Davis Projects for Peace Program awards $1 million to Students from 81 Colleges and Universities
HARTFORD, CT ― The Davis Projects for Peace program has announced that students from 81 colleges and universities in the Davis United World College (UWC) Scholar Program will receive $1 million in funding to undertake their proposed projects. The program, in its second year, honors philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, who launched the initiative on the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2007. Designed to encourage and support motivated youth to create and implement their ideas for building peace throughout the world in the 21st century, each of the 100 projects will receive $10,000 in funding.
Davis Projects for Peace invited students from schools participating in the Davis UWC Scholars Program to submit plans for grassroots projects for peace, to be implemented during the summer of 2008. A competition for the funding took place on 81 of the 88 campuses in the UWC Scholars Program, which provides grants to select American colleges and universities in support of students from all over the world who have completed their pre-university studies at UWC schools. The 12 UWC schools are located on five continents and dedicated to promoting international understanding through education.
“We are grateful to the many students, faculty and staff who participated in this year’s competition,” said Executive Director of the Davis UWC Scholars Program Philip O. Geier. “Kathryn Davis is a leader, and what she has set in motion with this important challenge is a growing number of young people committed to putting into place the building blocks for peace.”
The winning projects propose specific plans of action that will have lasting effects — from post-conflict community building to youth empowerment and education programs to improved community water supplies worldwide to a multitude of agrarian enterprises in countries where famine is pervasive. Students will travel to more than 54 countries over the summer to work on their projects and report on their experiences once they return.
Daniela McFarren, ’09, and Ezel Poslu, ’09, of Trinity College in Hartford, CT, are among the students who will receive $10,000 for their project, "Peace in Jail," which is intended to establish a youth technology and student center in the recreational area of the San Pedro Men’s Prison in La Paz, Bolivia. Currently, 211 children live in the prison. They are there not because they committed a crime, but because they have only their fathers to take care of them. Of the 211 children, 107 are younger than six, 74 are between the ages of seven and 12 and 30 are older than 12. In the prison, the children have limited facilities, are surrounded by criminals and therefore lack the resources and mentors to become model citizens.
The objective of the project proposed by McFarren and Poslu is to grant a generation of children new opportunities, and extend and enrich their restricted childhood experience. “Hopefully, this project will encourage the San Pedro children to follow a path different from the one they see around them. Education empowers and enlightens. It can be the decisive tool for the San Pedro children to attain peaceful lives, thus contributing their gifts to the world,” wrote McFarren and Poslu in their proposal.
The two Trinity students intend to install 12 computers with educational software programs and security locks to prevent theft and misuse. With the help of a technician and a carpenter, they will also equip the center with books, games and a reading area.
McFarren was born in Bolivia and has worked as an academic mentor in the Hartford Magnet Middle School and completed a summer internship in Bolivia with Save the Children. Poslu is a native of Turkey and has worked for the Turkish Volunteer Education Organization teaching basic computer software programs to children. They will be working with Save the Children Bolivia, officials of the San Pedro prison and the Catholic Church. They expect their project will be completed in eight weeks – three weeks to equip and furnish the technology and study center and the remaining time to train and mentor the children.
Davis is an internationalist and philanthropist, and the mother of Shelby M.C. Davis, who funds the Davis UWC Scholars Program. “My many years have taught me that there will always be conflict,” said Davis. “It’s part of human nature. But love, kindness, and support are also part of human nature, and my challenge to these young people is to bring about a mindset of preparing for peace instead of preparing for war.”
A complete list of the participating schools and projects, as well as a summary of the 2007 projects and a video interview with Davis from 2006, is available on the program’s Web site at www.davisprojectsforpeace.org.