Campus Group ConnPIRG Urges Impressive Student Activism
By: Catherine Marinello
Posted: 10/21/08
"Boring
name, fun group." That's what Krystal Ramirez '10 has to say about
Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (ConnPIRG), a student-run,
student-funded organization that has been an active part of Trinity
College's community service program for over 30 years. ConnPIRG (along
with the University of Connecticut [UConn] Storrs's and UConn Greater
Hartford's chapters), focuses on stopping global warming, eliminating
hunger and homelessness, and increasing youth voter turnout. To meet
these goals, ConnPIRG is divided into three groups: Campus Climate
Challenge, Hunger and Homelessness, and the New Voters Project.
[Editor's Note: Ramirez is a member of the Tripod staff.]
This year, ConnPIRG has a new Campus Organizer, Jamie Walsh. While a
freshman at UConn, Walsh said she was inspired by a class announcement
to join ConnPIRG's Hunger and Homelessness group. Walsh then went on to
become a member of both that group and the New Voters Project. Walsh
said, "I was interested in continuing everything I had been doing with
the Student-PIRGs at UConn because there's so much for students to be
doing and so many ways for them to start to make a difference, so I
took a job as the ConnPIRG Campus Organizer, and here I am today!"
Currently, Hunger and Homelessness is running weekly trips to My
Sister's Place, a shelter for domestic abuse victims, where volunteers
watch some of the shelter's child residents while the mothers are busy.
They also make trips to Grace Episcopal Church, which distributes over
200 bags of groceries to local families every week. In addition, the
biweekly program Community Cooking uses donated food from Chartwells,
local grocery stores or restaurants to make a meal for My Sister's
Place. Coming up later in November, Trinity's ConnPIRG chapter will be
working with other groups to host educational events to promote
National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week.
The goal of the New Voters Project for the first half of the
semester was to get 90 percent of the campus registered to vote by
today, Oct. 21, Connecticut's registration deadline. Through tabling
and dorm storming, over 160 previously unregistered students are now
registered as of the time of publication. The second half of the
semester will consist of "working on getting together a student debate
on the issues as well as a mock online election, among other fun
events!" says Ramirez, the project's coordinator.
Campus Climate Challenge's goals for the semester involve
distributing compact fluorescent light bulbs, designing
energy-conservation magnets, hosting a Squash Global Warming
Tournament, and serving solar beverages. Campus Sustainability Day on
Wednesday, Oct. 22, will feature the light bulb exchange, along with
tables from other organizations.
"ConnPIRG is made up of passionate, forward-thinking, dedicated
students who will volunteer whatever time is needed to accomplish goals
established by the group," said Elisabeth Cianciola '10, ConnPIRG
coordinator of Campus Climate Challenge. "I stick with it because the
tools the organizers provide work, so I really enjoy tackling problems
with them and working at the state level." Ramirez agrees. "[At the
first meeting] I realized that this group was amazing - they weren't
just talking about or complaining about the issues. They were actually
doing things to solve the problems!" she said.
To get involved with any of these projects, meetings are as follows:
Hunger and Homelessness: Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Campus Climate Challenge:
Tuesdays, 9 p.m. New Voter's Project: Wednesdays, 7 p.m. All three
meetings are in the FACES Lounge in the basement of Mather Hall.
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