One Young World

One Young World

This year's One Young World Summit brought 1,300 promising young delegates from more than 180 countries to the city of Pittsburgh to create lasting connections and debate some of the critical challenges facing the world today.

Carnegie Mellon University was involved in bringing the summit to Pittsburgh, sponsored student delegates, and hosted four breakout sessions that engaged the delegates in discussions on the topics of education, creative leadership, technology and sustainability. 

"Carnegie Mellon University was pleased to have had the opportunity to partner with the Pittsburgh community to bring One Young World to our city," said Amy Burkert, vice provost for education at CMU.

"It was gratifying to develop breakout sessions with campus partners and groups throughout the region. Our goal was to frame active experiences to engage these young leaders from all over the world in dialogue about some of the most pressing issues of our time."

An Indonesian delegate who attended the Creative Leadership breakout session at CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) shared, "I chose this session because I read 'The Last Lecture' and it changed my life. Now, this session changed my life again."

The delegate was referring to the late CMU professor, alumnus and ETC co-founder Randy Pausch's powerful book he co-wrote with fellow alumnus, the late Jeffrey Zaslow of The Wall Street Journal on how to achieve your childhood dreams.

CMU also held breakout sessions on innovation in schools, growing greener communities and using communication technology in international development.

Speakers at the summit included astronauts, Olympic athletes, former United States President Bill Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan. "Getting to hear Kofi Annan speak was very moving for me," said Lauren Murphy (TPR'13), who is pursuing her master's degree in business administration at CMU's Tepper School of Business and works at Alcoa.

"I'm just really excited to take the knowledge I gained over these three really intensive days and apply it to the workplace as well as share my insights with my classmates at the Tepper School."

Amy McCarty (HNZ'13), who is pursuing a master's degree in public policy and management, was most impressed with her fellow delegates.

"These youth spoke about organizations they had founded to address an observed need. I cannot say who was most impressive: Catherine, who is adapting books and educational materials to be specific to her culture in Rwanda; Alberto, who is bringing wireless Internet to the primary schools in Belize; or Pamela, who is using decommissioned Cambodian land mines to make and sell jewelry."

After each One Young World Summit, the delegates are encouraged to go forward with their own projects and initiatives, with the goal of positive global change.

To date, almost four million people have been directly impacted by the work of One Young World Ambassadors. There are currently more than 125 projects and initiatives involving more than 100 countries.

McCarty concluded, "I can say that I was deeply humbled to be surrounded by so many young emerging leaders, achieving so much, and I hope that I can do my small part to add to the global solutions needed in today's connected world."

Artwork by alumnus Burton Morris (A'86). Read more in Carnegie Mellon Today »


Related Links: One Young World | One Young World Flickr Gallery | Tepper School of Business | Heinz College | Randy Pausch's Last Lecture | Scott Institute for Energy Innovation | Environment at CMU


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