A team of Bellarmine University students finished third in a nationwide campus competition designed to raise awareness about the national debt.
The top five:
- Stockton University
- Texas State University
- Bellarmine University
- Regent University
- University of Miami
The competition’s national organizers recognized Bellarmine’s team for using creative strategies to engage their fellow students, including debt bingo and a debt carnival that playfully communicated a message that the national debt will not magically disappear.
Cathleen Jeanty, a senior English major who is the team’s leader, earned a trip to Miami this weekend to participate in a Clinton Global Initiative University gathering.
“We are ecstatic and humbled to have been chosen as one of the top three campaigns this year," said Jeanty. "The knowledge we acquired from participating is absolutely invaluable. Up to Us provided us with just the right tools to put together an instructive, effective campaign. We thoroughly enjoyed our time raising awareness on this campus, and with the knowledge Up to Us has given us, it is now our responsibility to continue doing so, both on campus and beyond."
In addition to Jeanty, Bellarmine’s team included Liz Escobar and Rebecca Spetz.
Bellarmine’s team wrote op-ed pieces in The Courier-Journal and KyForward.com, published a "Debt Dear Abby" column in Bellarmine's student newspaper and appeared on WHAS-11’s Great Day Live. They also met with Rep. John Yarmuth to discuss the national debt's impact on millennials.
The competition, sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative University and Net Impact, brought together students from 44 colleges and universities across the country to increase awareness and engagement among their peers on an issue critical to their future: the nation’s long-term fiscal health and economic strength.