Some months ago, a group of five amazing college students went on the first-ever ONE Campus Challenge trip to Africa. We compiled this video about their journey:

Last year, more than 27,000 students representing 2,400 colleges and universities participated in the ONE Campus Challenge. The 2009-10 ONE Campus Challenge is just getting started and all students are welcome to join! Learn more and sign up here.

The leaves are changing. Football rankings are being watched closely. Classes are in session. And you know what that means – the ONE Campus Challenge is back!

The ONE Campus Challenge is a friendly competition between colleges and universities to determine which student body has the most effective poverty fighting campaign in the country. Students can earn points for their campus by taking different actions that contribute to the fight against global poverty.

It’s been a long summer – one that included a trip to Kenya with five of OCC’s most dedicated students, a training session with the regional Campus Outreach Ambassadors, and a whole lot of planning for the 09/10 season. We’ve combined equal parts old and new for this year – we’ll see returning powerhouse campuses, like last year’s winner, Wofford College. And the 3rd annual Power 100 Summit will occur in winter 2010. But new this year, OCC will launch month-long challenges that focus on particular ONE issues, new prizes, and a brand new freshmen class ready to make a difference in the fight against global poverty.

Class of 2013, welcome to the Challenge.

-Maisie Pigeon

The ONE Campus Challenge competition between colleges and universities is officially kicking off next week, but Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri has thrown down the pre-season gauntlet by logging an incredible 70 phone calls in support of ONE’s Upgrade Aid campaign.

Check out this video to see how they did it:

The Upgrade Aid campaign is about better, smarter U.S. foreign assistance — so the precious development dollars we fight so hard for all year go to the best, most efficient programs on the ground. Webster University’s 70+ calls supporting the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act seem to have made an impact with Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who officially signed on as a cosponsor for the bill on Tuesday.

You can still make phone calls on behalf of S. 1524 here. And now we also have an Upgrade Aid petition you can sign, here.

Last year, Webster University’s ONE Campus Challenge participation ranked them in the top 10 global poverty-fighting schools in the nation. This year, they’re already setting the bar high, and we’re excited to see what the new season brings from each of the more than 2,400 Campus Challenge schools.

Visit the ONE Campus Challenge website to learn more about the competition and how you can get involved.

-Emily Stivers

Recently ONE members Andrea Locklear, Kay Furlani, Duke Wooters, Cordelia Smith, Beth Rankin and I (Samantha Butisingh) met with Senator Launtenberg’s staff member Talia Young to discuss the work of ONE to make poverty history. We expressed gratitude and thanks to the Senator for signing a funding letter for the Global Fund and asked for his continued leadership on the Global Fund by getting the highest possible amount for the Fund in the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Conference.We also thanked Sen. Lautenberg for his support for PEPFAR reauthorization last year and asked for his continued support through appropriations.

We hope to keep this line of communication that was established between ONE members and the Lautenberg staff open. It is from constant support from Senators, like Sen. Lautenberg, that we are able to achieve success in our effort to put an end to poverty, hunger, and global diseases.

We thank Ms. Talia Young for meeting with us and the rest of the Lautenberg staff. We are especially thankful for having Senator Lautenberg as a voice for the world’s poorest in the Senate.

-Samantha Butisingh, ONE Campus Outreach Ambassador for Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania

On Thursday night, I spoke with Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut regarding the importance of ONE on the a national and global stage.

The congressman gladly accepted a ONE band on behalf of SHU and proudly wore it for the remainder of his stay. Congressman Himes was at Sacred Heart in commemoration of Constitution Day, and lectured on the “Significance of the US Constitution: The View from a Freshman Congressman.”

-Mike Fazzino, Sacred Heart University ONE chapter President

ONE Campus Challenge Outreach Ambassador Melissa Boles– who you’ll recall recently joined ONE on a trip to Africa– writes about climate change and development:

Just as Congress has reconvened, it seems fitting that my first Political Science paper of the semester was on the relationship between climate change and poverty in developing countries. I have learned in the last few days that the drought and agricultural problems I and my fellow ONE Campus Challenge (OCC) Africa Trip students heard about in Kenya are not only worse than we thought they were; they also aren’t going to get better any time soon.

