Michelle Shapiro
Michelle Shapiro (COM’10) of Washington, D.C., and Scott Karrel (CGS’08, CAS’10) of New York, N.Y., cofounded the nonprofit Unlock Foundation in 2011. Scott, an international relations major at BU, was inspired to start the organization, dedicated to improving primary education in rural African schools, while teaching at a school in Namibia for several months after graduating from BU. Michelle offered her marketing and communications skills. “Scott and I first met freshman year at a meeting of the BU Darfur Coalition (BUDC), and our friendship grew from there as did our involvement in the group, peaking in our leadership of BUDC as president and vice president in 2008. The skills we gained from BUDC, from event planning to managing a budget to coordinating volunteers, were very helpful in starting Unlock Foundation.” The nonprofit now includes three partner schools: two in Namibia and one in Ghana. “We have completed many projects to keep kids in school and ensure they have a quality education, including getting new desks and chairs built, constructing safe and clean bathroom facilities, providing mosquito nets to prevent malaria, giving textbooks to each student, etc.,” Michelle writes. “Scott has visited our schools several times in the last few years, and this past September I had the opportunity to join him for the first time in Namibia. It was incredibly inspiring to finally meet the students and see our programs in action.” Learn more at www.unlockfoundation.org.
From the Winter-Spring 2015 issue.