More than 14,000 votes were cast in the OCC Top 10 projects competition, and we officially closed voting last night at midnight PST.
Baylor made an impressive last-minute push to take the lead in the rankings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they win the top honors. It’s still anybody’s game, because now we’ve got the difficult process of combing through and verifying the votes cast to make sure nobody cheated, and then we have to add in the judging panel’s final score (worth 60%) with the vote percentages (worth 40%).
We’ll announce the winner around 6 PM on Tuesday. Try to sit tight until then!
We’ve asked the campus leaders from the Top 10 schools to write up some behind-the-scenes info about their projects. You can vote for your favorite project here. -Emily Stivers
The good news is that the weather in Ann Arbor has been warm and sunny for the last three weeks, which is unheard of. The bad news is that on Wednesday, March 25th, the day of our big outdoor Diag Day, it was 40 degrees and pouring rain. We had big plans for the day: chalking up all of the sidewalks, a water balloon toss, a 4-square competition and an unfathomable amount of decorations. Sadly, when we woke up at 5:00am to start setting up, just about all of those plans fell through.
If I were to pick ONE part of our project to be most proud of, it would be our ability to improvise and think on our feet (no pun intended, ONE STEP at a time, get it?). Everyone always says having a backup plan will keep you safe, but in our case, even those fell through. We were miraculously still able to get a few banners to stay up, brought in a tent at the last minute, and pumped ourselves up for a lot of screaming, dancing and campaigning!
To our surprise, the student response on the Diag – U-M’s high-traffic center of campus – was amazing! Hundreds signed the ONE Declaration and we collected 446 letters to our Senators asking them to support the Global Food Security Act. It would have been so easy for students to walk through buildings to get to class instead of passing through the Diag. But, through word of mouth, they heard that something big was happening. I attribute this buzz to our energy, our spirit, and our ability to think outside the box. Creativity was key for us – rolling out bubble wrap to stomp on, dressing up a ONE member in a huge heart costume, painting our faces in ONE logos and a whole lot of yelling made this event a success.
Who knows how much bigger our impact could have been had everything gone our way… but what fun would that have been?
GO BLUE!
-Stephanie Parrish, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
We’ve asked the campus leaders from the Top 10 schools to write up some behind-the-scenes info about their projects. You can vote for your favorite project here. -Emily Stivers
When considering what ONE Curry would do for our final OCC project, there were a few key themes we wanted to incorporate, which we feel are central to ONE. First off, we wanted our project to be fun. We’ve worked hard during the last three years at Curry to reshape the way people think about fighting poverty in order to see the great opportunity we have before us. Second, at the core of our community is the philosophy of Ubuntu — an African Zulu word that means, “I am because we are.” If a child in Africa is suffering, or a mother in South America is suffering, or our next door neighbor is suffering, than we too suffer. We are all connected and, if we work together, we can make great change in this world. Third, we wanted to reach every generation; to show every generation that they can help make poverty history.
The assimilation of these themes came in the form of our very own rock tour: The Rock the Change Tour! We decked out a van (our Tour Bus), visited an Elementary School, an Elderly Housing Facility, and of course our own campus. The response was tremendous. The senior citizens had so much insight to share with us, the Curry students had a blast at our ONE Trivia night, and the elementary school kids were just amazing. We held a shoe drive at the school, expecting maybe a couple hundred pairs of shoes. We returned STUNNED to find over 1,200 pairs of shoes!! These children showed us the power of community. They give us hope and they also give hope to children around the world who are literally dying for it.
We hope you’ll watch our video and, if you like it, vote for us! But regardless of the outcome, we’ve already won a life-changing experience that we’ll cherish forever.
We’ve asked the campus leaders from the Top 10 schools to write up some behind-the-scenes info about their projects. This is the second we’ve gotten, from Justin Kralemann of Baylor. You can vote for your favorite project here. -Emily Stivers
Several individuals from other schools have asked me, “How was your chapter able to do so much in such a short amount of time for your final project?”
This can be answered by two words: Planning and Support.
As we continued to climb the rankings of the OCC and the end of the challenge grew nearer, we began brainstorming events for our final project. We knew there was a high probability Baylor would be competing in the Top 10 and we did not want to risk being hindered by Spring Break or forms that had to be turned in two weeks before we could hold an event. So, we made calls, wrote emails, and started the process of creating our event with the best planning our chapter has seen to date.
