Students Attend Partners Worldwide Summit

Three of our Lewis & Clark students attended an international summit of Partners Worldwide, a Christian networking organization dedicated to ending poverty through business.  Jane VanderPloeg, serial entrepreneur and Office of Spiritual Life and IVCF mentor made the arrangements and also attended the two-day summit with the students last October in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

The three students who attended are each from Africa and were delighted to make connections with Rwandans, Zimbabweans, and Kenyans at the summit, all of whom are involved in building effective enterprises in those countries. Jane also was able to reconnect with mentors from her student internship days back in 1977 and she discovered they are still doing astounding and transformative work.   

One of the student participants wrote this about her experience: “My biggest lesson in the summit was on how entrepreneurship is a source of growth and God does support entrepreneurship…The summit made me see business from an angle of love. For me, it was almost like healing because I felt peace in who I am… I am excited to explore how loving these traits about myself can open careers that I actually love while creating an impact in amazing ways.” 

Support from Partners Worldwide, Encouragers, Inc., the Office of Spiritual Life and the Diversity Committee helped finance the travel and summit expenses.