This March, Purdue University published a study by Noah Diffenbaugh, Thomas Hertel and Syud Amer Ahmed showing how climate change could increase poverty in developing countries. While the study focuses on urban workers, the basic premise can be used with just about any demographic: people living in poverty are going to be hardest hit by climate change if we don’t take action soon.

Diffenbaugh told the Purdue Communication and Marketing specialist, Elizabeth Gardner, that “extreme weather affects agricultural productivity and can raise the price of staple foods, such as grains, that are important to poor households in developing countries.” He also pointed out that “it is important to understand which socioeconomic groups and countries could see changes in poverty rates in order to make informed policy decisions.”

When our OCC group was in Kenya, we spent some time with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and one of the things I remember most is that Kenya has a huge agricultural market, but they are coming up against major obstacles — one of which happens to be the weather they are experiencing. Agricultural market or not, Kenyans can’t sell their products anywhere if they can’t even grow them.

While Kenya is going to be the country I reference most for a long time, it isn’t the only country running into these problems. Africans are only going to invest in seeds they know will grow in their area, but if the weather is poor all over the place, can they really know what will grow best?

Heat waves, droughts and floods cause agricultural problems and crop damages around the world, but most people in developed countries such as the United States and countries in the European Union are going to be at less of a loss if their crops can’t grow or are damaged because of the weather. In the fight against poverty, the promotion of better agricultural practices has to start somewhere, and it might as well start at the bottom — where the countries most in need exist.

5% of this year’s Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act devoted to helping poor countries adapt to climate change could begin to make that difference. If we can begin to make a difference, then countries like Kenya that want to be agriculturally strong, and have the potential, can begin to take the next step.

Tell your senator to invest in helping the world’s poorest people overcome the threats posed by climate change here.

-Melissa Boles
Campus Outreach Ambassador for CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA

This Friday, the ONE Campus Challenge (OCC) is sending five of the top student anti-poverty advocates in the United States to Kenya for a week of first-hand, hands-on experience with the people, issues and programs OCC students work to affect – and we have a new site to chronicle their adventures. Check it out, here.

We chose the five students based on their outstanding individual efforts during the 2008-9 OCC season, and also from the excellent projects they submitted on how they will use their experience in Africa to inform their OCC work during the upcoming 2009-10 season. The students are:

Bryant Shannon, from the University of Florida in Gainesville;

Melissa Boles, from Washington State University in Vancouver;

Stephanie Parrish, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor;

Steven Thai, from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa; and

Tomas Moreno, from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Learn more about the OCC, the students, and the trip through our new, interactive OCC in Kenya site.

I asked the students what aspects of the trip they were most excited about, and the overwhelming response was the African people.

“I am looking forward to meeting people affected by extreme poverty, but who have been able to come out of poverty with the help of foreign assistance such as USAID,” said Steven Thai.

“I’m most excited about meeting new, amazing people, as well as learning more about their lives. I can’t wait to hear stories from women and men that I get to talk to about what their lives are like in Kenya,” said Melissa Boles.

“I’m also pretty excited to see how everything I have learned in school and through ONE will help me relate to them,” she added. “Mostly it just doesn’t really feel real yet.”

Indeed, the purpose of the trip is to build a bridge between ONE’s grassroots advocacy campaign and the issues and programs ONE members work to affect, giving these five students first-hand knowledge they can use to help build better OCC programs across the country.

The students will share their experiences first-hand with their fellow students and all ONE members through blog entries, video journals, and Facebook and Twitter updates. You can keep up with them and send them your comments and questions on our new OCC in Kenya website, here.

