how are you creating change all around you?

This August, more than two-hundred and twenty alumni spent two extraordinary days together, networking, celebrating, brainstorming, and sharing ideas about everday leadership. On Friday, August 1, Cynthia Diaz, '02 (and Outreach Coordinator, Silicon Valley), emceed a celebratory evening in which the SoCal Alumni Chapter Founders received the Everyday Leadership Award, and the four alumni boards presented Jay with a check for $44,184.61 from the first Alumni Giving Challenge!

The next day was focused on leadership development, with panelists Ron Yu (All Stars Helping Kids), Greg Avis (Summit Partners), Alexandra Hernandez, '94, Sue Conley (Cowgirl Creamery), and Tom Hale (Backroads), followed by workshops led by Teach for America, Public Allies, YouthNoise, Youth Leadership Institute, Patrick Camangian, and BUILD. At the end of the day, alumni developed their own Everyday Leadership for Change commitments, including a Community Service Challenge, the 2nd Alumni Giving Challenge, and a pledge to stay connected in the coming year.

At the Summit, we asked alumni to tell us how they have continued to create change in themselves, their families, their friends, and their world. Over the course of the weekend, they pinned their achievements and pledges for the future on a "Wall of Inspiration." Here are just a handful chosen from hundreds of responses.

I’ve brought back the closeness that I’ve created in my trips back home. So, instead of my friends calling me or themselves as “bitches” we say “hi friends.” It’s powerful, simple, but carries a lot of emotion. Porsche Oliver, San Francisco ‘03

Joining the Bay Area Alumni Board, being a role model to my younger family members, giving back to my community through volunteering and working for the city government. LaToya Burton, San Francisco ‘98

Organizing and conducting an LA Swap Meet fundraiser that raised over $400 for the Summer Search Alumni Giving Challenge. KishaLynn Moore, Boston ‘98

Being a senior youth organizer, I help develop youth in New York City to become the leaders of tomorrow. My youth fight around education reform issues and recently stopped the budget cuts in NYC. Nancy Sanchez, Boston ‘02

Attending Summer Venture in Management Program at Harvard Business School and deciding to go to Business School in the near future. Hermese Velasquez, Boston ‘05

Doing two hours of community service every week. Holly Evans, San Francisco, ‘05

Building a safe and supportive environment for LGBT youth at my college (writing editorials, planning events, creating liability campaigns). Jessica Acosta, North Bay ‘07

I created a new path in my family by becoming first generation to go to college at Northeastern on a full ride. Simona Verikaite, New York City ‘07