What is Prove It?
by Emily Melluso
The Prove It! application deadline is right around the corner, with the first round of submissions due at 11:59pm this Friday, March 1st.
What does this mean for UMBC undergraduates? It means that there is an opportunity to work together to improve our UMBC experience, potentially including its programs, services, and physical spaces. SGA will back selected projects with grants of up to $10,000. With Prove It!, you can see your ideas for UMBC become realities.
Many students have asked what Prove It! projects have looked like in the past. Check out some of the past Prove It! winners and finalists:
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The Garden was a Prove It! winner from the 2014 competition. This project is now manifesting as a physical community garden, located across from the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, while also becoming a student organization and a partner for service-learning and other projects across campus.
“Noche Vida,” a 2012 Prove It! winning project, used its $10,000 grant to help “Pura Vida,” the café in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, pilot extended business hours. The members of this team funded and staffed the initial implementation of extended hours to demonstrate that keeping Pura Vida open later for users of the Retriever Learning Center (located next to the atrium of the AOK Library) would be profitable. Thanks to the success of Noche Vida, Pura Vida is now open until midnight on weeknights.
The mural in the Biological Sciences building was a Prove It! 2012 finalist. Although not ultimately funded by Prove It! that year, the mural was able to be completed thanks in part to the relationships and support established as a part of the application process.
The Prove It! submission process mirrors many grant applications. The strategy and connections necessary for the project’s success are often forged in the process of completing the application.
What about communities outside of UMBC? The mission of Prove It! is to fund ideas and projects that students have for bettering or building onto the experience of being a UMBC student. Project ideas that relate to communities beyond the campus can be considered if UMBC students also will benefit from them.
But the deadline is March 1st!! Submissions that include at least three team members, as well as parts 1 and 2 of the application, will be able to proceed in the Prove It! process. To access the application please visit www.sga.umbc.edu/proveit. To like Prove It! on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/retrieversforchange. Please contact umbcproveit@gmail.com with any questions.
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from the Office of Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.
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Posted: February 24, 2015, 5:59 PM