Friday, August 3, 2012

Bulldogs Continue Educational Efforts via ELI Africa - Yale Bulldogs

Check out this interesting program . . . for the full story, click on the link below.

Bulldogs Continue Educational Efforts via ELI Africa

Lexy Adams (top) and Jordan Forney and Emily Standish (bottom) are three of more than a dozen Yale varsity student-athletes who have worked for ELI Africa, a program started by former Yale football player Vedant Seeam.

Lexy Adams (top) and Jordan Forney and Emily Standish (bottom) are three of more than a dozen Yale varsity student-athletes who have worked for ELI Africa, a program started by former Yale football player Vedant Seeam.

Program Founded by Former Yale Football Player Vedant Seeam ‘11

MAURITIUS - Every summer since 2010, a contingent of Yale students -- many of them varsity athletes -- has traveled to Mauritius, a small island of the coast of Africa with a population of about 1.3 million people. The Bulldogs are drawn there to spend two months working on experiential learning projects, helping the country’s underprivileged children“learn by doing”. The program, Experiential Learning Initiative (ELI) Africa, was started by a former Yale football player.

The man behind ELI Africa is Vedant Seeam’11, a native of Mauritius who was a defensive lineman for the Bulldogs. The organization has had more than a dozen Yale varsity student-athletes work for it in the past three years, helping Seeam realize his vision of developing free, locally relevant educational programs that aid personal development and nurture creativity and self-expression.

Seeam grew up in the farming village of Plaine des Roches. After graduating from high school, he was elected Vice-Chairman of Finance of his district -- becoming the youngest-elected politician in the country. Seeam was also a member of the Mauritian National Team in badminton, but after arriving at Yale in 2006 he saw another sport for the first time: football. He took to it quickly, earning a letter as a sophomore in 2007. His connection to that sport would eventually help bring three other Yale football players to Mauritius to work for ELI Africa.

Bulldogs Continue Educational Efforts via ELI Africa - Yale Bulldogs

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