December 13, 2013
Read time : 3 min

Have you ever seen the movie “Over the Hedges?”

In this film, squirrels and other animals who leave the comfort of nature to venture “over the hedges” into civilization to steal food from humans. While this movie doesn’t seem related to the Up to Us team at Rice University, it can be used as an analogy. Hedges surround the Rice campus, and we often joke that we live within those hedges, in our own little bubble. Rice can feel like a haven away from the problems that our country and the world faces, such as the American debt issue. We often forget about what is going on around us because we are so caught up in our lives filled with coffee, studying, sports practice, etc. That’s why the Rice Up to Us team came together.

We are not part of an already existing education, but all five of us saw a need to burst the bubble and engage our fellow students in a conversation about this part of American society that will drastically affect our future.

As the Rice Up to Us team leader, I could not be more excited to be working with everyone at all 24 universities across the nation to bring this issue to light for our generation. When I went to the Net Impact conference in San Jose, I was blown away by the passion I saw in the other team leaders, and I know that I speak for my entire team in saying that we feel incredibly lucky to be working in such a great company of other Up to Us core team members.