A map too small

The desire to make a difference doesn’t end when students graduate from James Madison University. If you want evidence, keep reading. For today’s blog, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations James Irwin writes about the recent Big Event that occurred in Harrisonburg  — and far beyond.

Seeing the bigger picture

by James Irwin (’06), assistant director of Alumni Relations

There’s a map of the United States located on page 46 of the Fall 2012 edition of Madison magazine. Framed in purple and with state boundaries etched in gold, the map is decorated with paw prints pinpointing alumni locations for The Big Event, JMU’s annual day of service.

The Fall 2013 edition is going to require a bigger map.

Brought together by a collective sense of community, more than 150 alumni worldwide participated in The Big Event in April, totaling 525 volunteer hours. Alumni locations included two spots on the West Coast (Los Angeles and San Francisco) and one in Johannesburg, South Africa, the first JMU Big Event location hosted outside the United States.

“Living 8,000 miles from Harrisonburg certainly feels a long way away,” said Lawson Ricketts (’05), who organized the Johannesburg event. (He and a handful of JMU alumni helped plant a winter vegetable garden at Turning Point Home, a boy’s orphanage supported by St. George’s Church). “I thought this was an important initiative to get involved with — particularly within the context of South Africa and the poverty throughout the country.”

Ricketts has lived in South Africa since 2008. He had been on safari — “literally, in the middle of the African bush, tracking elephants” — when he spotted a JMU lanyard belonging to another Madison graduate. She was researching black-backed jackals in the Madikwe Game Reserve and the two fell into a conversation that took them halfway around the world.

“It got me thinking ‘how many other Dukes might actually be in South Africa?’” Ricketts said. “Once I saw The Big Event email come through, I knew immediately we should try and pull something together.”

Ricketts knew two other JMU grads in South Africa — “they jumped at the opportunity to get involved,” — and he reached out to the JMU alumni office in February about participating in The Big Event.

The request caused quite a stir.

“I was a little shocked, actually,” said Amanda Leech (’09), chapter coordinator in the JMU Office of Alumni Relations. “To know someone halfway around the world is interested in doing something like this — it’s inspiring stuff.”

The South Africa group was one of 14 alumni Big Event locations. Dukes volunteered at environmental cleanups, food drives and charity runs through organizations like the SPCA, the American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Equikids and Walk MS.

In Baltimore, over the course of four hours, more than 20 Dukes completed two weeks worth of work at Cherry Hill Urban Garden.

“Our work was completely hands-on — weeding, shoveling and raking,” Baltimore alumni service coordinator Cory Hill (’06) said. “I think the Big Event is a vehicle that can provide an opportunity to connect JMU alumni, not only to each other but to their respective neighborhoods and communities in a unique way.”

Participation in The Big Event was a no-brainer, according to Baltimore chapter president Maria Heiser (’07).

“To know that we were joining fellow alumni all over the world and contributing to a great cause was a powerful feeling,” she said.

Big Event student and alumni programs totaled more than 850 volunteers in 57 service locations. Alumni in Philadelphia and Rhode Island did trash pickups (about 500 pounds) to clear neighborhoods. Dukes in Dallas/Fort Worth packaged 7,675 meals for needy families. In San Francisco, in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters and TOMS shoes, 20 alumni spent $40 of their own money to purchase and decorate a pair of TOMS for a child in need.

“I think these types of events are what makes JMU stand out among many public institutions,” said Ricketts, referencing The Big Event and Madison’s Alternative Break programs. “[These are] of the multitude of programs offered at JMU that made me see ‘the bigger picture’ and the need for philanthropy throughout the world.”

To learn about the genesis for The Big Event, click the embedded link.

It fuels you

Some of the beautiful Imani women

Justina’s beadwork

It is hard to imagine that a world filled with so much color could harbor so much pain.  But that is the world in which many young women and girls in Uganda have found themselves. They are slaves. And their plight is tragic and heartbreaking.

Today throughout the world there are 27 million slaves — more than at any point in human history — and over 50 percent are children who are exploited in the most gruesome ways imaginable.

