Surrounded by food, live music and friendly competition, two Colorado State University clubs worked toward making the world a better place.
It all began when Rams Without Borders, an organization that aims to improve infrastructure abroad, was nearing the end of its more than six-yearlong water systems project in El Salvador.
“We’re branching out,” RWB President Hannah Bailey, said. “We’re … trying to find new projects and where exactly we fit.”
One of these new pathways has involved multiple projects in Guatemala. The work there was started by members of RWB’s professional chapter, Engineers Without Borders, but the student chapter was given opportunities to assist.
“They asked us to help out with a water tower, wastewater treatment design and then, like, a solar system,” Bailey said.
The group is in the early stages of fundraising, and they typically do so by regularly attending events, such as the CSU World Unity Fair, to bring attention to their causes.
“It’s a big project, and it’s a big community, so there’s going to be a lot of fundraising efforts that are going to be needed to make all that happen,” said Hugh McCurren, the fundraising chair for Engineers Without Borders.
McCurren also works as the service projects chair at Rotaract CSU, a community engagement- and leadership-based club that helps those in need, primarily through volunteer and service activities. Being an active member of both groups, McCurren said he began to formulate a plan to bridge the fundraising needs of RWB with the strengths of Rotaract.
“I kind of realized that their values and missions were really similar, so I thought, ‘Why not bring them together and collaborate on a bigger project?’” McCurren said.
Saira Hafeez, the founder and president of the Rotaract Club at CSU, spoke on her initial reaction to the suggestion.
“Rotary (Club) has not done anything at the international level without their Rotary partners,” Hafeez said.
The CSU chapter of Rotary was started in February 2025 by Hafeez after speaking to a Rotarian at her summer job. She was invited to a meeting and became interested in the community. Hafeez saw an opportunity to do good at CSU by taking the initiative to restart their youth chapter.
“And ever since, we have been working nonstop,” Hafeez said. “Now we have a team of 48 today who are, like, ‘OK, we are passionate about community service, and we really want to contribute.’”
Rotaract explores ideas for each project from members’ interests and suggestions, which is how McCurren put his idea to collaborate on the team’s radar and eventually turned it into a reality.
When Avogadro’s Number, a restaurant in Fort Collins, offered to host a fundraising event free of charge in solidarity with the group’s mission, they were off to the races.
Between live student musicians and games of bingo, funds for the Guatemala project increased.
“We had really good donations,” Hafeez said. “We also got one of the Rotary After Work members to come up and say, ‘OK, whatever you make tonight, we’re going to match that to a thousand dollars.’”
Bailey confirmed that as a result of the support of attendees and other Rotarians, they were able to make around $2,600 in proceeds.
“They’re going to mainly go towards sending students, either over the summer or shortly after, to do some basic analysis,” McCurren said. “Without all that information, we’re kind of constrained to what we can do because we haven’t been there.”
Members of both groups are interested in continuing to work together on annual events in the future.
“If it’s going to help the vulnerable communities there, we’re going to build the capacity for those communities,” Hafeez said. “So let’s do it together.”
Reach Maiya Kreamer at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