Also, rather than micromanaging all of the individual projects, I asked each member to take on a project and turn it into something they felt would best represent our goals. As a result, a week before our events, everything was in place. We had locations reserved, food ordered, and speakers booked. This advanced planning made our events a success since we did not have to worry about details, but rather could perform our duties and represent ONE to the best of our ability during the events.
Secondly, support played a major role in the success and magnitude of our final project. Our Interim President, Dr. Garland, sent an email to all of Baylor’s faculty and staff informing them about our work and encouraged them to support ONE-Baylor as we did our final project. Directors of important departments on our campus were contacted early and we gained their support as a result. This made projects like getting into our residence halls simple as a result of friendships that were formed between ONE and several departments on our campus.
Even though we had advanced planning and support on our side, hundreds of hours of prep work went into our final project. Without the support of each of the ONE-Baylor members, none of what happened would have been possible. Due to the advanced planning and early support by key individuals on our campus as well as ONE-Baylor members, we were able to expand every project we did rather than having to scale them back due to administrative red tape or poor planning.
The voting is getting hot, with U of M and Baylor neck-and-neck for the lead. But there’s still plenty of time for the rest of the schools to catch up before the Sunday midnight deadline.
No matter where in the country you are, you’ve got tons of resources. First off, you’ve got your family and friends, so be sure to send them an email with the link, and let them know how hard you’ve worked.
Second (and perhaps most important), you’ve got the internet. Several schools (including Baylor and U-Mich — hmmm!) have already started Facebook groups to get people energized to vote. Just set up a group or an event, include some info about your project, and invite your entire list of Facebook friends…and ask them to invite their lists, too!
You can do similar things on a personal blog, Twitter or Myspace, and definitely reach out to your campus administrators to see if they can post a link on their website. This is great not only for generating votes, but for building a good relationship with school administrators who might help you out in the future.
You can make announcements in your classes…or if you’re really bold, in your cafeterias. Table in high-traffic areas with a computer, and ask people to vote on the spot. Put up fliers. Put out a press release to your campus and local papers, then follow up with phone calls to stress the urgency (you’ve only got a few days!). Pretty much everything you’ve been doing all year to generate interest in your group will work for getting out the vote, too.
And you’ve probably got tons more resources you haven’t tapped. Consider reaching out to your faith community, high schools in your area, or even your Power 100 friends whose schools didn’t make the Top 10. Think about ONE partner organizations, such as OXFAM and Amnesty International, that might have programs on your campus and be happy to support you.
Online votes will count for 40% of your school’s total score, and we’ll be looking at the percentage you received of the total votes cast. So every vote counts.
Let us know if you have any questions or need a hand. We’re here to help!
We gave each school $1,000 and three weeks to come up with something amazing, and they’ve outdone themselves. We’ve got everything from outreach to other schools to incredible on-campus displays to hundreds and even thousands of new sign-ups.
Your votes will count for 40% of the total scores, with our judging panel’s evaluations making up the other 60%. You can only vote once per email address, and we will be watching very closely for suspicious activity so don’t try to game the system.
So what should you be looking for while deciding how to cast your vote? Think about:
- Scope: was the project ambitious enough? Too ambitious? Were there a variety of activities but not so many that the message was diluted?
- Relevance: did the project conform to ONE’s mission and relate to extreme global poverty, infectious diseases and related issues?
- Level of Engagement: how deep did this project delve into ONE’s issues?
- Impact: how did the community respond to the actions? How many people were reached? Was there an advocacy effort, and was it successful?
- Creativity: did the chapter use creative methods and step “outside the box” to reach out to new members and raise awareness about ONE?
This morning, Maisie compiled a package with all 10 of the top schools’ projects and sent it to our official OCC judging panel. We’ll be evaluating the projects for Scope, Relevance, Level of Engagement, Impact, and Creativity. I’ve only had a chance to skim the text and watch the videos, but from what I have seen….you all have outdone yourselves this time. Major kudos to all the Top 10 for their exceptional hard work.
Tomorrow – probably later in the day – we’ll open the projects up for online voting, which will count for 40% of each school’s total score. My challenge is going to be to format your projects for presentation on the website, and make sure they’re going to represent your hard work the way you deserve. If you get a question from Maisie or me (or both), try to get back to us ASAP – you’re not in trouble, we’re just trying to make sure your project looks good (and is legal!) on our website.
