Public Affairs Conference Focuses on Social Entrepreneurship
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing,” said President Theodore Roosevelt in a 1903 speech in New York. Stephanie Finigan, director of operations for Prosperity Catalyst, a nonprofit organization that helps women in Haiti and Iraq, shared this quote at the Public Affairs Conference held at the College last weekend as a way of summarizing the conference’s theme.
Now in its 66th year, the College’s student-run Public Affairs Conference (PAC) has addressed domestic and global issues while identifying possible solutions. This year’s conference, “Social Entrepreneurship: Where Inspiration Meets Innovation,” brought to campus speakers who are pursuing innovative solutions to social problems.
Presenters included Ben Simon, founder and executive director of the Food Recovery Network, which fights waste and hunger by recovering surplus food from college campuses, and Shedd Glassmeyer, portfolio manager at Developing World Markets, which seeks to achieve sustainable development by debt and equity investing in emerging and frontier markets.
Three Principia alumni spoke at the conference as well, highlighting how their Principia education prepared them. Juliana Arsali (C’08), founder of Thoreau Community Center, shared insight about her work with youth in the Navajo community; Rob Herget (US’81, C’85) spoke about developing the charitable organization MonkeyDough; and Kathryn Barnes (US’83, C’87), project manager and business director of College Summit, spoke about helping low-income students gain access to—and succeed in— college.
Most of the speakers began pursuing social entrepreneurship after gaining career experience. Many worked in the private sector, one was a former journalist, and several have extensive experience in education. Key topics speakers addressed included the importance of developing marketable skills, creating value, building a sustainable business model, and surrounding oneself with credible mentors and advisors. “The talks really catered to us as college students looking for jobs in the near future,” explains conference co-director Molly Glascock, a senior. “All the speakers talked about not being afraid to do what you love or what inspires you.”
As a student-led conference, PAC organizers gain invaluable practical experience as they choose a topic, select speakers, arrange transportation, organize venues, handle publicity, maintain a budget, and tend to numerous details over months of planning—even down to the particulars of supplying food for the delegates. “We were excited to find vendors whose mission went hand-in-hand with our topic,” says co-director Savanna Sprague, also a senior. “For example, Peace of Quiche in Grafton, ‘a café with a cause’ that gives a portion of their proceeds to local charities, provided breakfast on Saturday. Using these vendors brought the vision of social entrepreneurship to life.”