In the News

Steve and Colleen are on the podcast today to discuss their work with Eskala. Listen in to our discussion around supporting economic development to eradicate poverty, expanding a business model into multiple countries through community empowerment, choosing a for-profit vs. nonprofit structure for an organization, crowdfunding as a loan debt model, and more.

As the fall semester at Auburn University begins, there is a group of pre-health students eagerly awaiting the early weeks of December — and not just because of the break.

Global Medical Brigades, an international non-profit that serves a communities’ healthcare needs, has its very own chapter here on The Plains. The president of Auburn’s chapter, Juliet Cannizzo, senior in biomedical sciences, and other volunteers are overwhelmed with excitement for the winter brigade to Athens, Greece.

Cannizzo stresses the importance of GMB, stating that there are “communities with restricted access to healthcare that need clinics set up to try and equalize global healthcare.”

She believes that GMB sets itself apart from other healthcare organizations because it “has a lot of branches, including medical brigades, dental brigades, public health, water, engineering, business and legal.”

Spears isn’t the only student on Marquette’s campus passionate about giving back to her community. Max Mantych, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, said he recently created a branch of Marquette Global Brigades, an international non-profit which develops partnerships with rural communities around the world.

The branch, called Public Health Telebrigade, is a sustainable development volunteer program that is entirely virtual. Mantych, the club’s campus chairperson, said his biggest advice for other students interested in starting organizations was to start the process as early as possible.

Students from STEMCivics Charter School began their 2022-23 school year on a mission to Panama.

Referenced continually by school founder and head Leigh Byron as “the best kids ever”, students returned to Central America as part of a Global Brigades effort. This mission experience is the fourth this year, all at an elementary school in El Limón, according to Byron. Sixteen PURPLEfect students from the Classes of ’23, ’24, and ’26 are tutoring youngsters in English and doing construction work.

Monica Hill found further support and engagement through the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students group and other on-campus organizations like Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Neuroscience Research, the IMPACT Program, Global Medical Brigades.

She graduated with a degree in neuroscience and psychology, then pursued a master of public health degree before applying to medical school.

A novel partnership with a microfinance organization offers student finance talent to resource-limited communities in Central America.

Many have written on the wide inequities reflected in student participation in international education programmes, despite years of efforts dedicated to increasing student diversity, staff hires and other approaches. There are practices and programmes in international education, as elsewhere in the academy, that must be critically examined to address racist outcomes and results.