Let us know if you have any questions…and be sure to give your networks a heads’ up about the online voting starting Tuesday night. You don’t have to be a student to vote, just a ONE member.
This Sunday, March 29, at midnight PST is the last minute you can submit your Top 10 project for our consideration. We don’t have much time to get these projects up on the website to open it up for online voting by Tuesday, so unfortunately we can’t accept late projects.
All the Top 10 schools have been assigned a ONE staff contact to answer questions and help out. If you can get your project done before Sunday, you might want to think about having your staffer look it over and give you some feedback, so you can correct any potential problems before the final submit.
To submit your project, just email Maisie the form we provided with links to any videos, websites, photos etc. you want to include for consideration. Remember to keep your videos within the time limits — if your video is too long, you’ll only be hurting your own case, because the online voters (and our ONE staff judges) might not watch the whole thing.
We’re really excited to see your finished projects!
Pongezi (that’s Swahili for Congrats!) to the 20 students eligible to apply for OCC’s Trip to Kenya in late July or early August of this summer!
These students have worked really hard (understatement of the century) to get to this point, and they’ve earned a huge pat on the back for all they’ve done to advance ONE on their campuses and in their communities.
But we’re only taking 5 to Africa – specifically, to Kenya, this summer, for about a week. The dates aren’t final yet, but we’re looking at July or August.
These 20 will submit projects and applications to earn their spot on the trip. And we’re expecting big things! The project theme is “How will U bring Africa to the OCC?” and the Top 20 can present their program plan in the form of song, video, photo journal, written work, or anything that speaks to their unique talents. They’ve all received guidelines on their submissions already. Projects will pass under the scrutinizing eyes of not one, but TWO separate judging panels to determine the 5 going to Africa.
1 Nick Stevens, Webster University
2 Justin Kralemann, Baylor University
3 Tomas Moreno, Wofford College
4 Mike Fazzino, Sacred Heart University
5 Andrea Netti, Southern Methodist University
6 Hassan Barzani, University of Texas at San Antonio
7 Rachel Berman-Vaporis, Brandeis University
8 Kelly Wynveen, Clark University
9 Mike Weidman, Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio
10 Jessica Beckner, Indiana University
11 Steven Thai, Luther College
12 Stephanie Parrish, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
13 Eric Mayle, Missouri State University
14 Bryant Shannon, University of Florida
15 Audrey Ruark, Kennesaw State University
16 Erin Burke, Sacred Heart University
17 Harpreet Kaur, Saint John’s University, Jamaica New York
18 Christie Fleming Franciscan, University of Steubenville
19 Caitlin Harrowby, Maui Community College
20 Genevieve Gearity, Emerson College
We’ll also have 3 alternates that will submit projects as if they were in the Top 20. These students will be considered in the event that anyone in the Top 20 is unable to complete the project or unable to go on the trip to Africa. So, pongezi separately to:
21 Melissa Boles, Washington State University – Vancouver
22 Olivia Durning, Sacred Heart University
23 Victoria Roman, George Washington University
Good luck to all our semifinalists! We can’t wait to see your projects.
Just a little reminder that OCC’s point system is going to shut down after THIS SUNDAY. We’ll tabulate the points for individual actions and figure out which 20 of you will be invited to apply for OCC’s trip to Africa this summer. While OCC still has a lot going on between now and May 1, we’ll be done counting points. Think of it as the points system and the leader board going on Summer Break a couple weeks early.
We’re going to re-work the points system – add some new stuff, take some other stuff out that you guys didn’t use. (Please feel free to give us suggestions – we love us some feedback.) The points system is set to open back up in the middle of August, right around when most of you guys are getting back to school. Points you earn from this time on (which we will announce on the blog or through an email), even though it’s before our official launch, will count towards your campus’s points total for OCC 09/10.
Of course, poverty doesn’t run on the semester break schedule. Don’t worry – there are still tons of ways to help. ONE will still send out petitions and calls to action that we of course want your help with. They’ll just be out of your passion for ending global poverty and disease rather than earning points to land your campus in the top 10.
The OCC Blog is a daily log of the ONE Campus Challenge, a friendly competition to determine which university's student body has the most effective global poverty-fighting campaign. The site is operated by ONE staff, Campus Outreach Ambassadors (COAs), and Campus Leaders.
The content of each post represents the views of that post's author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Top 10, Uncategorized