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"entrepreneurs"

Riggs Hailed for Working Weekend

By Anna Mann on September 22, 2016 05:17 PM

Adam Riggs ’95 brandishes the Babson Award, presented by Alice Harra, Director of the Center for Life Beyond Reed, at the Volunteer Recognition Dinner last week.

Digital entrepreneur Adam Riggs ’95 was honored with the Babson Society Outstanding Volunteer Award last week for his leadership in establishing Working Weekend, an annual conference that connects Reed students to alumni with similar career interests.

Alice Harra, Director of the Center for Life Beyond Reed, presented Adam with the award, hailing Working Weekend as an inspiring event that helps Reed students connect with alumni mentors and explore career fields and paths. The success of the program was echoed by student testimonials and has proven so popular that it has now spawned a series of focused events such as Mindstorm, TechFayre, and the Winter Shadows.

The presentation took place at Reed’s annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner, which honors alumni volunteers who, through their generous contributions, help advance Reed and support student success. Trustee Dr. Deborah Kamali ’85 recognized many other individuals and groups who make a significant impact, including

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Physics major builds a better brick

By Randall S. Barton on January 13, 2016 03:18 PM

CUE THE CUBOID. Physics major Aiman Absar ’19 is on a quest to help Bangladesh cope with devastating floods with a cheaper, more sustainable brick.

A Reed physics major hopes to curb the devastation caused by floods in Bangladesh with a new twist on one of humanity’s most durable inventions—the humble brick.

Aiman Absar ’19 and two Bangladeshi friends have created a startup to manufacture a new kind of brick that is both cheap and environmentally sustainable.

With a population of 156 million people packed into an area the size of Iowa, Bangladesh has the highest population density in the world. During the monsoon season, heavy rain combined with poor drainage cause the rivers to flood their banks, inundating the countryside and destroying the makeshift houses of the impoverished rural population. When the waters subside, the farmers and fishermen begin the Sisyphean task of fashioning another abode from sheets of corrugated steel, mud, and thatch.

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Bridging the Disability Divide

By Nisma Elias '12 on March 05, 2012 02:03 PM

At Reed's first-ever Working Weekend, it all came together for Gabriel Forsythe-Korzeniewicz '12, an economics senior. The career-focused event, which was held February 3-5, was designed to help students and newer alumni get a jump-start on internships, contacts, and careers. Alumni organized and led panels in 10 different subject areas and participated in a three-day StartUp Lab, where they served as entrepreneurs and led teams of students through the presentation and marketing of their original ideas to investors. On Sunday, the Lab culminated with final pitches to a live panel of Angel, Venture Capital, and Incubator investors.

Gabriel, whose brother has Down syndrome and is a self-advocate in their hometown in Maryland, has always been very active in the disability community. In high school, Gabriel mentored disabled kids and volunteered during his junior summer at Reed with the Northwest Down Syndrome Association in Portland. He also won the prestigious McGill Lawrence Internship award in 2011 and used it to work for the Autism Centre in Accra, Ghana. He has been focusing his academics on disability related themes besides doing other non-profit work related to disability outreach in Portland.

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Welcome to the Working Week(end)

By Nisma Elias '12 on February 10, 2012 01:07 PM

The campus pulsed with energy Feb 3-5 as scores of alumni traveled across the country to participate in Reed's first ever Working Weekend, a giant career-focused event that featured speakers, panels, and synergy designed to help students and newer alumni get a jump-start on internships, contacts, and careers.

Alumni organized, led, and participated in a day of panels in ten different subject areas on Saturday. One panel was Non-Profits: Changing Lives, where alumni doled out expert guidance and advice on working in the non-profit sector. The panel was lead by Jan Liss '74, Emily Corso '10, Sarah Costello '95, Nell Edgington '95, Craig Mosbaek '83, and Jeremy Stone '99. Together the panel debated and discussed a range of issues, such as the merit of having a law or an MBA degree in the non-profit sector, and how to make yourself the most viable candidate for a coveted job or internship.

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