• Of the 300,000 child soldiers around the world, 120,000 are estimated to be girls
• 10 million children worldwide are engaged in some facet of the sex industry
• Each year at least one million children, mostly girls, become prostitutes
• The average age of victims is 11-14
• Girls as young as 13 are peddling their bodies for as low as $1 per act in Gulu, [Uganda].*

Rescuing these women and helping them to escape and build new lives is the mission of the Zion Project. If you follow this blog, you’ll recognize the name. The Zion Project was founded in 2006 by JMU alumna Sarita Hartz Hendrickson, one of our Be the Changers.

Beginning last September, while Sarita returned stateside to build support and awareness for the the project, Brittany Dunay (’12) , a psychology graduate of JMU, stepped into her shoes as in-country director.

We learned about  Brittany recently when Victoria Dickens (’13) nominated her for Be the Change. Victoria wrote of her friend: “She is an in-country director in Africa for the Zion Project, which provides counseling and real jobs for women and children who have been rescued from human and sex trafficking situations. She gets to help these victims feel cherished and gives them a future with hope.”

Jolly, Brittany and Lucy showing off their chitenges, a garment similar to a sarong (photo by Vero)

Colorful varnished beads drying in the African sun

Recently, we caught up with Brittany who is now spending her last few weeks in Uganda.

Brittany’s decision to live and work in Uganda began last spring when her psychology professor, Dr. Bill Evans, showed her class a video of about the Zion Project.

“At that point I had no idea what I was going to do after I graduated in May,” Brittany writes. “While viewing this video my heart was captivated and a fire was stirring up inside of me. My heart was breaking for women and girls I only knew through a video screen. I knew right then and there the Lord was calling me to serve him in this way.”

Motivated by her deep faith, Brittany traveled to Uganda and stepped into the role of director. “The problem these women and girls face is as big as the holes in their hearts. After  being abandoned, trafficked, tricked, used, and devalued, they are in dire need of healing from the pain,” she explains.

Some of the girls hanging out in the kitchen

The Zion Project, a Christian ministry, provides the girls and women with a safe home and an occupation that bolsters rather than tears down their self-worth.

“After the girls were rescued from a life of danger and being swept into the sex trade, [they are] given a loving and safe home. The women are given an occupation that doesn’t involve selling their bodies,” she writes. “They all need healing. They all need to know what their true identify in Christ is and that they are valued. It is important to address this need because without healing, they would live the rest of their lives in pain, hurt and believing lies about themselves. During and after they are healed, they are able to live their lives in truth and freedom. They are then able to walk in wholeness and can reach out to others who are struggling with the same hurt they once knew.”

Brittany has watched them change. She has seen the hearts of the Ugandan girls transformed through the ministry, and she has seen transformation in her staff as well: ”One of my favorite parts is having one-on-ones with the staff weekly. Watching the Lord work in the lives of these women in incredible, and knowing they are the ones leading this ministry is moving.”

Nail time a the girls home (photo by Jacky, Zion Project social worker)

It has not been an easy journey for Brittany, but it has been rich and rewarding. One challenge has been the language barrier. Although all of the staff and girls speak English, most understand only bits and pieces, she writes. “It was frustrating and challenging at first, but I’ve learned how to communicate beyond words…and learning a bit of Swahili has helped.”

Brittany defines “being the change” simply: “Love. If you want to change something outside of yourself, you need to love. In order for you to fully sacrifice yourself for others, you need to love them. Zion Project has taught me how to stop for the one. If I did not love the women staff, girls and locals in Uganda, I would guarantee you I would have cut my trip early. This serving challenges you. When I thought of sacrificing before [I went], I would think that I’d be left with little to give. After working with Zion Project, I learned that the more love you give, the more love you receive. It fuels you.”

And it changes you, Brittany writes: “I have been most surprised at the amount of personal seasons my 10-month experience holds. I have  been growing at the speed of light in many unexpected ways.”

Brittany will return to the United States next month. The psychology graduate from Ashburn, Va., is eager to see her family. She’s number three out of six siblings who have supported her during her time in Africa. But the Brittany who’ll return isn’t the same one who left. Her year abroad has changed her as well as the women and girls of Uganda.

And they are all changed for the better.

*from the Zion Projects website: http://www.zionproject.org

And to read more about Sarita Hartz Hendrickson and the Zion Project, click the embedded link to read Elizabeth Holena’s (’07) story.

Unless otherwise indicated, photos were taken by Brittany Dunay (’12).