-Emily Stivers

The ONE Campus Challenge is fortunate to be taking five students, who embody the qualities of ONE and the OCC, on a trip to Kenya from July 25 to August 1, 2009. This trip is meant to demonstrate to the five dedicated students how their tireless mobilization and advocacy work in the United States translates to real, positive change on the ground in Africa. Those selected will take what they learn abroad and use it to motivate and mobilize their fellow students in the fight against global poverty and preventable diseases in next year’s ONE Campus Challenge.

We are ecstatic to announce the five students:

-Bryant Shannon, University of Florida

-Tomas Moreno, Wofford College, South Carolina

-Stephanie Parrish, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

-Steven Thai, Luther College, Iowa

-Melissa Boles, Washington State University – Vancouver

On top of their incredible work with the ONE Campus Challenge this year, these students also endured an arduous application process. An initial group of 20 students was announced at the end of March, determined by the number of actions they had taken as individuals (meaning, without the assistance of their campus group). (Actions considered “individual” were those such as making phone calls or writing letters to Congress, signing ONE’s online petitions, submitting letters to the editor of their local newspaper about poverty and global disease, or inviting new members to join ONE.)

These students were then invited to submit both an application and a project illustrating to the judges how they planned to utilize their experience in Kenya to further raise awareness about the issues of extreme poverty in their local communities once back in the US. These projects were then reviewed by two separate judging panels – one consisting of ONE staff and the second consisting of ONE board members, partner organizations, and experts in development and advocacy.

Huge congratulations to these exceptional wanafunzi (students) and we’ll see you in Kenya!

-Maisie Pigeon

This past Friday, just as the sun started to set, the band Vampire Weekend took the stage in honor of Wofford College’s big win in the ONE Campus Challenge 08/09.

Wofford students, faculty, staff, and members of the Spartanburg community came out to enjoy the perfect weather, hear the band’s first-ever performance in either of the Carolinas, and most importantly, to show support for Wofford’s dedicated ONE Members and their exceptional work in the ONE Campus Challenge this year.

Before the show, Wofford Campus Leader, Tomas Moreno, and the core Wofford-ONE membership had the opportunity to meet the band, snap a few pictures, sign some autographs, and even have the band leave a voicemail for a friend who couldn’t make the show.

While it was evident that the enthusiastic hundreds in the crowd had an amazing time singing along to their favorite V.W. songs, what struck me is how most in attendance knew exactly what Wofford students had achieved in order to get the performance on their campus. While this concert was a celebration of Wofford’s amazing accomplishments, ONE members were still raising awareness about extreme poverty, global disease, and the OCC even as the band was playing.

Once again, thanks and congratulations to ONE-Wofford for their impressive contributions to ONE and the ONE Campus Challenge this year.

*Missed what Wofford did to earn Vampire Weekend at their campus? Check it out here.

-Maisie Pigeon

This Friday, April 24 at 7 PM on the Intramural Field at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the ONE Campus Challenge (OCC) proudly presents the 2009 Grand Prize event: a free concert by Vampire Weekend!

You can RSVP for the event and print your free ticket here.

Wofford College competed with more than 2,700 other colleges and universities across the United States to win the OCC top honors. Wofford’s Grand Prize-winning project, entitled “ONE Week to Change the World,” featured teaching about ONE’s issues in 29 classes across 10+ majors, a rally and trivia night, an art contest, a film screening, outreach to sports teams, an interfaith ONE Sabbath, a panel discussion on trade and microcredit, partnerships with several other campus groups, fundraising for three charities and advocacy work on two different pieces of legislation. Learn more about Wofford’s winning project here.

To reward Wofford’s hard work and amazing project, ONE is sending the hot new band, Vampire Weekend, to Spartanburg on Friday. Spin magazine declared Vampire Weekend “The Year’s Best New Band” (March 2008 issue), and Rolling Stone magazine says had the “10th best album of 2008” (January 2009 issue). Check out Vampire Weekend’s music video for their hit song, A-Punk, below:

You must be 18 years old or older to attend the concert. RSVP and print your ticket here.

-Emily Stivers