James Condon ’30
Chief Meatball Correspondent
STOCKHOLM – Researching the feasibility of an IKEA on Freshman Field, I expected to be the only Crusaders in Sweden. Thus, I was happily surprised to see a group of Holy Cross students walking out of the Nobel Foundation with Matcha Trader Joe’s bags in hand and smiles on their faces.
Smiling ear to ear, Eamon Smith ‘30, President of Students Assisting Contingents reports “Mission Accomplished” as they disband their organization and apply for the Peace Prize.
The transition from working as an intern for his Dad’s firm to student activism was an organic one for Eamon, his LinkedIn profile highlighting his past work providing AI credits to under-privileged Literature majors.
“I got inspired during syllabus week when I saw the words ‘Contingent Faculty’ in the footnote.” Eamon said. “I didn’t know what it meant, but the choice of Calibri over Times New Roman really spoke to me.”
While Eamon knew a font would be the catalyst of solving the multifaceted dilemma plaguing American higher education, for their peace of mind, he left the contingents out of the loop. “At the end of the day, I didn’t want to burden them any further, and I would hate if my good work took the spotlight away from them.”
How does one start such a powerful movement? “It’s all about finding the passionate intelligentsia willing to make a change,” Eamon says, finding his in Todd and Will, who became co-directors on the promise they would support the Instagram page.
After amassing a strong 538 followers, the team moved onto the fundraising phase. With his Bloomberg Market Principles certification, Eamon investigated ways to raise capital.
While bake sales and car washes were thrown out there, Eamon utilized his high school marching band experience and leveraged the most elite tool in his financial arsenal: a Panera fundraising night.
“It was a total success,” Eamon said, receiving $230 from 15 sales of tomato soups and $1200 from his parents posting his Venmo on Facebook.
At this point, many founders would run for the hills. But not Eamon. Determined to break ground, he began with a “Donut Forget About Our Contingent Faculty” event in Hogan. With 240 Boston Crème’s gone and 6 people on an email list, Eamon labeled it a “High yielding awareness event.”
But words are meaningless unless they are backed by action. Eamon proposed something bold: “I was thinking, ‘What’s holding back contingent faculty from advancing their needs?’ And it hit me: teaching us!”
The next day, from Stein to the MAC, Eamon’s nine-man army took charge of classrooms. While substantial progress was made, such as Will teaching students how to use .5 mode in Intro to Photography, the Contingents ultimately asked Eamon to “Find something a little less destructive to our passion and livelihood, like baking cookies!”
It was then Eamon realized he changed the system, “It’s like I stopped them from worrying for a moment about the other problems in life, and that felt really meaningful.” Down to the last $938, Eamon booked a flight to meet the Nobel Committee in person, with him excitedly printing out the Canva posters he made, artists’ statements and all.
Wrapping up the interview, I asked Eamon for his next plans. “I’m gonna try to fix up the Easy Street dorms. The shower curtains are broken, and the Comic Sans on the posters are ticking me off.”
Portrait Photo Courtesy of Eamon, Nobel Prize medal via Public Domain.
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