Now they are looking ahead

Photo by Jeff Wingo (’80, ’95M)

JMU dad and double-Duke Jeff Wingo (’80, ‘95M) posted a picture on Facebook from this past weekend’s graduation on the Quad. It’s a look at a collection of decorated mortarboards — a salute to the individuality of each student. (To see many more decorated mortarboards, check out JMU’s Facebook page.)

It’s also a view of their backs, as they leave JMU and go out into the world. As we watch them leave en masse, they are looking forward.

Every year graduates leave behind their shadows in the minds of their professors, in the organizations they joined, in the friends they made, and the classes they attended. One professor told me that it was a bit sad watching the students leave — those he had nurtured and befriended. He’ll miss them. Graduates also leave behind proud parents who  believe in their futures, parents like Jeff and Michelle (’79) Wingo. But the time had come.

What graduates leave behind, however, is far less than what they take away. They walk away with sharpened talents, earned knowledge, rich experiences and unsullied dreams. With these, they enter a new phase of their lives — and new worlds ready for shaping and changing.

Some will head to Wall Street or D.C. to work 80-hour weeks to “pay their dues” as their fields require.  Others will take their talents to inner cities or creative suites or classrooms. Jeff and Michelle’s son, Owen Wingo (’13), will take his B.A. in musical theater  to New York to face auditioning and the roller coaster of dreams and hopes that is the nature of the theater business. Some will find purpose in nonprofits. Others will find it in technology, science or industry.

Some will venture to other worlds, like Will McLaughlin (’12, ‘13M) and Becky Blecksmith (’12, ‘13M), two English graduates who will move to China to teach English.

All of them take with them  the optimism of youth, something that is intense, infectious and irrepressible in the typical 20-something. Few could persuade them otherwise. And who would want to? They believe in the promise of the future. This week they are energized and excited at their prospects for finding jobs, creating their futures and finding their places in the world.

Eventually, they will discover, as every alumnus already knows, life isn’t always what you expect it to be. Sometimes it’s better. Sometimes it’s harder. Sometimes it’s disappointing. Sometimes it’s wonderful. But our hope is that they have all graduated with enough moxie to handle whatever life brings. Most importantly, we hope they have learned what a meaningful life should look like, and that what they bring to the world is not just themselves, not just talents, not just drive and ambition and hope. Life is not a simple pursuit of personal fame and fortune, but a desire to find and carry out ways — small, large and in between — to change the world.

Goodbye, JMU

Tomorrow Anthony Baracat (’13), who interned with Be the Change last fall, will walk across the Quad to receive his degree in writing and rhetoric before beginning an internship with a Northern Virginia company this summer. He took a moment this week to reflect on leaving JMU and discovered the essence of what makes JMU, well,  JMU. 

Saying my last goodbyes

by Anthony Baracat (’13)

Anthony Baracat (’13) (center) and friends

On Thursday I walked out of my last final exam of my undergraduate degree at JMU. One of my favorite professors shook my hand, and I walked to Warren Hall for the last time to get my name card for Saturday’s ceremony. The College of Arts and Letters “walks” on the Quad, so I obviously thought about that view of the mountains, of students lounging after class and of a gorgeous view of Wilson Hall. But I also remembered that last Sunday, just three days before my final, my professor had us over for pizza and a review session— to his house.

JMU was my second choice four years ago — and it was the place we used the bathroom on the way to another college on road trips. I am the first person in my immediate family and on my father’s side not to attend that other college.

But don’t tell me it’s a coincidence that I didn’t “get in.”

After my first semester at JMU, I remember talking with my sister about class sizes. She explained how the professor never said her name in her small class — about 100 students. Whereas mine brought pizza into my class — of 20 students.

Can’t you see that when I say JMU, I’m talking about people?

How about another coincidence? The first person I saw walking out of Warren was my best friend from high school. I will admit that when we looked at each other sauntering past Carrier — with both a sense of freedom and uncertainty in our eyes — I got a bit choked up. I contained myself with great masculinity, then returned home to write some emails and visit a few friends. I put off saying my last goodbyes. On Sunday I asked my church friends: If you hear of a writing job in Harrisonburg, will you let me know? Pathetic, you might say, but I was prepared to live here at all costs — and still might.

Maybe I’m not ready to leave JMU and Harrisonburg. Or maybe the timing’s just right, and I’ll be ready when I arrive at my new destination. Yes, maybe JMU—the school, the people—have prepared me well for whatever comes next. And maybe that’s why it’ll be hard to leave.

