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Alumni

Dave Ramish


Class of: 2013
Hometown: Vienna, VA
School: Arts and Science
Major(s): Math, Economics, Psychology

Dave came to Vanderbilt with many academic and service interests.  In high school he founded a volunteer tutoring program that helped financially disadvantaged students in his area. At Vanderbilt he has continued to tutor at several local schools, and has been interested to find that no matter how much you think you know about service, there’s always more to learn in new environments and new relationships.  His service interests have ranged from volunteer coaching a soccer team for four-and five-year-olds in Antioch, TN to teaching guitar lessons to students from low-income families at the W.O. Smith School of Music.

His freshman year Dave started playing guitar for patients at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, which quickly became one of his favorite and most meaningful service endeavors.  He has since become the volunteer coordinator for the Music in the Clinic program and has brought many more musicians into the clinic to share their talents and brighten the days of the cancer patients.

Dave joined the Microfinance Club at Vanderbilt his sophomore year and, thanks to the Ingram Summer Program, he had the amazing opportunity the following summer to explore serving others through microfinance.  Working with a Cameroonian NGO called United Action for Children (UAC), Dave developed a microenterprise program for young adults in Buea, Cameroon.  He set up a business training class to teach the developing entrepreneurs the essentials of creating a business plan and starting and running a business.  Through a partnership Dave established with a local microfinance institution, the adults in the program have the opportunity to apply for a loan for their project.  Several projects are currently underway and more will be coming to Buea soon!

Thinking to the future, Dave is fascinated by social entrepreneurship and other new opportunities to change the world.  He is convinced that the potential to make change is increasing every day, with each new piece of technology and with each additional active and socially conscious member of our society –we just have to step up, take advantage of that fact and make it happen.  He is excited for what lies ahead.