SHANNON URTNOWSKI
The Current Editor
Global AIDS and extreme poverty are affecting the world’s poorest countries. Although people can’t solve this problem alone, one organization is bringing college students together and Pepperdine is one for the fight.
The ONE Campaign, which aims to help fight curable diseases like malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis in countries such as Africa, is made up of more than 2.4 million members.
The organization, looking to connect with a wider demographic, is reaching out to college students to lead the forefront of this effort through its ONE Campus Challenge.
Students from about 2,600 colleges, including Pepperdine, are participating in the international organization’s campus challenge.
The campaign has fostered a number of ONE Campaign clubs on college campuses across the nation, but Pepperdine still does not have an active chapter. still, students on campus can stay connected with the challenge through its Web site, www.one.org/campus.
Currently, 77 Pepperdine students have shown their support for the campaign by signing a pledge on ONE’s Web site. This keeps students connected with the campaign, by means of regularly sent e-mails, even though there are no organized meetings on campus.
Sophomore Ashleigh Ferguson, a member of the ONE Campaign Facebook group, said she has high hopes that a chapter will be started at Pepperdine in the near future.
“I have seen what a heart this campus has for helping those in need, and I think once we get the right advertising and can bring awareness to the ONE Campaign, Pepperdine will do great things for those experiencing AIDS and poverty in our world,” she said.
Senior Amanda Chiuchiarelli, who is an intern with the ONE Campaign in Washington, D.C., said she is looking into what paperwork needs to be filed to start the club so that she might head that up herself.
The ONE campaign believes the recent push to involve college students has been a natural transition, as the nation’s youth have been a valuable untapped resource for far too long, according to Kimberly Cadena, a spokeswoman with ONE.
“The ONE Campus Challenge is the ONE campaign’s first effort to make sure college students have what they need to help fight AIDS on their campuses,” she said. “The ONE Campaign works to build awareness and increase the number of people that are active on these issues.”
At its base, the ONE Campus Challenge was initiated to show college students that it is easy to get involved with the fight against widespread famine and disease. Chris Rock and U2’s Bono announced the challenge on Sept. 29 at a youth activism event in New York.
“Many of these diseases can be treated for just dollars a day,” Chiuchiarelli said.
But, students do not have to donate money to contribute to the ONE Campaign.
Students can get involved by simply signing their name to the ONE Campus Challenge pledge online or by meeting with and writing to their government officials asking for state-wide and national support, according to Chiuchiarelli.
Ferguson said the campaign reaches out to people in a positive way.
“Instead of just asking for money so that they can do something to help, they ask that we put ourselves out there on a personal level, such as volunteering or calling our senators, in order to make a change in this world,” Ferguson said.
The ONE Campus Challenge also offers weekly challenges that students can get involved with to show support of the campaign and effort. The challenges are posted on the organization’s Web site, and schools are given a certain amount of points depending on whether their students win the challenge of the week. The points can be redeemed for prizes, such as ONE gear and $1,000 grants to colleges.
This week’s ONE Campus Challenge asks students to create a shirt that exemplifies ONE’s mission. The deadline to submit photos of the shirt and a caption about it are due on Nov. 14.
In the challenge, Pepperdine has currently earned 9,415 points and is in 67th place out of almost 2,600. This has been achieved despite the fact that Pepperdine does not have a ONE club, which means that students are taking action through their own accord.
As such, Chiuchiarelli said that Pepperdine is doing fairly well among the standings. And even though Pepperdine is a small campus, she said that the ONE Campaign Web site has a list of challenges that small campuses can get involved with to earn larger amounts of points.
For example, colleges can receive points by having their mascots dress up in ONE Campaign t-shirts or by recruiting new members to sign the ONE Campaign pledge, which keeps students involved in ONE’s efforts through the Web.
And, to give students extra incentive to participate, on top of offering prizes, the ONE Campus Challenge also hosts events at universities that have been particularly involved, bringing musical performers and booths that draw attention to the cause to the campus.
“We really want to encourage people to get engaged and join the fight,” Cadena said.
Nationwide, the response for the campaign has been strong since the start, according to Cadena.
“More than 1,000 students signed up in first 24 hours,” she said, referring to the amount of students who signed the online pledge. “Our goal is to have 100,000 new ONE members at college campuses across the county. We want ONE members on every campus.”
The ONE Campus Challenge will run until March, and after that the university with the students who have earned the most points will be declared the overall winner and receive a grand prize that has not yet been announced.
For more information, or to submit and participate in the campaign’s weekly challenges, visit www.one.org/campus.
11-08-2007