So if you graduate Saturday, say thanks, because none of us did this alone. Shake your father’s hand. Give a nod to your first professor or tutor during the ceremony. Hug your friend — the one who studied late with you and got you into D-Hall that one time. If you don’t graduate, enjoy saying congratulations and really meaning it.

Consider the past, take in the present and be prepared — not afraid — for an open and exciting future. There’s only opportunity out there. And when you call a fellow alumni or email with a teacher, you’ll be reminded that you never actually left JMU — because JMU is people.

By seniors, for seniors

During the last four years, members of the Class of 2013 have learned from professors, from peers, from experiences and from challenges. In doing so, some of these seniors have demonstrated particular characteristics that I’ve watched and admired. As I thought about how they’ve succeeded, I realized that these seniors (and a few underclassmen) have demonstrated some wisdom that is worth emulating and that every graduating senior should carry with them out into the real world. So I compiled a list. Think of it as the Class of 2013′s six big lessons: By seniors, for seniors.

1. For much of this year, I’ve followed a JMU health blog, You Caught it Here, written by 15 intrepid students. I say intrepid because as a regular blogger I know how hard it is to continually push out fresh content. They’ve consistently published excellent and honest posts. But they’ve notched another cred that I think is equally important. Often in their posts, they have detailed their own personal challenges. They have looked at their own lifestyles and tried to make changes, and they have engaged in research and reporting on a wide range of topics from alcohol consumption to flossing to smoking to running that has sometimes changed their minds. Their honesty is refreshing, and with it they set a good example. They’ve learned the critical lesson: Be teachable. If you discover something in your life that needs to be changed, then do it. Be willing to look at your skills, your approaches, your opinions, even your own understanding critically and make changes when necessary. And have the humility to say I could do better and that maybe someone else is right.

2.  I’ve also followed two foodie blogs this years. From them, I’ve learned a lot about food — and about how one pursues a passion. Students graduating next week are faced with challenges in the job market, but they are also presented with opportunities to be creative, inventive, to travel, to explore and to find out how they want to shape their lives. Cameron Young (’15) and Morgan Robinson (’13) have demonstrated a second important lesson: Be bold.  If you have a passion, go for it. Don’t hesitate. Try. You may fall flat on your face, but nothing can ever  be accomplished if you don’t take that first step.

3. Tyler McAvoy (’13)  has interned in our office for almost three years. He’s written blog posts and stories for the web and for Madison magazine. He’s been my right hand man, and I’m going to miss him. There was a time, however, when I wondered if Tyler would ever graduate, but not for the reasons you might expect. Tyler’s a smart guy and part of the reason for his extended stay at JMU is because he kept finding classes and subjects he wanted to explore. He really loves to learn, and although he’s graduating next week with a degree in English with a concentration in British literature and a double minor in philosophy and political science, Tyler will never really graduate in the sense that he will never stop learning. He’ll always be a student and probably head to law school at some point. So Tyler’s lesson is this: Be a lifelong learner. Graduations are a mark in time, but it should never mark the end of learning.

4. And then there’s  Brett Sierra (’13), another marketing and communications intern. Brett, a very smart biology major, has moved boxes, updated excel spread sheets, distributed magazines, and executed a host of other jobs that some students might have found tedious. Brett has done them eagerly, and in doing so, demonstrates one of the most important principles for success: Be willing to work. In any job situation, eagerness and willingness to do whatever it takes to get a job done even if it’s beneath or above your pay grade is an admirable characteristic. It says plenty about an employee. He is a team player. She is engaged. He cares about a company’s success. She is one to be relied on. Employers love this attitude, and more importantly, they hold on tight to those who are genuinely earnest.

5. Fortunately, it was not a JMU student who demonstrated the negative corollary of this lesson: Be thoughtful about your words and actions. “Sorority girl’s” rant that went viral last week should be a lesson to everyone. Think before you speak, act, write, film — or hit send. An irate outburst, no matter how well-intended or even justified, is eternal on the Internet and in the minds of those who witness it. Thinking first and practicing the old adage, “When in doubt, don’t,” is a pretty darn good rule to follow. The world is a different place than it was eight years ago when YouTube was launched, but one thing hasn’t changed: What you say and do reflects who you are. You can’t take it back or cover it up. Discretion is always preferable to regret.

