A Generation Where It Is 'Cool' to Give Back

A Generation Where It Is 'Cool' to Give Back
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Since we entered pre-school the message has been to help anyone in need. We have been wired to take action and make a wrong a right. If somebody is getting bullied, don't be the bystander, be the ally. When the holidays approach, roll up your sleeves and serve dinner in a soup kitchen. Instead of accepting presents for your birthday, ask your friends to give money to your favorite cause.

In our generation, it's cool to give back. Who goes on a summer program that doesn't have a community service aspect? Who has a dance, where the admission money isn't going to a cause? There is never a Friday night football game without a bake sale to raise money for a cause. No matter who you are or where you're from, you can give back, and students not only realize that, they are making an impact. There are so many people changing the world in amazing ways. Yet when you watch the news, bad news is on the forefront -- the shooting of an innocent bystander, the latest celebrity entering rehab, political parties tearing each other apart.

Milkshake is giving us the opportunity to change the news and to feature all the good that is happening in the world. They launched a year ago with a global daily email edition and soon added an edition for parents with young kids. The newest edition is targeted to our generation, high school and college kids, Milkshake Campus.

The Hotchkiss School, a picturesque boarding school up in Lakeville, Conn. is one of the test campuses launching a milkshake edition. Our mission is to celebrate the good that the 597 students and 154 faculty members from 29 countries are doing on our campus every day. We thought it might be hard to generate enough content, but actually the opposite has happened. Students are eager to submit their stories ranging from summer experiences -- teaching kids in Panama to speak English, working with bluevoice to save dolphins and whales, spending two months in Africa working in an orphanage. The great thing is that the experiences are shared and others are then eager to learn more about a cause, a program or a product that gives back. Some days we put up an inspiring quote, others a new recipe featuring the organic vegetables students and faculty have cultivated from our own Hotchkiss farm, other days we may highlight a really cool bracelet supporting Autism from a company like Pura Vida, which also helps provide full-time jobs for local artisans in Costa Rica. Of course we also feature any cause that is near and dear to anyone on campus. We are excited by Milkshake at Hotchkiss and hope we can prove out that our generation really does care.

We live in the technological age; we are all obsessed with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter -- you name it. Something new comes around everyday. But while we all love technology we are also a generation that is not afraid to get their hands dirty and dig in to make change happen.

Olivia Jurkowitz is a senior at The Hotchkiss School. She is the co-editor of sports for The Record, co-founder of PAWS, a club to protect animals and a member of the field hockey and lacrosse team. She has a twin sister and younger sister who also attend Hotchkiss and two younger brothers. Milkshake on Campus is currently launching at Dartmouth College, Trinity College and Bucknell University.

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