Ryan Evans, a senior in the Elliott School of Internation Affairs, will represent GW at the first annual Clinton Global Initiative at Tulane University in New Orleans next month.
Former President Bill Clinton created the international conference in collaboration with mtvU to connect undergraduate students across the country with leaders of government, business, education and other non-profit organizations.
At the event, Evans will make a pledge to enact change in the District by creating a voter enfranchisement initiative for high school seniors. He will meet with former President Clinton and sign an agreement to carry forward the tenets of the GW and act for the nation’s public service, a press release said.
The forum will focus on four problem areas: poverty alleviation, global health, human rights, and energy and climate change.
Evans has past experience working with the Clinton Global Initiative, a non-partisan foundation established in 2005, at its headquarters in New York City.
“I volunteered for the past two years for the Clinton Global Initiative in NYC, that’s where I got the taste for it . I saw people with ideas and people with the money to enforce change,” he said.
Michael Tapscott, director of the Multicultural Student Services Center, nominated Evans to be the University’s representative at the conference.
“(Evans is) a young man with a lot of great character traits; I like his values and I like his attitude,” Tapscott said. “What I think Ryan will do . (being a person of a majority race) . is bring attention to minority affairs. That speaks volumes for diversity and I think it speaks volumes for the interest of young men like him.”
Tapscott added, “I admire young men and women like him that have this courage,” he said.
Evans is an active member in both and off-campus communities. He is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and is a mentor for undergraduates in the Elliott School. Off campus, Evans works as a “Big Brother” in the D.C. public schools, and has previously interned with the U.S. Department of State and in the offices of Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
The conference will run from March 14 to March 16, where Evans will share ideas with the other 500 undergraduate students from across the country that will be in attendance.
“I was surprised (to be accepted) because I knew that there was a lot of people applying to it . I was honored, and I’m just happy to do something productive with my spring break,” Evans said. “I went down to New Orleans and did community service over winter break for Habitat for Humanity. So I’m excited this time; instead of using my hands I can use my voice to enact change.”