6.  Adam Breeden (’13), who is office manager for JMU’s marketing and communication department, has been pursuing his degree for a number of years while working full time. Adam, a 30-something, will graduate with a degree in computer and web technology. Adam’s perseverance has paid off, and that is his lesson: Be persevering. Don’t give up, even when things get hard or when the road ahead is long. It’s worth it in the end. Find your best goals and pursue them until your goals become your accomplishments.

Congratulations to these seniors, and thanks for demonstrating what it takes to be successful starting May 5, 2013.

The first MacDonald

James Madison University senior Meaghan MacDonald has only a handful of days left on campus. For her, it’s been a long and sometimes stressful journey. But with hard work, grit, smarts and some wise words from her father, she’ll earn her diploma and soon “walk” with newfound strengths and perspectives.

“You do you!”

by Meaghan MacDonald (’13)

Meaghan MacDonald (’13) and her dad

When I was growing up and my parents would talk to me about college, they would always say when I go, not if I go. Both understand and value the vital need of a degree today, especially if I want to achieve my dream of becoming a sports journalist. Neither of them went to college, so I will have the pleasure and honor of wearing the title of first generation graduate. Before I came to JMU, I thought nothing of being a first generation student or that it makes me a minority. But once I got here, as I worked my own way through, my opinions and feeling about myself drastically changed.

In 2007 my family was caught in the economic downturn. My dad lost his job with Affinity One Federal Credit Union, where he was vice president of operations for 12 years. After a year of unemployment, he had a quick stint as vice president of operations with Zurich Insurance North American in Chicago, eventually losing that job in 2009 right before I started my freshman year. Dad was out of work for almost my entire college career but finally found a job this past October.

Dad never went to college because it wasn’t as much of a necessity as it is today. He worked his way from being a bank teller at age 18 up to the senior vice president of the company during a career that spanned 30 years. The importance of a college degree was never instilled in Dad or his brother by their parents and both were told to just work after high school. My dad is a hard worker and understands the importance of it, but he also came to realize the crucial need for that piece of paper. My brother, sister and I were never given an option. My parents wanted to better my life and arm me with the knowledge I need to become someone exceptional.  

Since freshman year college has been a difficult transition for me. I was thrown into a completely new life and had to change my routine and priorities and also quickly become self-sufficient. I never had the luxury of my parents helping me out financially and because of that I had to find a job and help pay my way through college. Freshman year was one of the most difficult years for me because it’s all about first impressions and maintaining social circles. When people would ask me about my family and what my parents did for a living — or where they went to college — I would quietly respond that they never went to school and that my father was out of work. People were sympathetic, but most of them could never really connect to the stress and anxieties that I felt. Being able to afford groceries or books was constantly on my mind as were the terrifying thoughts that my federal aid would not come through and I wouldn’t be able to come back to college.

As I moved along in my college career, each year felt the same: I was still working hard to pay my way through JMU, Dad was still out of work and the feelings of estrangement were getting worse. I was under a lot of pressure from myself to over-perform with my grades and to set a standard for my brother and sister. I couldn’t slip up. I had to ration my money and sit out on spring break trips to Cancun, Saturday nights at the Blue Nile, day trips to Washington, D.C., or anything else that can be defined as the “college experience.” I was also worried that my friends would start to think I was making up excuses for not joining them or that I just didn’t want to hang out. But when my feelings of being alone and the burden of first generation grad became too much, I would call my parents to vent.

“You do you,” my dad would tell me. And he is right. Everyone has a unique life situation and a unique college experience, and I can’t compare myself to others or try and define what is normal. After the realization that I am my own person, I started treating myself like an individual, not a run-of-the-mill college student.

As my senior year comes to a close and after almost four years of stressing about the label of first generation grad and all the financial pains that came along with it, I have come to terms with them and no longer allow them to rule my college experience and memories. No adversity that I have faced ever held me back; if anything it has made me a stronger student and person. I have taken my academics seriously, affirmed a strong work ethic, and when I walk across that stage in 11 days, I will have earned a degree that is mine and mine alone. I am pleased to say I am the first MacDonald to ever graduate college and happy to make my family proud.

