News
Oberlin's Creativity & Leadership Project Commits $60,000 to 2009-10 Fellowships
May 29, 2009 |
Awarded to graduating seniors each
year, C&L grants of up to $30,000 each offer innovative, motivated,
and prepared Oberlin students the opportunity to move their entrepreneurial
ideas from concept to reality. The program supports dedicated students
who have a creative model for addressing a demonstrated need or demand.
Ventures may be entirely for-profit, socially driven, or a combination
thereof, but must reflect a feasible strategy for financial sustainability.
The fellowships are a component of Oberlin's Creativity & Leadership project, which is part of the Northeast Ohio Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program—a Kauffman Campuses (SM) initiative funded by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Michael Fry, a 22-year-old psychology major from Richfield, Ohio, will use his $28,000 grant to develop One World, One Rope—a global instructional jump rope program designed to foster leadership and physical fitness in school-aged children. Frye has traveled the United States and world promoting jump rope, a sport that has had a profound impact on his life. Since 1996, he has taught and competed in South Korea, Belgium, Australia, South Africa, and the British Virgin Islands. His ultimate goal? To see jump rope certified as an Olympic sport.
As the One World, One Rope project leader, Fry will create teams in Tanzania and Kenya, promote the formation of national governing organizations, and organize the first national jump rope competitions in East Africa.
“In addition to teaching, my focus will be on building a network of committed coaches, knowledgeable instructors, and skilled jump ropers,” says Fry “The program will provide new opportunities for all participants to experience success, develop healthy lifestyles, increase social ties, and take on roles of leadership and responsibility within their communities.”
David Midler and Noah Goldman
have received a $20,000 grant to develop
SpinItIn, a hip tennis-apparel company designed to bring “street cred’”
to the sport of tennis with unique clothing and gear. Targeted at the
growing youth tennis population, SpinItIn offers comfortable clothes
and funky designs to the modern tennis player and fan.
“The perception of tennis as a country
club sport is rapidly changing, and the SpinItIn brand exemplifies the
shift from a privileged sport to a hip fun culture,” says Goldman. *“Bringing
an urban feel to the style of the sport coincides with this evolution.”
Midler says he is dedicated to pursuing his dreams and paying his rent with his passions. A religion major with a minor in computer science, he comes from a business-oriented background in Flint, Michigan, where his family has owned and run an auto-salvage yard for more than 20 years.
Starting SpinItIn satisfies Goldman’s
entrepreneurial craving by giving him the opportunity to build something
from the beginning in a field in which he has a passion and history;
he grew up in Oldsmar, Florida, playing tennis. The partners are looking
forward to seeing their apparel one day worn on the professional tour.
A grant of $12,000 has been awarded to Sara Krugman, who along with 2008 graduates Jolie Signorile and Gabriel Cohen and assisted on-campus by Oberlin student Asa Ivry-Block, will develop the Bread & Butter Collective — a printmaking group dedicated to earning their daily bread while creating a space to enjoy life’s butter: community, progressive change, and creative process. The Bread & Butter Collective will begin implementing its mission by obtaining the resources needed to silkscreen. With money earned from commercial work, the collective will support social change by subsidizing activists.
Krugman is a double major in studio
art and cinema studies, and an honors student in the latter. Originally
from Boston, her artistic approach is based around process, utilizing
personal experience to build nonlinear, multimedia installation work.
As a part of Bread & Butter, she uses communication and organizational
skills to facilitate collaboration and productivity.
A studio art and comparative American
studies major at Oberlin, Signorile moved to New York City in August
2008. She works for an array of performance artists and as a studio
assistant and event manager. She is excited about bringing her organizing
and marketing skills to the Bread & Butter Collective.
Cohen majored in studio art and politics
at Oberlin. In August 2008, he returned home to New York City, where
he works as a freelance graphic designer and printmaker. Gabe is eager
to create a studio for him and others. He is driven by collaborative
processes and using his skills to make a social impact.
The Creativity & Leadership Project at Oberlin grounds entrepreneurship in the liberal arts and reflects Oberlin’s musical and artistic excellence. In drawing on both for-profit and non-profit models of entrepreneurship, it affirms Oberlin’s longstanding commitment to preparing students for action, leadership and civic engagement.
Oberlin College
153 West Lorain Street
Oberlin, Ohio 44074
(440) 775-8474
www.oberlin.edu
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