Three MSU students have received grants to pursue projects in Mali and El Salvador that are intended to improve the quality of life for people in those countries.
The Schoenl Family Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas is awarded to the most outstanding projects proposed by Honors College members that serve dire human needs in countries outside of the United States.
This year, a second set of grants, the Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas, was extended to students in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
Computer science freshman Joseph Smith’s project was selected for a Schoenl Family Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas Level I award of $1,200 to put toward construction of composting latrines for the community of El Balsamar, El Salvador. The project is coordinated by the MSU Engineers Without Borders Club.
“Too often, many residents do not have access to proper waste facilities, resulting in contamination of drinking water,” Smith wrote in his proposal. “The Michigan State Engineers Without Borders Club has been working for the past several years to design and construct composting latrines as a solution to this problem, in order to improve the lives of many El Balsamar citizens.”
RCAH seniors Sean Fitzpatrick and Andrew Jason were awarded an Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas Level I award of $1,200 for their project in Kati, Mali which focuses on the creation of children’s storybooks that discuss peace building.
“The proposed project, ‘Building Peace, One Story at a Time’, will utilize the power of storytelling to prompt dialogue and critical thinking to give youth the capacity to be part of the process of peace,” Fitzpatrick and Jason wrote in their proposal.