This forum will highlight how students can be catalysts in developing education for personal and social responsibility. It will offer an unprecedented opportunity for students from Babson, Olin, and Wellesley to come together and develop real plans for change on the three campuses. While only the top idea(s) will receive funding, we hope that many of them will be acted on.  We hope that this forum will ignite further collaboration amongst the schools!

The contact us page provides the contact information for the six Babson students planning this forum. There is also an e-forum for joint online discussions. The staff contact at Babson is Betsy Newman, Dean of Student Affairs.  She can be reached at 781-239-4218 or enewman1@babson.edu.

Babson will cover all meals, materials, and transportation for the forum.

The Babson coordinators have arranged van transportation to and from Wellesley's campus. Time of pick-up and drop-off will be announced closer to the forum date.

The Forum begins at 3 pm on Friday, April 23rd and ends around 1 pm on Sunday, April 25th.  If you have any unavoidable conflicts with any portion of the weekend, please let the coordinators know as soon as possible.

We hope that the students arrive ready to share their particular passions within the realm of social responsibility and campus involvement.  Any idea(s) that may result from the forum will require the continued involvement from the Babson coordinators to ensure successful implementation and ongoing success on and amongst all three campuses.

The Rocket Pitch process is one that Babson uses in our curriculum to develop and implement student business ideas, to great success.  On the first day, Babson faculty will facilitate a “Mapping Opportunities Exercise.” Each student may come to the forum with several ideas of how they can be catalysts in developing initiatives for personal and social responsibility OR they may be inspired by the unique Friday break-out sessions with distinguished faculty and staff from all three schools.  The major guidelines include: the ideas can come in many forms but cannot simply be starting an organization with a mission statement (for example, it may be a program, an event, etc.), they must be implementable across all three campuses, and they must have a focus of social responsibility.  Students should be open to their ideas changing, evolving, or merging with others. It’s also possible that other new ideas might emerge out of this opportunities-generating exercise.  Cross-institutional teams will then form around each of the top ideas generated during the session.

Then, structured teams begin research, planning, and preparations for the final Rocket Pitches! For a more detailed look at rocket pitches, visit this link. Faculty concurrent sessions and faculty consultations will be provided throughout the weekend.  For the winning idea(s), Babson will coordinate the reimbursement of program costs (as approved) after expenses are incurred.

No.  The entire forum will take place on Babson’s campus  There are structured activities throughout the time on campus with our students.  We have Babson, Olin, and Wellesley faculty, staff, and students as session facilitators, judges, faculty consultants, and general observers at the forum.  However, if you have an interest in volunteering for the forum, please contact Betsy Newman directly.  We welcome your participation. 

Applications are available until Friday, April 2nd. You must fill out an application in its entirety to be considered. We will contact you if you have been chosen for the conference no later than Wednesday, April 7th.

Staff and faculty may recommend students by contacting them directly and by sending their name and email address to bethechange@babson.edu.

If you have not received an application, please contact:
    John Gesimondo - Babson
    Andrew Heine - Olin
    Kate Soules - Wellesley

Of course! The weekend of April 23rd-25th will be one of the busiest weekends on Babson’s campus.  The Babson students hosting this forum have many activities planned after such a hard day of work.  Activities and entertainment are scheduled for Friday and Saturday evening.