THINK is one of Cabrini’s most recent clubs for the new school year and they have a tagline like no other, “Do you want to save the world?” Now we are not exactly talking about recycling to save the environment or replacing your normal light bulbs with the energy efficient ones. The High Impact Network (THINK) is all about using creativity, strategy and intellectual approaches to make the world a more positive place.
THINK is a global network promoting the concept of making the world better for those who inhabit it and is active on college and university campuses across the country. Michelle Zajko, a junior biology major, was the one who originated the idea of bringing this group to Cabrini and her reasoning for doing so is simple, she just wants to help people.
“I want to help save people for my career, but this is a way I can do it now,” said Zajko.
Her passion combined with THINK’s goal plans on reaching out to people is not limited to Radnor or Philadelphia. This act can go national and even global. That may seem like a far-fetched objective at first, but what it comes down to is encouraging people to donate money to charities that help save lives. One of the charities Zajko specifically mentioned was the Against Malaria Foundation. Malaria is a disease that thousands of people die from around the world, but that can be prevented with the help of donations. Zajko would not be donating by herself though. She hopes to get Cabrini as a community to donate so they can leave an impact on those in need.
This notion pairs up with Cabrini’s interest to a tee. Every student is required to complete their Engagement with the Common Good (ECG) classes and included in those courses is learning how to enhance a student’s skills so they can associate with community service and Justice Matters programs.
But what is the strategy behind THINK and Zajko’s overall goal? The answer itself is something people may not be familiar with but is a concept that everyone understands. Effective Altruism is the approach. Although this sounds like a complicated idea, it is actually very basic. Its definition is simply doing the most good possible and Zajko provided us with this example:
“Say you have two charities and $50. Charity A can save 100 people with that money and charity B can save 10 people with that money. Who would you donate it to?”
If you said Charity A, then you have a basic understanding of effective altruism. Charity A can save 90 more lives than charity B can, so the money is being distributed over a larger amount of people with the same goal, changing lives for the better. Far future is another another idea that effective altruists care deeply about. This concept worries about the possibility of future extinction and shes that they are not just worried about people in this time frame; they care about the future population as well.
THINK is not just about helping others though; it is also about self improvement and choosing a career that will lead you down the right path in life. Aside from weekly meetings to improve your knowledge of how to help people, THINK plans on hosting two workshops to encourage students to develop strong self improvement strategies when it comes to school work. The first one will cover studying and topics in this workshop will include methods that have been researched by scientists to improve your study habits, retention and other techniques to get better at learning in general. The second one will cover fighting procrastination and the ways that people can balance the many things in their life so they can stress a little less.
If all goes according to plan, there will be one workshop in November and the other in January. Making THINK possible on Cabrini’s campus has been months in the working and that just shows Zajko’s passion for this goes beyond research. She encourages everyone to come out and see what kind of difference they can make.
“I just want to make the biggest impact I can.”
THINK plans on meeting in room 1 of the library on Wednesdays to discuss helping others, effective altruism and much more! If you are interested in joining you can contact Michelle Zajko at mjz42@cabrini.edu or join THINK’s Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/THINKCabrini/. If you are unsure if THINK is the right group for you, just ask yourself “do you want to save the world?”
