Saturday, July 5, 2008

luckiest girl article

Since Nicolas D. Kristof's Op-Ed piece, "The Luckiest Girl," was published in the New York Times on July 3rd, it has been one of the top ten e-mailed stories (yesterday, it actually slipped, albeit briefly, into the number-one-"most popular"-article spot).

Kristof's story of Beatrice and her goat excites me for a few reasons: 1. it demonstrates that there are relatively simple and inexpensive things we can all do to effectively fight global poverty (and, terrorism, too, as far as I'm concerned); 2. it reminds us that it's limited access to education that keeps people impoverished--not their disinterest or inability to be educated; and 3. its online popularity is an indication that people (at least those of us who faithfully read the NY Times) are really interested in learning about how they can make a difference in developing countries.

After reading of the young Ugandan woman, I can't help but think of all the "Beatrices" I know from the UAC-CP--students who, when given the opportunity, have succeeded at defending undergraduate thesis projects and, in several cases, obtaining master's degrees. This month, for example, two UAC-CP graduates, Javier Mollineda and Rosemary Gutierrez, will be awarded master's degrees from South Dakota State University. Currently, they're both making plans to begin PhD programs this fall.

UAC-CP students exemplify the "Beatrice Theorem"--as the College is yet another example of how "small inputs can lead to large outcomes."

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