Everyone is Building Tomorrow

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So you’ve browsed the “Get Involved” page on our website and identified with our cause. You’re passionate about education equality and that makes Building Tomorrow the perfect fit for you. Now the only question is how do you get started?

We know that bridging the gap between finding what you want to do and physically doing it can seem a daunting task. In a world overflowing with volunteer opportunities, the impact of the time and resources that you dedicate to a cause is not always clearly defined. We want to assure you that you are not the first to have this concern. Every BTer has to start somewhere, and many have found that they could make tangible differences from the moment that they get involved. And you can too!

In the past few weeks, we’ve profiled events hosted by dedicated students from James Wood High School in Virginia and Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Texas at Austin. We shared with you young BTers own words about why they are Building Tomorrow, and even put ourselves out there with a rap to encourage you to follow us on Twitter. Here, to inspire you, are two more stories about our young BTers taking action and helping us work towards the goal of Universal Primary Education.

Once upon a time, a group of engineers at Gifford, part of Ramboll in the UK entered a design competition through Architecture for Humanity. This London-based group was challenged to developed a sustainable classroom model for what would become the BT Academy of Nakaseeta. Throughout the design process, they made an effort to embrace the local culture and understand the needs of the community. This allowed them to incorporate features such as a shaded area for outdoor play, to truly meet the needs of the Ugandan students. Through such care and attention to detail, Gifford, part of Ramboll was able to set themselves apart and won the competition! This gave the group the opportunity to do something that they loved and hone their engineering skills while contributing to the development of the world community.

Members of the Gifford design team skipped throughout central London to raise money to support the construction of the BT academy

Davidson's Buy a Brick CampaignA year later, all the way across the ocean, a Building Tomorrow chapter at Davidson College in North Carolina committed themselves to raising enough money to construct a school in Uganda. Without any idea of what would work best, they decided to approach their goal through many different avenues. The first event the students planned was a buffet-style benefit dinner, but within 20 minutes of selling tickets, they had sold out! While such response was unexpected, the outpouring of support and enthusiasm was a “good problem to have” reported the chapter’s president. The success of their first event inspired them to continue, and they hosted an art show in tandem with an informational campaign about the cause for Universal Primary Education and our work in Uganda. With two awesome experiences already under their belt, they topped off their efforts by participating in our One Brick campaign, and sold paper bricks that translated into money for real bricks to build a school. Since making the commitment to BT in 2007, Davidson College has raised enough to fund an entire BT academy in Uganda and construction is set to begin before the end of the year.

Students at Davidson College and young professionals at Gifford, part of Ramboll are Building Tomorrow. You can too, by joining a chapter, selling bricks, or tweeting about our rap (just to name a few). As you get involved this summer, don’t forget to take a picture of what you’re doing for the cause. BTers from around the world have been, and can continue to submit their pictures. Check out our Facebook album to get an idea of what others are doing, and remember that the 3 who receive the most likes and comments will receive a Building Tomorrow prize pack!

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