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Lindsay Pohlman is a senior Journalism and Mass Communication major and Business Administration minor. She is actively involved in the St. Bonaventure chapter of Students in Free Enterprise and is currently the vice-president of that group. In 2007 she received the Fr. Joe Doino, OFM Student Leader of the Year award. Lindsay’s faculty mentor is Dr. Todd Palmer of the Business School.
The following is Lindsay’s summary of her fellowship project, which she will be completing in the 2009 spring semester.
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“This past summer I traveled with four other St. Bonaventure students and a professor to Bethlehem, Uganda in order to implement projects associated with a club at SBU called SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise). We spent our time there working with students and orphans at the Bethlehem Parent’s School, starting a government-registered, micro-finance agency and gathering research on the community.
“My plan with the Yankelovich Fellowship is to continue working with the community in Uganda through local educational outreach. I want to go into two local high schools, Allegany-Limestone and Olean, to work with students in various business classes and clubs. The big goal is to have the two high schools in a competition to raise funds for a number of different projects in Bethlehem.
“I will teach them about our trip- what we did, what we learned and what still needs to be done. This will be the students’ introduction to the project so they can learn the stories of the people and community in order to get them invested in the effort. Then, we will talk about the basics or marketing and fundraising to give them a base knowledge on planning and preparing to raise money. Next, the students will choose a fundraising goal and specific projects in Bethlehem to focus on. This step will help with their marketing so they can explain to others how exactly the donations will be used.
“Then, the students will get started! Each school will get a budget to work with and they can be creative with their fundraising plans over the course of a few months.
“My hope is that the Franciscan values are impressed into the students with this project. They will have the opportunity to help an impoverished community and learn the importance of global outreach. With leadership, initiative, compassion and dedication I know the students and I can help Bethlehem in many ways. Whether it be paying for more orphans to attend school, giving out additional loans, building new dorms or buying more livestock, I am sure the recipients in Bethlehem will be grateful for all the efforts.”