As the weeks of the semester fall to the wayside, the service project in Belize is shaping up for the Engineers Without Borders. Officers are organizing fundraising, paperwork, room, board and plane ticket arrangements, while members continually contribute helpful ideas to keep the project rolling.
“We need face-time with people, or we can’t get money/have potential to get money,” said International Project Chair, Ben Marts.
The group is planning strategy for fundraising efforts by compiling lists of sponsors that would be helpful and making use of resources for food and coffee stands to raise money inbetween classes.
“We need to start scheduling appointments with the (various engineering) departments,” Marts said.
The official list of EWB members actively planning for the trip is at 12 people.
Other professors have taken interest in the impending trip.
“Dr.( Vasundara V.) Varadan, an EE professor, spoke to me about EWB and she seemed to want to help,” said fundraising chair, Zach Bever. “She spoke of (many things, but especially) drafting a proposal to make this a class that would make it easier to fund.”
Bever seemed to find Varadan as a great advantage because of her beneficial persistence.
“That’s a lot of money potentially from the Honors College, requested from individual students, (not as a group,)” he said.
Members discussed the process, which would include professors signing off and professor sponsorship.
The Belize trip during the summer is already a credited class, so professor and advisor Soerens contributed to the debate.
“Next year is our (the summer class’) fifth year, so our class would have to renew,” he said. “We should make a new (proposal) that’s engineer-specific. It’s hard enough to fund a course that has two weeks on campus and three weeks in Belize.”
If the idea is picked up by the group, the EWB class might be an engineering design class, since many of the Belize projects center on design.
Members are still deciding on a propaganda officer. This person would be the main photographer and write a report about the Belize activities to send to sponsors, post on the website and use for future flyers, fundraisers and other information.
In other news:
EWB will sell t-shirts in the very near future, for both members and non-members.
“I’d really like us to have a shirt to wear when we do stuff (together),” said Jenny Doyle, EWB Secretary.
The ten members attending the regional conference hope to have a common t-shirt secured before the trip on November 12.
If you have a creative and simple idea for a catchy EWB t-shirt, please email Jenny Doyle or Nikki Lorenz at jmdoyle@uark.edu and nlorenz@uark.edu.
Members continue plans for further fundraisers. Look forward to a coffee stand set up in front of Bell near finals week, set up from 8 a.m.- noon.
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