Generation Y rallying to address world issues

This August, senior George Tingo stood at the chalkboard looking out, 50 round eyes stared back. The elementary-aged students in the room sat at small desks, two to three squeezing into one bench desk while some students sat on the cement floor, in order to be closer to the chalkboard.

Despite their half-used, often twice-used-and-then-erased, notebooks and stubs for pencils, the children were excited for Tingo to teach the English lesson of the day, he said. 

Tingo spent four weeks in August  volunteering and teaching English to students in a small town in Tanzania, Africa.

"We live in a world where starvation, disease and genocide are still present and run rampant, but since they are not taking place in the West as they had in the past, we heed them little attention," Tingo said. "I think that people are hearing the calls of the world, understand the common humanity we all share and are striving and ready to earn our stripes, take on a just cause, and be remembered as a new generation that made a difference."

Whether through enlisting in the military, volunteering domestically or abroad, using college educations and skills to become more active in global politics, Tingo said the college-aged generation is taking on issues not for themselves but for something bigger.

"Everyday more and more members of our generation are striving to make a difference, answer a new call that has until very recently been all but ignored with the mindset that its ours to make a better world," he said.

Tingo has always wanted to pursue a career in active history or anthropology and thought the experience of fieldwork and cultural immersion in Africa would help him decide his future career path.

"If I volunteered, I could at least play a small part in helping, learning and then spreading the word to others of what is actually happening there and what we can do to help," he said.

Despite the poverty many locals have, they gave volunteers food, drinks or discounts on goods as a sign of mutual admiration, Tingo said.

"After a week I was no longer referred to as mzungu (white foreigner) but rather as kaka (brother) and rafiki (friend)," he said.

Senior Bari Grossman said that compared to her parents'generation, her generation has more insight into things that go on around the world because of the existence of the Internet.

Rather than just hearing about stories, they can now see pictures, videos and even communicate with people in remote locations, making them no longer unknown groups of people across the world that "people have only heard stories about."

"We can now Google just about anything, anywhere, anyone and find this wealth of knowledge," Grossman said. "So we know how much poverty there is, how much needs to be changed, how much injustice there is in the world."

As students start being proactive and more people see, hear or read about world events, the more people get involved, Grossman said.
    "I think it's almost a snowball effect, and youth today are gathering steam and building up its forces," she said.

Grossman is already helping gather steam. She is currently an officer for Students for the Environment, which has allowed her to contribute to something she has always felt a responsibility toward. Grossman is also a campus representative and was former intern for the national organization, TOMS shoes, which donates shoes to underprivledged students abroad.

She is involved in both organizations because she feels making a difference is something she needs to do. With a roof over her head, food to eat, clean water, clothes to wear and a college education, Grossman said it is a no brainer for her to want to help other people. 

"There is no reason they shouldn't have the things I have and the life I do," she said. "So if I can do something to help them get a little bit closer, live a little bit more comfortably or safely, I need to."

Marianne Green, assistant director of the Career Services Center said students are turning to Teach For America, AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps for employment options because of the failing economy, unemployment rate and desire to help others, Green said. For the 2009 school year, the Teach For America program received more than 35,000 applications, which is a 42 percent increase over least year's application number, the  Teach for America Web site said.

Green said she has seen an increased interest in both programs. More graduates are interested in doing a meaningful service work before joining the career world. What is unclear however is if these same people remain in the service and non-profit industry or if they join Corporate America, she said.

A life of service has its benefits and its struggles, one notable struggle being a low salary. Grossman said her career path will never be based on pay, ever. However, she said she needs to be able to live comfortably before she can help others.

"Money is all well and good and you can make a difference using it, but it doesn't feel the same," she said. "Not as when you give your time, your energy, a piece of yourself."

Whatever path college graduates may take, whether into the corporate or service industries, they have the whole world in their hands, Grossman said.

"We know that we're the future of the world, and that we have the power to make or break it," she said. "And I think we're making a conscious decision to make the world a better place."