Princeton ReachOut 56-81-06

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Aili McConnon '02

Aili Mary McConnon, who hails from Ontario, compiled an excellent record at Princeton. She majored in English, had a departmental GPA of 3.87, and was co-winner of a department award for her senior thesis proposal. Her professors described her as "extremely bright and wonderfully articulate," also "strong, resilient and extraordinarily mature," and, to sum up, "one of the best of the best."

The tragic events of 9/11 occurred during the fall of Aili's senior year. For her ReachOut 56 Fellowship, she decided to select a project that dealt with the aftermath of the attack and also built on her Princeton academic experience. Aili joined The Legacy Project, with the goal of assembling from scratch a literary anthology of works which address the tragedies of September 11 and other 20th century experiences of war, ethnic conflict and genocide around the world.

In Aili's words, "I have been directing the Legacy Project's Educational Outreach program, helping create educational tools to encourage discussion in the high school and college classroom and among the general public about how individuals and cultures remember and memorialize large-scale man-made tragedies like September 11."

These tools, according to Aili, include the online Literary Sampler, which contains a multimedia introduction to more than 130 global authors. (It can be found on the Legacy Project website, www.legacy-project.org.) This resource is used by citizens of ninety-two countries, educational institutions (Princeton, Wellesley, UCLA, CUNY, and many high schools ), cultural institutions (The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Whitney Museum, the Armenian National Institute), government agencies (recommended by the US Department of State), and publications (USA Today, The New York Times).

Aili also created a print anthology, titled Blooming Through the Ashes, which will be published by Rutgers University Press in 2007. The anthology, designed for use in college and high school classrooms, contains such pieces as Toni Morrison's poem, "The Dead of September 11," which Ms. Morrison first read at a Princeton memorial service in September 2001. In addition, Aili prepared curriculum guides (piloted at the Beacon School in New York) to teach courses on the history of human rights violations, as recorded and distilled by novelists, poets, playwrights and essayists.

According to Aili, "The significance of the Literary Anthology is that it will enable students and viewers to gain an in-depth knowledge about the history of traumatic events around the globe, broaden awareness of the relationship between current events, history, and ethical values, highlight the vital place of the arts in remembering and reflecting the meaning and pain of tragedy, and motivate students and viewers to a greater appreciation and understanding of diverse political views and the consequences of hatred in violence."

Clifford Chanin, President of The Legacy Project, has this to say about our Fellow: "Aili's presence has made possible a range of activities that we simply would not have been able to accomplish without her. This is not simply a matter of having another person on staff, but rather the particular presence of Aili, whose commitment, to Legacy has inspired her work from the moment she arrived. ReachOut 56 has found the perfect way of linking a young persons idealism and energy to the needs of a non-profit.

"With the impending completion of the literary anthology, Legacy is on the verge of realizing a major organizational goal – one that would not have been possible without Aili. This speaks not only to the quality of her literary skills, but also the quality of the ReachOut 56 selection process, which sent us a young woman able to assume major professional responsibilities and excel in her work. It is this excellence that seems to me the hallmark of your program. Through Aili, ReachOut 56 has made a critical contribution to our organization. I am deeply grateful to you and your colleagues."

As so often has proved to be the case with our Fellows, Aili's Fellowship led to another fine opportunity for her. "As a result of my work during the ReachOut 56 Fellowship, I was selected to receive a Commonwealth Scholarship, a full scholarship awarded to 2% of global applicants and similar to the U.S. Marshall Scholarship, to continue looking at the intersection of writing, arts and human rights through a master's program at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, This is just one example of the ways this Fellowship has changed my life."

After her year at Cambridge, Aili returned to The Legacy Project to complete her work. She is now working on a masters in journalism from Columbia.

"The ReachOut 56 Fellowship," says Aili, "has allowed me to create, direct and carry out a substantive project, a truly unique professional experience straight out of college. My days have included corresponding with Nobel Laureates such as Seamus Heaney to discuss poetry's power against intolerance; speaking with human rights activists to determine how to best shape materials for students; and spending days with tenth graders at The Beacon School to talk about why it is important to discuss and memorialize large-scale violence.

"The opportunity to create an educational project from the ground up and give back to the community has been an incredible experience, and I am very grateful to ReachOut 56 for making this opportunity available. The ReachOut 56 Fellowship has strengthened my conviction to continue forging a career combining my passion for non-profit organizations, education, writing, and human rights activism."

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