Students help with national organization

A group of dedicated students is joining forces with the national organization Keep a Child Alive to help battle the AIDS virus in Africa.
Despite being a newly registered student organization, the UCA chapter of the organization is already actively participating in nationwide efforts to care for people with the disease.
Keep a Child Alive (KCA) is a charity co-founded by Leigh Blake and singer Alicia Keys. According to the official Web site at keepachildalive.org, the two women were wanting to find a way to "provide life-saving medication, support and orphan care" to populations worldwide that are crippled by the spread of AIDS.
Celebrities like Iman and Jessica Alba have followed Keys' lead and become global ambassadors for the group.
KCA is a registered charity in the United States, and all of the funds donated to the organization go toward the group's cause.
Junior Shanna McCormick, president of the UCA chapter, said she was motivated to start a branch after attending an Alicia Keys concert this summer.
“I've been a fan of her since 'Songs in A Minor'," McCormick said. "She started talking about her organization at the concert, and I thought to myself, 'I have to do something. I can't just walk away and do nothing.' "
Shortly after the concert, McCormick gathered some friends and asked if they were interested in forming a UCA chapter of Keep a Child Alive. The group has grown considerably since then.
“It's amazing that, since June, we've gotten like 30 members," McCormick said.
The bulk of the chapter's work is aimed at informing students about the disease, and McCormick said the group will learn new educational tactics at a student summit this month in New York. The summit Nov. 13-15 provides an opportunity for young chapters to both discuss their experiences and gain new perspectives for the organization. The participants will also be able to visit elementary schools in the Bronx and talk to the children about AIDS.
“We'll be doing workshops about how to market KCA to other students, and we'll be learning about HIV and AIDS in general," McCormick said. "We're doing really good with what we have here, but it'll be good to go and see what other chapters are doing so we can bring that back to our campus at UCA."
McCormick said UCA and Arkansas State University are the only public colleges in the state that have a KCA chapter.
Student Andrea Kincaid said she sees the group as an opportunity for UCA students to actively help children.
“I decided to join this organization because I love to help others, but most importantly children," Kincaid said. "People always complain about what is going on in the world, but no one ever tries to do anything about it."

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