[EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a technical glitch, this is posting a week after it was written]
By: Julia Stricklin
We are now in the middle of the semester, and entering the time period when our job gets real. Up to this point, we have been speaking in theoretical terms and studying broad ideas. Yes, we have discussed their applications to this class, but now we are working with real life projects that can and will make an impact on this community. Which is a big thing to step back and think about. At only 19, 20, 21 years old, we have the power to make change in our community. And boy, are we eager to do so.
We had our first Board Meeting yesterday; an informal, but very informative, meeting of our class where we presented the organizations and projects we have chosen to move forward with from Pitch Day. The decisions behind this were by no means easy – most of our groups cut their prospective grantee pool nearly in half, from about eight organizations per group on Pitch Day to four or five organizations each group will pay a visit to. A common theme around this decision was “it’s not that we don’t like ABC organization, just that we’re more excited about the project we could work on with XYZ.” Excitement was indeed in the air during our board meeting. Each group that presented was only allotted 25 minutes to present and discuss with the class, and I know everyone would have gladly gone over their limit if they could have. There are so many things happening in so many different areas in the social sector of Waco, and we probably could have spent at least another day telling each other about what we had found, the organizations we were moving forward with, and the extra time and money we wish we had in order to pursue all of the possibilities presented to us.
Perhaps the most significant thing to reflect upon now is the position we, as a class, are in. Andy brought it to our attention that our group of seventeen – 15 students, one graduate assistant, and one professor – now know more about the broad reaches of the social sector in Waco than anyone else. We have a unique “bird’s eye” perspective on everything going on in Waco due to our wide range of interests we’ve investigated. Now, not only do we have the money and motivation to create change in Waco, but an excellent vantage point from which to do so. We have the ability to think about collaborative grants, to pass an organization one group may have met with on to another group whose interests better align with that organization. Personally, I’m very excited to see what we can do to bring our interests together.
In the next week and half, we will be making our site visits. Everyone is very eager to move into this stage of the semester and get an inside view of organizations we’ve been looking into. I think the title of this post best sums up the kind of work we are beginning to do: not easier, but more exciting. It will not be easy to tackle wicked problems head-on, but we are excited to dive in. It will not be easy to narrow down our choice of projects, but we are excited to get closer with the organizations we will ultimately give a grant to.
Stay tuned for more updates and news about our on-site visits!