Ask a group of undergrads who participated in the recent Good Venture Competition what makes them tick, and their answer may surprise you. You may expect to hear about aspirations for a high paying job, but more fittingly, these students want to do good for the community. The winning team from Stanford accepts the $25,000 check from the judges.
To promote social responsibility among undergraduate and graduate students, Good Venture conducts a competition where students vie for a chance to win a $25,000 donation for a non-profit organization based on their presentations. Six Good Venture finalist teams met recently at J.P. Morgan headquarters to present their cases in front of a panel of judges, including Bill Harrison, former chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The teams championed programs ranging from a student-led volunteer service organization that operates a national network of drop-in resource centers to a nonprofit that provides legal and parenting classes to incarcerated women in Atlanta.
The winning team from Stanford University, consisting of Justin Christopher, Oswald Calvario and Lizeth Chiprez, beat out 81 teams from 48 schools. Their non-profit Quest Scholars Program provides the nation’s most promising, low-income, underserved high school students with the mentorship, personal direction, skills and financial assistance to successfully apply to top colleges. The Stanford students, themselves former Quest participants attending the college on scholarships, continue to champion the program as counselors and volunteers.
“The spirit of giving back exhibited by these students was so impressive. It speaks to the current emphasis students are placing on contributing to the well being of their own communities,” said Deb Korb, manager of North America Campus Marketing for the Investment Bank.
After the presentations, students attended a dinner reception and an awards ceremony with members of the J.P. Morgan investment banking team. Judging alongside Harrison were Chris Harvey, Managing Director of Capital Structure Advisory and Solutions; Ben Thompson, Managing Director of Leveraged Finance; Winthrop Watson, Managing Director of Financial Institutions Group; Dalila Wilson-Scott, Vice President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation; and Andrew Bray, Chief Development Officer of Teach For America.
“Today’s generation of college students has an inspiring commitment to social responsibility,” Harrison said. “It is wonderful to see the depth of their commitment, and is consistent with J.P. Morgan’s own philanthropic goals, which are to support the communities in which we live and work.”
The undergraduate competition follows on the heels of a successful graduate competition, which concluded on December 1, 2006. The winning team, from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, received $25,000 on behalf of Lenders for Community Development.
To learn more about Good Venture go to goodventure.org .