Building a student-powered movement: #BigBeacon twitter chat Sept 24th 2014

Hello Twitter enthusiasts and Big Beacon community members, Come join me, Erica Lee Garcia, for this week’s twitter chat about student-powered movements, collaboration and community-building.  We get started Wednesday September 24th at 8 pm ET, on #BigBeacon.

Recycling:  A tale of student-powered change

When municipal leaders and engineers in Ontario, Canada developed the technology and infrastructure to make recycling possible in every household, they realized very quickly that getting the technology in place would be the easy part. It would be much harder to get the citizens to adopt the required behaviour change in their homes.  After several public outreach campaigns that achieved limited success, they finally figured out how to increase recycling adoption – take their campaign to schools.  Kids became the ambassadors and advocates within their households, and blue boxes (the ubiquitous symbol of the recycling program) became a fixture in less than a generation.

Not all culture changes are so directly felt in the kitchens and homes across our countries as recycling, but many other major movements owe their momentum to student and youth input.  Big Beacon harnesses the power of students, educators, to create widespread conversation about change within engineering education.  What are some key skills and considerations when building a student-powered movement?   How can students participate in changing the status quo?

Join me (@engineeryrlife) and Evan Walsh (@evanpwalsh), veteran student movement leader and community builder with Engineers Without Borders Canada, to discuss the unique strengths, challenges and history of student-powered movements.

Engineers Without Borders Canada has a decade and a half experience of affecting change via a student-powered movement. They work to end global poverty and inequity by investing in ventures that drive ‘systems change’ both in Canada and Africa.  They also have a nationwide network of more than 24,000 students and professionals who support their ventures and programs.

Join us on Twitter at 8 pm EST tomorrow Wednesday Sept 24th, and look for #BigBeacon.