as a chance to promote unity and collaboration among the organizations — GHSC’s main goal — in addition to increasing student participation in global health programs.
“[The clubs] can promote the global health community as a whole, while also promoting their own interests and missions,” Leto said.
According to Leto, the GHSC reserved the Willard Straight Memorial Room nearly a year in advance — right after its club fair last year in Upson Hall — in hopes that the more central location would attract attendees.
“Last year was a bit more of a remote location, so this year we’re trying to bring in more people,” Leto said.
Beyond that, planning for the fair mostly involved publicity campaigns on social media, she said.
“We saw what we needed to improve upon from the event [last year],” Leto said. Cornellians gathered inside Willard Straight Hall at Cornell’s second Global Health Club Fair Monday, an event that highlights opportunities for students to get involved in global health initiatives on campus.
The fair had tables from 14 clubs, ranging from project teams to crowdfunding initiatives, where students could speak to club members. It was hosted by Cornell’s Global Health Student Council, a blanket organization that connects over 20 global health organizations across the campus, according to GHSC president Alex Leto ’16.
Leto described the fair as a chance to promote unity and collaboration among the organizations — GHSC’s main goal — in addition to increasing student participation in global health programs.
“[The clubs] can promote the global health community as a whole, while also promoting their own interests and missions,” Leto said.
According to Leto, the GHSC reserved the Willard Straight Memorial Room nearly a year in advance — right after its club fair last year in Upson Hall — in hopes that the more central location would attract attendees.
“Last year was a bit more of a remote location, so this year we’re trying to bring in more people,” Leto said.
Beyond that, planning for the fair mostly involved publicity campaigns on social media, she said.
“We saw what we needed to improve upon from the event [last year],” Leto said. “This year, I’m already seeing that there’s a lot more attendance.”
Organizations participating in the fair included Engineers Without Borders, a project team that is designing a bridge and a method for obtaining clean water for a village in Bolivia, according to project team member Thomas Lee ’19.
Lee said he believes a global health project team is a practical and useful way for engineers to apply their skills.
“To look back and actually have more practical applications to a job, and just to get to a community that needs help, makes it a lot better,” Lee said.
Another organization present was the Cornell Global Awareness Program, which offers education programs on worldwide health issues for local schools.
CGAP member Christina Lee ’18 said participating in the club’s programs have helped her gain a better understanding of these issues.
“It’s a really good way to not only help the community learn about issues that are affecting all of us on a global scale, but it also helps you learn about these issues,” Lee said.
SamahopeU, a club that works with the national nonprofit Samahope, fundraises for the organization, which provides free medical treatments for low-income women and children, and raises awareness about health issues that affect these groups.
Andie Wong ’17 discussed the importance of Samahope’s work to people in need.
“Global health is an issue that really affects everyone,” Wong said. “There are little things we can do that can make a really big difference.”
GHSC secretary Megan Jibilian ’18 said the fair’s goal was to show Cornell students the range of global health programs available to them, regardless of college or major.
“We’re hoping that they can have another opportunity to really see how many organizations they can get involved with dealing in global health, because there are so many options that cater to different interests,” Jibilian said.