The 100 Cornell undergraduates selected for the 2023 Contribution Project shared how they’re making the world a better place during the student showcase event on April 27 in the Human Ecology Commons. The Contribution Project gives students $400 so they can start, support, or continue making a difference in a way that’s meaningful to them.
“When you talk to the students about the nature of their contribution, you’ll see the range and diversity of ideas that exist in the students’ minds and hearts,” said Anthony Burrow, director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. “They’re really making a difference.”
Burrow started the Contribution Project in 2019 through an Engaged Cornell grant, believing that the best way to engage students would be to directly support the ideas that they’re most passionate about.
Michelle Zhou ’23, provides examples of her project, “The Mosaic” to students during The Contribution Project’s Student Showcase event on Apr. 27, 2023 in the HEB Commons. Photo Credit: Darcy Rose
Some of the 2023 contributions aim to change the landscape of the Cornell campus – for example, by making Braille signage more useable or planting trees that will bear fruit that anyone can eat.
Michelle Zhou ’23 is using her funds for a project called “The Mosaic,” to highlight the Cornell experience. Zhou is collecting stories and reflections from people around campus about their time at Cornell and publishing them in visual and text form.
“I started this project this semester because I’m leaving Cornell and I wanted to give back to the community that raised me for the past four years and allowed me to make a lot of connections,” Zhou said. “I’ve heard that it’s the people that make Cornell special, and I wanted others to see concrete examples of this.”
Other contributions reach into the Ithaca community.
One student is partnering with the Cornell Elderly Partnership to buy tablets for residents at a local senior home so they can connect with loved ones virtually. Another wants to help the Town of Danby acquire architectural and development help as it builds a new community center. A few students used their contributions to support specific areas of the Cornell Prison Education Program.
And some reach well beyond Ithaca, to other parts of the world. Aryaman Tharega ’25 is using the funds to help maintain solar panels that his organization, Solar-is, installed at a school in India. The panels were damaged during a dust storm, and Tharega needs to return to fix them.
Aryaman Tharega ’25 chats with other attendees at The Contribution Project’s Student Showcase on Apr. 27, 2023 in the HEB Commons. Photo Credit: Darcy Rose
“It really saddened me to find out that is what ended up happening, something that was really out of their control,” Tharega said. “I’m really grateful for The Contribution Project because it gives me a way to go back home and give back to this project in a way I wasn’t really expecting to while in college.”
Tharega also hopes to install solar-powered ceiling fans during his visit to give students relief from temperatures that can reach as high as 120 degrees.
Applications for contributions opened in February and the 100 contributions were selected randomly in March. Nearly every college and school with undergraduate students had a student selected to contribute. The Contribution Project is now funded by HopeLab, a social innovation lab and impact investor focused on empowering young people. All the selected projects are on the Contribution Project website.
