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Staff Meeting 05/12/13

May 12, 2013 by Anoushka Sinha   

Tonight was our last meeting of this academic year, and we certainly had a strong finish: our finals-grams campaign was an amazing success, and we reached our $20k goal!!! We spent most of the meeting reflecting on the achievements and challenges we faced over the course of this year.

We began with GHU: the overall theme for this year was Health and Human Rights. We began by asking why human rights exist, exploring this idea from the perspectives of a philosopher, a historian, and a politician. Then we asked who has more rights than others, comparing the child to the adult and the prisoner to the citizen. Finally we asked how human rights are influenced by the environment, comparing an urban to a rural setting. Then we ended GHU by exploring health and human rights in action, with presentations from GlobeMed members who have actively explored the connections we discussed in the field.

We then took a critical look at our work this year and made a list of our successes and areas where there is room for improvement. Here’s a sample of what we discussed:

The good:

  • We fundraised really well
  • GHU was great, especially hearing about chapter members’ projects
  • Enthusiasm in meetings and campaigns
  • Good pace of meetings
  • Diversity of membership

The not so good:

  • Attendance at meetings and special events -> perhaps offer a month-at-a-glance preview of talks and events so people have them on their radar?
  • Level of transparency with GHI -> work to cement our partnership and change our Memorandum of Understanding such that GHI Exec Director Jessie Cronan could come up once a semester to give presentations; forward emails from GHI to the whole chapter
  • Use of blog -> encourage chapter members to take turns posting on the blog and include reflections, activities, projects, etc. that might be of interest
  • Social bonding -> form a local partnership, perhaps with VT Food Bank, and do community service together (gleaning), even with other student orgs
  • Campaign teams -> better define individual roles

Finally, we presented an overall look at how this year compared to last year:

2012 -> 2013, by the numbers:

  • 51 -> 73 members
  • 3 -> 9 guest lectures
  • $15,000 raised to expand GHI’s work to 1 new health center -> $20,000 to maintain that health center for one fiscal year
  • 3 GROW interns at GHI in Rwanda -> 2 GROW interns at GHI in Rwanda + 3 interns at GHI in Boston
  • 6 -> 9 GlobeMed members attend Summit

We’ve grown exponentially over the few years since GlobeMed at Midd was started my freshman year, and I graduate now so proud of the progress we have made and fully confident that our chapter will continue to grow and promote global health equity in tangible and sustainable ways. I will always remember my involvement with GlobeMed and its truly inspiring membership as one of the most meaningful experiences of my college career.

Love,

Anoushka


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