OLPCorps UIUC Kenya TeamBio

Eric Anderson (University of Illinois)

My name is Eric Anderson. I am a rising senior studying English, Informatics, and Global Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A Chancellor's Scholar, James Scholar, and the Cooke Scholar in English, I am currently spending a semester at the University of Bristol, UK.

I first encountered OLPC while a staff writer for UIUC's Technograph Engineering Magazine. I wrote the "Pro OLPC" column and, evidently, was so convincing that the writer opposing me never turned in his piece! Since then, I have been searching for a way to get involved in this fascinating and ambitious project, and knew OLPCorps would be the best way to spend my last college summer.

Last summer, I "voluntoured" with Long Way Home in Comalapa, Guatemala. Long Way Home is using one of my essays (link to essay) about the experience for advertising and fundraising.

I have extensive experience working with children. I've been a piano instructor, a Youth Music Minister at a local church, a reading tutor for 10 and 11-year-olds in Champaign, IL, and have lived and worked with gifted children at Stanford University and in Los Angeles through the Center for Talented Youth (CTY), run by Johns Hopkins University.

After the project, I'd like to establish a OLPC Registered Student Organization (RSO) at the University of Illinois in order to continue or affiliation with OLPC as well as the site.

Meghan Higginbotham (University of San Diego)

My name is Meghan Higginbotham. I am a senior studying International Relations and Peace and Justice Studies in the Middle East and Africa at the University of San Diego. I also study Arabic and global development. In 2008 I lived, studied and volunteered in Morocco for five months and Mexico for two.

I first heard of OLPC when studying development in South America. I am especially impressed with the durability, design and functionality of the XOs. I see what OLPC is doing as critical for decreasing the global educational gap. As a Head Start volunteer in the U.S., I understand the critical role that education plays in the lives of individual children, as well as their families and communities; this factor is evident even more so in the developing world.

I am currently an Enough Project intern in Washington, D.C. and am working on an initiative that seeks to provide quality education for Darfuri students living in refugee camps in Chad, through partnerships with American schools. The program will fund 72 schools, for over 100,000 children, in the camps and I hope to be able to assist in introducing XOs to the students in the camps in the next few years. I think that this program, like OLPC, is a great model for the kind of development that is necessary today: not just “aid” programs, but those which create a sense of solidarity between donors and recipients and understanding of the importance of addressing global poverty before personal or national wealth.

Matthew O'Rourke (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

My name is Matthew O’Rourke. I am a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working a major in economics and minors in business and philosophy.

My passion for volunteering in underprivileged locations began with a trip to New Orleans in December of 2007. I volunteered with an organization named Katrina Corps and I displayed such a passion I was offered a coordinator position for the coming spring break which I promptly accepted.

Since then I’ve lead a group to Guatemala to work with economically challenged communities. Also, I’ve taken the position of marketing director of Alternative Breaks, a university organization that sends hundreds of kids to different locations across the U.S. to participate in community service projects during their winter, spring and summer breaks.

The last year and half of my life has been a whirl wind of building houses, painting schools, helping children, and discovering culture. I couldn’t imagine doing anything but continuing these experiences and when I ran across a TED talk about the 100 dollar laptop I quickly scoured the internet to find OLPCorps and joined this great group.

Upon return from Africa I plan to fundraise for NGO’s that our group will work with in Africa, as well form a new group to travel to Africa next summer and carry on OLPC’s mission after I am done.