College Scholar selected to participate in Oxfam America initiative on social change

North Central College student Chloe Boden is one of only 40 applicants nationwide selected to participate in Oxfam America’s weeklong CHANGE Initiative to be held in late July in Boston.

Boden is a College Scholar who presented her research “Changing Perspective on MDMA,” about the psychoactive drug methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, or ecstasy, at the Honors Council Illinois Regional Symposium held in February in Glen Ellyn. She is a sophomore from Pontiac who is double-majoring in psychology and sociology.

CHANGE is Oxfam America’s student leadership program for rising sophomores and juniors. CHANGE leaders commit to join or form an Oxfam Club and implement an Oxfam campaign on their campus during the 2015-2016 academic year.

The weeklong training combines group activities, expert panels and workshops with a multimedia teaching curriculum. The leadership training program builds students’ leadership and advocacy skills, familiarity with Oxfam’s mission, and introduces them to sophisticated and powerful models for social change.

Founded in 2000, CHANGE has trained more than 770 student leaders from more than 340 colleges and universities. Oxfam covers participants’ costs for travel to and from Boston as well as lodging and meals. After the training, CHANGE Leaders return to campus energized and ready to work on social justice issues. Oxfam staffers and a CHANGE campus adviser provide guidance to the student activists throughout the year.

Each CHANGE leader implements at least one Oxfam-specific public advocacy campaign on campus, covering issues like food justice; oil, gas and mining; or disasters and poverty. Activities include building networks, organizing their peers to take political action, and hosting campus awareness events like teach-ins, panel discussions, art exhibits and speakers’ tours.

Oxfam America is a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger and injustice. As one of 17 members of the international Oxfam confederation, it works with people in more than 90 countries to develop long-term solutions to poverty. Visit oxfamamerica.org to learn more.