Hi, my name is Nora LeRoux Radtke. I am a graduating Global Studies senior, a human rights advocate, a northern Wisconsin native, a sister, a music lover, a fiction reader, a traveler, and the 2010-2011 Global Studies Student Association’s (GSSA) president.
This year the GSSA has chosen to do an international development project in Haiti. For those of you who are not aware of GSSA and work we do I’m going to give you some background. The GSSA is a student group that functions from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus. We are the student group branch of the Institute for Global Studies and work mainly on issues of international development in developing countries around the world. Every year the GSSA partners with a non-governmental organization (NGO). We work to develop a project that compliments the partnering NGO’s mission and programs. throughout the school year At the end of May we travel to the site to implement the project we developed. The work we do is unique for a student group and what we accomplish every year is something all members of the group are proud of.
The GSSA has completed projects in Honduras, Kenya and are currently working on a project in Haiti. Our Haiti project has two parts. One is working to expand a women’s cooperative that produces cocoa and the other is designing a new irrigation system for a 15 acre farm to help support sustainable agriculture. Our partnering organization is Sonje Ayiti, who you can read about here. We believe these projects will support the natural potential that already exists in the community of Cape Haitian, where we will be based for three weeks in the spring after classes and finals are finished.
The members of the GSSA are taking huge steps towards completing our projects. We have a dedicated and passionate group of students this year that range from first-semester freshman to graduating seniors. The group is diverse but unified over the belief of making the world a better place and doing it in ways that make sense for the people in the community we are working with. I am proud to be the president of a group like this and am thrilled at the thought of spending the first part of my life as a college graduate with this dedicated group in Haiti doing a project we believe in.
For the readers that wish to learn more about GSSA or to support us you can email me at radtk078@umn.edu. I look forward to hearing from you and be sure to check the blog for future posts by other group members.
This year the GSSA has chosen to do an international development project in Haiti. For those of you who are not aware of GSSA and work we do I’m going to give you some background. The GSSA is a student group that functions from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus. We are the student group branch of the Institute for Global Studies and work mainly on issues of international development in developing countries around the world. Every year the GSSA partners with a non-governmental organization (NGO). We work to develop a project that compliments the partnering NGO’s mission and programs. throughout the school year At the end of May we travel to the site to implement the project we developed. The work we do is unique for a student group and what we accomplish every year is something all members of the group are proud of.
The GSSA has completed projects in Honduras, Kenya and are currently working on a project in Haiti. Our Haiti project has two parts. One is working to expand a women’s cooperative that produces cocoa and the other is designing a new irrigation system for a 15 acre farm to help support sustainable agriculture. Our partnering organization is Sonje Ayiti, who you can read about here. We believe these projects will support the natural potential that already exists in the community of Cape Haitian, where we will be based for three weeks in the spring after classes and finals are finished.
The members of the GSSA are taking huge steps towards completing our projects. We have a dedicated and passionate group of students this year that range from first-semester freshman to graduating seniors. The group is diverse but unified over the belief of making the world a better place and doing it in ways that make sense for the people in the community we are working with. I am proud to be the president of a group like this and am thrilled at the thought of spending the first part of my life as a college graduate with this dedicated group in Haiti doing a project we believe in.
For the readers that wish to learn more about GSSA or to support us you can email me at radtk078@umn.edu. I look forward to hearing from you and be sure to check the blog for future posts by other group members.
