Greetings from windy Baltimore! As the semester wraps up and students everywhere burrow deep into the library for some delightful studying sessions, the Hopkins Social Innovations Partnership (HOP-SIP) Team continues to move forward in its quest to transform JHU into a Changemaker Campus. Since our initial team gathering at the Ashoka Changemaker Incubator in October, there have been many developments at both the university and national level that have been a cause for excitement. This spring, just two months after a new president moves into the White House, Hopkins will extend its own welcome to our new university president! At such a transitional time, we have continued to examine how we can best map out the social entrepreneurial efforts taking place across campus. From information sessions at the graduate and undergraduate campuses to a status report on social entrepreneurship around the university, the team is hard at work.

In preparation for the Changemaker Accelerator session in January, the team has mapped out a set of priorities and goals:

1) Continue to inventory courses, professors, social enterprises, student groups, university initiatives, and any other SE-related activities for the Changemaker Audit

2) Build and expand the Changemaker team to support and train interested students, faculty, staff, and community members

3)  Create a media campaign that will reach out to interested community partners and local alumni

4) Fundraising for social enterprises, public service fellowships, and internships

In about a week or so, we will all be departing for our various holiday locations. We’ll see you back here in January, after everyone is reenergized and ready to go!

Meet the Team!

Jemma Alarcón 

Academic Affiliation: Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Public Health Studies
Hometown: Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México
Favorite Dessert: Cheese cake + cappuccino
What drives you to be a changemaker? Smiles... (I love seeing ppl.smile) and I believe that life is all about learning, sharing and enjoying and changemaking embodies the three perfectly for me.
Holiday Plans: Navidad in Northern México and Public Health research with indigenous children in South México
New Years Changemaker Resolution: JHUCARES initiative = website (jhucares.org)+ database + orientation presentation... = more SE and direct service with Baltimore!

Luke Kelly-Clyne

Academic affiliation: Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Political Science
Hometown: Wilton, CT
Favorite dessert: Chocolate cake
What drivesyou to be a changemaker? I am motivated to make a change in society based on the knowledge that I have been lucky enough to receive an amazing education and by the obligation I feel to share my privilege with those who are less fortunate.
Holiday Plans: I will be traveling to Oxford!
New Years Changemaker Resolution: Ihope to start an office of social entrepreneurship at JHU at some point in2009.

Jerome Axle Brown

Academic Affiliation: Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Public Health Studies
Hometown: Sherman, TX
Favorite Dessert: My grandma's right-out-of-the-oven homemade peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream
What drives you to be a changemaker? My drive to be a changemaker stems from the untimely death of my father at age 39, when I was only fourteen. Leaving me, the oldest of six siblings, as the head of the household. His passing awoke in me the urgency of the moment, the value of life,  and sparked in me a great desire to change the course of my life to reach my potential.
Holiday Plans: I'm going down south to Texas to spend some quality time withmy family.
New Years Changemaker Resolution: I will acknowledge my limitations and build competenciesto address them.

Abigail Crisman

Academic Affiliation: School of Nursing
Hometown: Fremont, IN
Favorite Dessert:  anything chocolate and warm
What drives you to be a changemaker? I want to be an active changemaker for the problems I see around me, not a spectator.
HolidayPlans: see more of B'more and spend time with family
New Years Changemaker Resolution: to see things accomplished at the administrative and ground level

Aaron Soto Karlin

Academic Affiliation: Alumnus, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences-Anthropology, Center for the Social Organization of Schools
Hometown: Wilmette, IL
Favorite Dessert: Dark Chocolate, above 70% cacao content
What drives you to be a changemaker?I deeply enjoy connecting to others and my surroundings.  I am inspired by moments when understanding opens inconversation and in our own minds. I've cultivated a sense of personal responsibility and interdependence with our world and I like to share it.  
Holiday Plans: Driving to Mexico and meeting my changemaker girlfriend's family. Learning to listen to plants and speak with traditional healers.  
New Years Changemaker Resolution: Practicing consistent focus in my work.

Adam Milam

Academic Affiliation: JHSPH, Mental Health, M.H.S.
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
Favorite Dessert: Apple Pie
What drives you to be a changemaker?Growing up in Baltimore I have seen the detrimental effects of poverty and its connections with poor health outcomes.Through volunteer work in high school and undergrad I realized that I could usemy skills, education, and time to simply help others, to make their lives alittle easier. My motivation for being a changemaker is simply the vision thatour group developed: allowing others to reach their full potentials.
Holiday Plans: Sleep, take the GRE's, write my thesis 
New Years Changemaker Resolution: To be nicer to others and spreadsome new years cheer

Sonia Sarkar

Academic Affiliation: Alumna, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Public Health and International Studies
Hometown: Austin, TX
Favorite Dessert: Molten Chocolate Lava Cake,preferably with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top
What drives you to be a changemaker?The communities and individuals who have shaped my life, in ways big and small. Being a changemaker allows me to fulfill my belief that there is something fascinating and incredibly powerful that comes from people working together.
Holiday Plans: “Winter” relaxation in sunny Texasand lots of homemade Indian food
New Years Changemaker Resolution: To share with others my vision for Hopkins as it will be when its full potential as a changemaker campus is truly realized.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the JHU Changemaker Team!!