Collaboratively Changing the World

November 2016

Poverty eradication, diplomacy education, and faith promotion may sound like an ambitious set of projects for a team of undergraduates. Yet for students at the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration, that’s exactly the point - to use creative skills to uplift and inspire the world.

Scott James, a student in the College of Fine Arts and Communications who works for the Laycock Center, says: “In one of our projects we partnered with a world-renowned nonprofit that has developed a program called Poverty Stoplight. It provides a tool to identify what will help people get themselves out of poverty. We’ve been developing a communications strategy, promotional videos, and a website to help promote this program to social innovators.”

The Laycock Center is funded by donations. The center’s director, Jeff Sheets, chooses projects that will have a large impact, provide opportunities for mentoring, and require creativity and collaboration - projects such as Poverty Stoplight, the Diplomacy Center, and Faith Counts.

James believes that his experiences at the Laycock Center are shaping his career aspirations and imparting invaluable experience. He says, “I can’t imagine a better place to spend my time at BYU preparing for life after graduation.”