Greetings from GCSEN!
We are so excited to share with you that we have launched our 4th Annual Social Venture Boot Camp at Wheaton College sponsored by the DDS Foundation in partnership with national R&D campus partner, Wheaton College.
While so many may have been watching the NFL playoff hopes unfold for the New England Patriots just up the road, there was (20) blue chip Meaning Makers – inspiring and amazing Wheaton students starting their own social venture season! Wheaton students and Wheaton Social Venture Intern Alums hail from (4) countries- India, Zambia, China, and Rwanda and (8) U.S. States- CA, NH, AZ, CT, MA, NY, FL and ME spanning the Classes of ‘16-‘22.
Part of the “amazing” aspect of these students is their Meaning Maker championship level drive and grit as they all chose to come back a week early from their academic Winter Break to work on their passion and purpose all day and into the night, to make their ideas come to life through the formulation of their own 4P Social Venture benefitting People, Profit, Planet and Place!
Students want to: meet new like-minded friends, learn to go full throttle in creating a living by helping others, ignite and fuel their passion in a positive direction, learn the know why, how, who and what to do with Social Entrepreneurship. By doing so, they will greatly strengthen their career skills and confidence and make learning matter by applying in class learning for life-changing and sustainable community changing results.
First steps now will lead to giant leaps forward for so many in the years to come. We’ll be working together from Sunday to Friday starting at 8:15 AM EST at the Mars Science and Technology Center- Rooms 1313,1314 and working into the night beyond dinner to shape their ventures and empower each student to begin to make meaning, make money and move the world to a better place. The students will, on average, learn (600+) new Social Venture keywords, concepts
In a parallel course sequence, GCSEN and Wheaton are hosting the Inaugural Social Venture Research Institute (SVRI) with Faculty and Administrators from (10) learning campuses including: Wheaton College, Florida International University, Smith College, Oakland Community College, St. Peter’s University Business School, MARIST, SUNY New Paltz, LeMoyne College/IGNITED, Rutgers University, and Chapel Haven and joined by other high school and adult educational partners including YSN (CA) and Baguette Atelier/Babson Alumni (CA-LA). All have been nominated and awarded a SVRI Fellowship to enable Fellows the time and resources needed to explore with GCSEN and Wheaton College its 4P SE offerings, the impact and future ways to collaborate.
Welcome to the kickoff of our championship season GCSEN Meaning Makers!
With gratitude,
Mike Caslin