Meet the 2020 Social Innovation Challenge Leads!

Last month, six students joined the optiMize Leadership Group as Social Innovation Challenge Leads. These students were selected from the Core Organizing Team to lead the organizing team in putting on the Social Innovation Challenge this winter and next fall. Introducing Caroline, David, Jack, Megha, Mike, and Sweta.

David

Business, Class of 2023

Mentorship

Why did you want to join the leadership team? The opportunity to create change and contribute meaningfully to an organization so devoted to doing good was simply too special to pass up, especially as a freshman.

What are your goals for this year? To have fun, help people, forge relationships, build the community, transform education, illuminate possibilities, and make the world a better place!

If you were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which one would you be? Egg timer.

Caroline

International Studies and French, Class of 2022

President, SIC Lead

What are your goals for this year? This year, one of my goals is to improve connections between student project teams and optiMize organizers. optiMize leadership is a very well defined, detailed structure and there are several different leadership levels that contribute to a successful challenge. With so many teams, it can be easy to get lost in these different layers so I want to ensure participants feel comfortable with every level of the team and feel they can have a meaningful connection with everyone. Our office in LSA is meant to be a home incubator for social innovation, ensuring an environment that is welcoming and conducive to team success.

If you were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which one would you be? Nespresso + espresso machine!

Megha

Business, Class of 2023

Storytelling and Marketing

Why did you join optiMize? I wanted to be a part of space that works to help other people. optiMize at its core builds a community to support people and that is what appeals to me the most. This organization radiates warmth and acceptance. Walking into the first core team meeting I felt seen, and I knew I never wanted to leave.

What are you excited for this year? I am really excited to see what the funded project teams will accomplish this summer-- every single project is incredibly inspiring and the work that they do is amazing. I am also looking forward to working with the creative team and improving my storytelling and marketing abilities!

If you were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which one would you be? A mug!!!

Jack

Computer Science, Class of 2023

Operations

Why did you want to join the leadership team? I am really interested in entrepreneurship and the optiMize community is very friendly, so I wanted to get more involved. I also admired the previous Social Innovation Challenge Leads.

What are you excited for this year? Expanding the number of teams in the Challenge and members in the community— just get more people involved!

If you were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which one would you be? A spatula

Sweta

Computer Science and Cognitive Science, Class of 2021

Community and Organizational Culture

What are you excited for this year? So excited for the Showcase and for a great new cohort of teams!

What are your goals for this year? To continue to foster the innovative and compassionate community spirit that optiMize is known for.

If you were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which one would you be? A Cuisinart Blender

Mike

Computer or Data Science, Class of 2023

Tech-Ops

Why did you join the leadership team? I wanted to do more to help the people who signed up this Challenge to work on something they're really passionate about. In whatever way I can help that vision happen for people, I want to be there for it.

What are you excited for this year? I'm excited to build things. There’s a lot of building going on this year, especially in the backend systems optiMize is running on, and I want to be a part of making those things real.

If you were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which one would you be? A stove.