ISA Major Promotes Youth Education at One Young World Summit

KENNESAW, Ga. | Oct 22, 2018

Information Security and Assurance student Veaceslav Cretu last week became the second Michael J. Coles College of Business student in as many years to speak at the One Young World Summit, an event that brings students, businesses, and government leaders together from around the world to identify solutions to challenging global issues.

The 2018 One Young World Summit was held Oct. 17-19 in The Hague, Netherlands, a city famous for being the home of the United Nations International Court of Justice and other human rights organizations. Some of the guest presenters at this year’s summit include Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Muhammad Yunus and Tawakkol Karman, as well as socially conscious celebrities Naomi Campbell, Rosario Dawson, and Terry Crews. 

Veaceslav Cretu One Young World

Young leaders from across the globe – many of them college students – attend the summit each year as delegates of their home countries, with event organizers selecting exceptional delegates to lead presentations. Cretu, who is a native of the Republic of Moldova, was chosen to speak in a session titled Will the Internet Achieve Quality in Education. He received a full scholarship from the organizers to attend.

Cretu co-founded a social enterprise in 2016 called DigiKidz, which taught computer literacy to underprivileged students in his home country. At the summit, he drew on this experience to discuss why it is important for students in developing countries to learn technology.

“When young people, technology, and access to education are aligned properly,” says Cretu, “and when education is available, affordable, and accessible, that’s when development happens.”

Earlier this year, Cretu accepted an offer to merge DigiKidz with a larger project called Twenty Tu. Twenty Tu is a private sector initiative with the goal of teaching valuable skills – including entrepreneurship, math, physics, digital literacy, and more – to 80,000 Moldovan young people by the year 2022. Cretu now sits on the diaspora advisory board of Twenty Tu, and believes his presence at One Young World will help generate support for the program.

“Twenty Tu is more inclusive [than DigiKidz alone],” he says. “Now we can teach more kids and the country can develop its own human capital. With my participation in this forum, I can bring more partners and connect more organizations so that we can achieve our goal by 2022,” he says.

Veaceslav Cretu with other delegates

Veaceslav Cretu (right) with Andorra Delegate Anthony Francome Molero (left) and Monaco Delegate Camille Devissi

Cretu is not the first Coles College of Business student to present at the One Young World Summit. Last year, professional sales student Stephanie Carvajalino spoke at the summit in Colombia along with her two sisters – Daniela, a Coles College alumna, and Karen, who graduated with a degree in psychology and statistics. They represented their home country of Colombia and presented on their own social enterprise, an online learning platform called The Biz Nation that teaches marketable skills, entrepreneurship and financial education.

“It is amazing that we have had two students in a row attend this prestigious event,” says Dr. Kathy Schwaig, Dean of the Coles College. “The entrepreneurial skills that Veaceslav and the Carvajalinos learned as Coles College students have empowered them to inspire real change in communities around the world. I am so proud of them and thrilled that they get to share their stories on the world stage.”

Cretu says he is proud to represent Kennesaw State University, the Coles College of Business, and the Republic of Moldova while supporting his passion for promoting education to underprivileged children.

“I am excited that I have the chance to share my values and my views of what is fair, what is ethical, and morally normal to accept in society,” he says. “I feel everyone should have access to education and be able to receive the welfare of social benefits.”  

– Patrick Harbin

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