Ranney Alumna Named Davis Projects for Peace Recipient

From the moment they enter the doors of Ranney School, every student is encouraged to explore and find meaning in something greater than themselves. Erin Wilkus, a 2006 Ranney alumna, has continued to do just that as an undergraduate student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

Wilkus, who will graduate from Reed this May, was recently named a 2010 Davis Projects for Peace award grant recipient. Now in its third year, the award encourages and supports today’s motivated youth to create their own ideas for building peace and is given to undergraduate students who design grassroots projects that they will implement during the summer of 2011. The projects deemed to be the most promising will be funded at $10,000 each.

Upon graduation, Wilkus will build and maintain a language Resource Center in partnership with Tshulu Trust in a Venda community of South Africa. For decades, the apartheid system of Bantustans restricted the education of the Venda people to their traditional language. Today, students are required to take a matriculation exam in English to earn their high school diploma and have the option to continue their education or get jobs. However, the effects of a poor Bantustan education are seen today in the near universal failure rate of the matriculation exam.

During her two-month stay, Wilkus will oversee the construction of a physical space, to be used as a Resource Center, and the installation of electricity and computers in HaMakuya, a village in the province of Limpopo. She will also forge partnerships with local community members who are interested in the project to form a Resource Center Advisory Committee in the future. Her primary goal will be to get the center up and running, as well as to develop a strong local support network that will empower residents with the necessary tools to learn English – a gateway to education, employment and socioeconomic mobility. Rosetta Stone, a leading language learning program, will be installed on all computers to facilitate the English-learning process.

A biology major, this will be Wilkus’ third trip to South Africa, having previously spent a semester there in Spring, 2008 where she was one of 20 U.S. students accepted to participate in a study abroad as part of Duke University’s Organization for Tropical Studies program. Her second visit, through a Reed College Opportunity Grant, included a three-month stint in HaMakuya where she spent time doing conservation biology research. It was also during this time that she recognized the urgent need to improve educational opportunities within the region and later developed and designed the Davis Foundation grassroots project that will benefit the HaMakuya people in the near future.

In addition to her work in South Africa, Wilkus has continued to heed the call to service as a member of Reed College’s Judicial Board and through her volunteer work as a 5th grade biology teacher in the Portland public school system.

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