Chelsey Jones
Staff Writers
The Jackson State University’s Up to Us team is continuing its efforts to inform students about the high national debt.
The team is only a year old and only has five active members, but they do not let these factors deter them from accomplishing their mission.
Net Impact started Up to Us as a way to inform young adults about the almost $20 trillion national debt. According to www.itsuptous.org, Up to Us is a non-partisan, national campaign that gives college students a chance to be the voice of their generation. Participants develop meaningful leadership skills and experience by building a movement to raise awareness on America’s long-term fiscal and economic challenges. Develop connections, receive leadership training, build your résumé and make an impact.
Up to Us holds a competition every year to see which school can get the most pledges on the organization’s website. Jackson State University is currently competing with more than 75 other colleges and universities, such as Oklahoma State University, Florida State University and Howard University.
The pledges serve as proof that the students who signed were informed about the national debt. The school with the most pledges wins $100,000 and will be recognized at the annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) meeting in Washington, D.C. Last year, Jackson State came in third place and the College of William and Mary won the competition.
This year, the JSU team plans to do things differently from the participants from last year.
Gerson Guevara, a sophomore urban studies major and a member of Up to Us explained the changes they made to the program.
“What we are doing is that we are trying to make our program more intensive and far-reaching,” Guevara said. “Last year, their efforts to try and involve the campus were less intensive. This year, we want to include more of the campus population.”
The group also plans to do more activities than the previous group. On Oct. 19, the group held a “My Two Cents Day” event where they offered students a chance to win giftcards in exchange for pledges on the website. They had tables set up in different buildings on campus to collect pledges, and the group was able to get almost 900 signatures that day.
“One upcoming event that we have planned is a casino night,” said Terrence Dillon, the team’s leader. “We will have games themed around the national debt. It will be on Dec.2 in the Jacob L. Reddix General Purpose Room.”
Participants in the Up to Us team are afforded:
• Leadership training
•Resume-building experience
• Internship opportunities
•Access to events & conferences
•Networking with future-leaders across the country
Jackson State University students can sign the pledge at ww.netimpact.org/programs/up-to-us-pledge.
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