First-Ever Student Summit on Sustainable Solutions to Poverty

The NCS International Club has organized the first “Student Summit on Sustainable Solutions to Poverty,” taking place at NCS on May 21. Led by International Club co-Presidents Betsy Ray ’11 and Aigerim Saudabayeva ’11, the event is open to DC-area high school students and will feature speakers on topics ranging from micro-lending and micro-saving to education, health, food and water, housing, the empowerment of women, and security. The students hope to “spark discussion and inspire action in our generation.” To register for the event, click here.

Many distinguished speakers, some of them NCS alumnae, will appear at the conference: Mayra Buvinic, the World Bank’s senior spokesperson on gender and development issues; Alex Couts, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation, an international humanitarian organization focused on enabling the poor to escape poverty using microfinance and technology; Lynn Exton ’73, chief risk officer for Opportunity International which provides small business loans, savings, insurance, and training to people working their way out of poverty in the developing world; Alice Hill ’74, senior counselor to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano; former White House and State Department official Robert McFarlane, who is now organizing investment in developing countries; and Russell Porter, the current director of USAID’s Haiti Task Team.

Alumnae participants also include: Patricia Chute ’54, coordinator, education projects, St. Boniface Haiti Foundation; E. Brennan Dorn ’99, democracy specialist, Office of Regional Sustainable Development, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Beth Jones ’69, former advisor, UN, USAID, and World Bank; Laura Roper ’72, international consultant, Roper Strategic Consulting and adjunct professor, Brandeis University; Bridget Splain ’04, development assistant, Pro Mujer; and Caroline Norton Vance ’99, assistant vice president, Deutsche Bank’s Community Development Finance Group.

In her junior year Betsy Ray served as an interviewer in Vietnam for Kiva, an organization that uses uncollateralized microloans to help families pull themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurship. Betsy says that the experience inspired her to initiate a conversation with other regional students about innovative ways to reverse the cycle of poverty. “I wanted to share the beauty of that simple microloan idea with everyone, and also explore other ideas about fighting poverty.”

The girls credit their homeroom advisor, Dr. Mary DiQuinzio, for encouraging them. “She felt we needed to share our international experiences with the community,” reports Betsy. Aigerim adds that, “NCS has really forced me to be globally aware…we are constantly being taught to be women of the world, to believe that we can have a meaningful impact on the world around us.”