The Elizabethtown College Alumni Peace Fellowship currently is giving students the opportunity to enter the 2013 Paul M. Grubb Jr. Student Peace Award competition. This competition allows students to submit a proposal for a research project focused on spreading peace and justice in a local or international community. The project needs to take place between October 2013 and October 2014, and the winning proposal will be given $1,000 to make the project a reality.
Past project winners, David Bresnahan ’08 and Nikki Koyste ’13, submitted project proposals that focused on helping the international community. When Bresnahan won the award in 2008, he spent six weeks in Guatemala focusing on the mistreatment of the indigenous Mayan people. Cultural violence against the Mayans has persisted, even after equality was given to all Guatemalans when their Civil War ended in 1996. Bresnahan centered his investigation on the small Pokomchi Mayan community of San Cristobal in the province of Verapaz.
I will forever be changed by my experiences…”
Koyste was the recipient of the award in 2011. Her project proposal sent her to Vietnam, where she volunteered in an orphanage, helping the staff and children. She taught English to kindergarten and middle school level classes. “Playing, laughing and teaching the children made each day there an absolute joy. … My time in Vietnam, with the children and the Sisters, was truly the most meaningful and positive experience of my life. I will forever be changed by my experiences,” said Koyste.
The due date for the 2013 Paul M. Grubb Jr. Student Peace Award proposal submission is Oct. 7. To apply, fill out this entry form, and include a 500-word proposal.