Innovation of the Year
Amenuveve: NYU Stern Social Entrepreneurship in Ghana Alumni Virtual Reading Program
Amenuveve: NYU Stern Social Entrepreneurship in Ghana Alumni Virtual Reading Program Bio
In August 2020, NYU Stern Class of 2020 alum Jordan Wolken (STERN ’20) and Caitlyn Lubas (STERN ’20) started an Alumni Committee for Amenuveve, the 501(c)(3) non-profit based in both the US and Ghana that began in a freshman year social entrepreneurship class at Stern.
Working with the Amenuveve team to fundraise scholarship money, they sought to motivate the students to invest time in their education. They created the first Alumni Reading Session via Zoom to hear the local Ghanaian students practice reading, and to provide encouragement and motivation as alumni sponsors from America. A revamping of the program included integrating reading comprehension and vocabulary questions. This team’s innovation was able to overcome the challenges of the pandemic and in fact gave students even more access to alumni knowledge and support through the virtual environment, rather than limiting alumni interaction to only a trip to Ghana once per year. They created active change in the lives of these students who are now dedicated to their studies and motivated to improve their reading skills by showing up to sessions with alumni committee volunteers every other week.
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