At the first-ever grant awards competition for Middlebury’s new Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the room was full of nervous energy. Five student teams gave short pitches to a panel of judges, trying to convince them that their summer project was worthy of a $2,000 grant. Each team had already received a $3,000 grant from the center, but they all made strong cases for how the bonus funds would help. The projects were as diverse as the students themselves: composting operations for high schools, farming insects for food, using geographic information systems to alleviate hunger, training young social entrepreneurs in Mexico, and creating a safe home for street children in Ethiopia. Professor Jon Isham, faculty director for the center, tells MiddMag that the students captured the spirit of social entrepreneurship beautifully.