With the stresses of college and classes fading and the worries of job hunting and the unknown state of my future beginning to rise, I always think back on the wise words of my dad to calm me down. “You do you.” Whenever I feel down on myself or that I am not capable of accomplishing my dreams, I will always carry these words in the back of my mind and remember that I am exceptional and capable of achieving great things.

Running for Boston

Mark Steidler (’08) on the run

For a sport as solitary as long-distance running, this year’s disrupted Boston Marathon proved something about runners: They depend on each other, friends and families for support. It’s a sports community like none other. That’s part of the reason that JMU alumnus Mark Steidler (’08) and a veteran of nine marathons, including Boston, made a quick and calculated decision to turn a scheduled run this coming weekend into a fundraiser for victims of Monday’s bombing. He’ll be running in the GW Parkway 10-miler — but with a twist.

He’s decided to add 16 miles to his race, making his run a true marathon.

“Initially, I had two main goals,” Mark writes. “First, I wanted it to be known to my friends and family of how much I appreciate and rely on their support during the marathon training process and on race day itself. I viewed Monday’s attack as not one targeted at runners themselves, but an attack toward the community that embraces them.“

“This led into my second goal, which was to raise money for all of those that were killed or injured. It’s a really small way of saying thank you to the countless individuals whose names I’ll never know and faces I’ll never remember. But, every step of the way, I needed them.”

Mark is calling his race the “10 to 26.2 Run for Boston.” Whatever he raises will be donated to the One Fund, the official Boston fund for victims of the Patriots’ Day bombing.

His friends have rallied.

“Given the short amount of time between Monday’s tragedy, the setup of The One Fund Boston and the GW Parkway Classic race on Sunday, I knew it would be difficult to organize a fundraiser and spread the word quickly enough,” Mark writes. “But shortly after posting something to Facebook yesterday, I was overwhelmed by the immediate, positive response. A bunch of JMU alums have posted it on their own walls and communities they’re associated with. I’ve seen many posts and donations come in from names I don’t recognize, which is fantastic. The only things I have in common with the majority of these people are that we went to JMU and that we’re looking to help those affected by the bombing.”

“My initial goal was $500, which I felt to be fairly modest given that I only had a five-day window between launching the fundraiser and race day. That goal was broken within the first 24 hours. So now, the sky’s the limit,” he writes.

When Mark’s not running, the marketing graduate is a senior marketing analyst for NeoSystems and lives in Arlington, Va. He’ll be leaving NeoSystems to pursue an MBA at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.

But Saturday, he’ll be running to help the victims in Boston. Running for Boston. Running to help.

If you’re interested in join Mark’s effort, go to http://fundly.com/10-to-26-2-a-run-for-boston

When we weep….

“Weeping is not the same thing as crying, It takes your whole body to weep, and when it’s over, you feel like you don’t have any bones left to hold you up,” author Sarah Ockler wrote in Twenty Boy Summer. Today there are many people who know how this feels, to weep until your bones are weak. It is how we react to tragedies that seem to mar our Aprils.

Tragedies define specific days. And as Jim Heffernan (’96) wrote on his Facebook page this morning, poet T. S.  Eliott might have been right: “April is the cruelest month.” Boston. Virginia Tech. Waco. Oklahoma City. Even the Civil War began on a day in April. Yet there are a thousand personal tragedies everyday. This April, I have a cousin mourning her son, a young JMU graduate.

But as a very wise man once said — and whose words are also being circulated on Facebook :

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would always say, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping. To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers, so many caring people in this world.” — The late Fred Rogers, the wise and gentle Mr. Rogers.

When tragedies occur whether they are personal or public, the helpers swarm in. It is as if tragedy brings a kind of compassionate resolve, so that as we revolt against it, we also react to it by focusing and seeing what needs to be done. It’s what friends do, evidenced everyday through Scott Roger’s (’00,’02M) website Take them a Meal. We are there to assist whether a tragedy is public or deeply personal. We Americans have no lock on that response, but we do it very well. Sadly, we are practiced.

When the barrier between life and death is breached, when death and tragedy and pain spill into our ordinary lives as it did yesterday in Boston, we do not flee from it. We confront it. Our first response is to heal it. When we weep, we work. We cannot prevent every tragedy or heal every wound, but our humanity demands — indeed our humanity drives us to embrace those closest to the pain, those closest to the blast. When they hurt, we hurt. When they weep, we weep.

