To enhance student awareness and action, two University undergraduates launched a new nongovernmental organization last Thursday that enables students to participate in international service projects based on their personal interests and goals.

Known as Crossing Borders, the NGO was founded by LSA juniors David Duong and John Leahy after they traveled to Vietnam with a research grant from the University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies last summer. In collaboration with Project Vietnam and East Meets West - two health care NGOs already active in Vietnam - Duong and Leahy investigated the country's health care system to determine how NGOs might combat current health problems, such as malnutrition and newborn infection.

Leahy said their work in Vietnam and the knowledge gained through these experiences sparked the idea of Crossing Borders.

"I want to promote awareness and give (other students) a means and an opportunity to do the sort of work David and I were able to do," Leahy said.

Duong added that one of Crossing Borders's main objectives is to provide students with a hands-on experience that is not available in other undergraduate international programs.

"We are promoting something other than academic tourism and the study abroad experience," Duong said. "It's important for undergrads to have an international discipline in their area of study. We can't assume that we live in this bubble separate from everyone else."

CSEAS plans to fund the organization, and in the future Duong and Leahy hope to receive private donations.

Duong said Crossing Borders also shows that undergraduates can truly make a difference in the world even though they haven't completed their academic studies

Since its formation at the beginning of the semester, the organization's operating board has successfully launched a website and gained sponsorship from CSEAS.

Next summer, Crossing Borders plans to send eight undergraduates to Vietnam to continue Duong and Leahy's work in improving newborn care and the conditions of the country's orphans. In addition, Crossing Borders hopes to expand its efforts to Latin America and Africa. Currently there are only eight members of the NGO.

LSA junior and Crossing Borders development director Dan Axelson, who recently studied in the Dominican Republic, said his study abroad experience motivated him to become involved with the organization.

"In the Dominican Republic, I was exposed to so (many challenges) similar to those in Vietnam, and I came back wanting to improve conditions," Axelson said. "And I feel that as students, we have the time, energy and drive to get involved and really make an impact."

Charley Sullivan, CSEAS program coordinator, said the idea to create an NGO was an audacious one.

Sullivan, who has served as a major source of support and knowledge for Duong and Leahy added, "I think there is often a struggle with how to be effective in scientific research and make a difference. (Crossing Borders') approach allows them to do both."