Posted by student JULIANNE DUNN – This weekend, 40 students, campus administrators and service leaders from across the country met at the Clinton School River Market Campus to begin the planning process for the 2010 IMPACT Conference to be held in Little Rock, March 19-21. The IMPACT Conference is historically the largest convening conference in the country of college students involved in service, politics, advocacy, and other socially responsible work.
There were 20 universities and seven service organizations represented from Hawaii to New York and from Utah to Florida. Little Rock representatives included Clinton School faculty member Marie Lindquist and students Lindsey Johnson, Patrick Banks, LaTonya Wilson, David Monteith, Sarah Leer, Adam Moreland, Kohl Fallin and me. In addition, UALR, which is co-sponsoring the event with the Clinton School, was represented by staff member Betsy Hart and student Jessie Garrett.
The working weekend began with an introductory dinner with guest speakers Dean Skip Rutherford and Minnijean Brown Trickey. Conference planning included brainstorming potential conference sponsors, developing a workshop proposal form, determining a conference marketing strategy, considering potential keynote speakers and more.
Other highlights included a tour of Heifer Village, gumbo made by Clinton School volunteer Bob Gee, visiting the Peabody ducks and dinner at Gusano’s. On Sunday afternoon, a few students were also able to visit the Central High School National Historic Site before heading home.
The IMPACT Conference complements the spirit and curriculum of the Clinton School – a primary factor in the selection of Little Rock for the first time as the conference site. The participants, between 500 and 1,000 college students from around the country, will spend part of their spring breaks attending this conference to gain inspiration, build partnerships and learn new skills to tackle the tough issues in their communities.
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