Being the change is preventing those tragedies we can prevent, healing those wounds we find, and shoring up those who weep, and weeping with them. It is being what they, in that moment, cannot be for themselves. It is being the hand to the handless, the leg to the legless and the eyes for the blind. It is being there, being available and being willing.

Perhaps it is because we understand that we all have the capacity to weep until our bones are soft.

AACSB Annual Meeting (ICAM 2013): Learning, Leading, and Teaching in the 21st Century (Tony Wagner, Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard)

Reblogged from GlobalEd:

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At the AACSB ICAM 2013 Conference, Tony Wagner, Innovation Education Fellow at Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, talked about the learning gaps that are affecting students across the world, and gave some strategies for how to prepare them for the new global knowledge society. 

Read more… 1,679 more words

It's not often I reblog, but when I read Mark Thomas's blog this morning I knew I wanted to pass this along. Mark is Associate Dean and Director of International Affairs at Grenoble Ecole de Management, France, and he writes one of my favorite blogs. What struck me about his post, and also the embedded video by Harvard's Tony Wagner, is how well James Madison University stacks up. Read it and view the video and see if you agree.

Get your nano on

The best science is accessible science, especially for children. Ask anyone who grew up with Bill Nye the Science Guy or even Mr. Wizard. Often such accessibility is what launches a career or a lifelong interest in science. It can change lives. Perhaps that will happen this weekend at the Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg.

On Sunday (April 14), students and faculty from James Madison University will gather at Harrisonburg’s Explore More Discovery Museum to explore nanotechnology with any children who come between 1:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. Nanoscience is the study of very small things — nanometers, a billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of these ultra small things — like atoms and particles — to create new behaviors and unexpected results.

According to Dr. Costel Constantin, who teaches physics and astronomy at JMU, the need for developing young scientists is critical. He writes:

At a time when the rapid advances in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology require an increasing number of skilled personnel, coincidentally, the recruitment of U.S. students to science is at an all time low. According to the National Science Foundation by the year 2015, there will be a need for two million workers worldwide in these fields. Of these, nearly one million will be needed in the U.S. Furthermore, an additional of five million workers will be needed in support areas for these fields. To develop this workforce, inclusion of nanotechnology in K-12 education should start with the primary education and continue all the way to high school level.

This need prompted the JMU faculty and local K-12 science teachers to found the Shenandoah Valley Nanoscience Outreach Collaboration in 2011. SVNOC’s goal is to help teachers bring nanoscience into local classrooms. The NanoDays/Making Stuff event is one part of this effort.

On Sunday afternoon, Costel and his colleagues in the departments of physics and chemistry, along with current JMU physics majors, will lead visiting students through hands-on experiments. They’ll also explore current nano research with adults and older children. According to Lisa Shull (’85,’91M), the museum’s executive director, “It’s a great event for the whole family, children of all ages and parents.” Anyone can participate and it’s free.

But the children aren’t the only ones who will benefit. NanoDays is an opportunity for current JMU students to give back to the local community. And, as Costel writes, “Physics students who help with the event will gain invaluable experience in being able to present the science to kids of all ages.”

Not only does the event make science fun for children, it makes it available and social. This kind of overlap between collegians and local children is priceless and can be inspirational. Who wouldn’t be interested in learning about sand that refuses to get wet even under water or water that refuses to spill, two of the planned activities? And what fifth grader isn’t eager to interact with a cool college student? But it’s far more than a neat idea; it’s important science.

“It is important that everybody is able to learn about nanotechnology because it is impacting our lives considerably,” Costel writes. “If you’ve ever wondered how nano transistors and quantum computers work, or how we create smaller and small batteries that can last longer than the conventional Li-based ones, or how we can create smarter drugs that can cure cancer, diabetes and other life threatening diseases, then Nanotechnology can give you an answer.”

Those answers will begin with fun science on Sunday at 1 p.m. For more information, click the museum’s link above or visit them on Facebook.

And if you’d like to get a taste of the opposite of nano (think gigantic), check out the newest issue of Madison magazine, which should hit newsstands and mailboxes very soon. On page 22, you’ll find a story written by Eric Gorton (’86,’09M), public affairs associate, about groundbreaking research into megamasers being conducted by another JMU Constantin, Anca Constantin, professor of physics and astronomy.