{"id":20035,"date":"2014-04-28T11:50:30","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T15:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=20035"},"modified":"2015-03-17T13:08:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T17:08:26","slug":"be-a-risk-taker-and-a-change-maker-in-the-present-nobel-peace%e2%80%88prize%e2%80%88winner-tells-class-of-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/be-a-risk-taker-and-a-change-maker-in-the-present-nobel-peace%e2%80%88prize%e2%80%88winner-tells-class-of-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Be a risk-taker and a change-maker, Nobel Peace\u2008Prize\u2008winner tells class of 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Courtesy of Caleb Soptelean, Daily News Record, April 28, 2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDare to be laughed at, mocked and scorned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Nobel Peace Prize winner gave those words of advice to <a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/04\/nobel-laureate-gbowee-helps-emu-graduates-to-appreciate-taking-action-and-dancing-in-the-present\/\">Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s graduates<\/a> Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Leymah Gbowee (pronounced bowie) \u2014 a 2007 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/peacebuilding\/leymah-gbowee\/\">EMU alumna and winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> \u2014 addressed a crowd of 467 graduates, along with their friends, family members and EMU faculty during the university\u2019s 96th commencement Sunday on the campus lawn.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/now\/podcast\/category\/commencement\/2014-commencement\/\">Podcasts of 2014 Events<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/photos\/commencement-2014\/\">2014 Photo Galleries\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/cords-of-distinction\/recipients\/\">Cords of Distinction Awards<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gbowee, whose son Joshua was a member of the graduating class, encouraged graduates to reach for their dreams but also to learn how to stay in the moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmbracing the present allows us to see practical ways to make a difference even when our lives are in conditions of pain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Gbowee, who is Liberian, won the Nobel Prize for her contributions to a women\u2019s peace movement that helped bring about the end of the second Liberian Civil War in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>She recalled a woman from her country who had lost two sons to civil wars. The woman came to a protest and got involved because she didn\u2019t want others to lose their sons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer present was full of heartaches and pains but she chose to embrace it for a better future for Liberia,\u201d Gbowee said.<\/p>\n<p>Gbowee was a poor mother of two and only had a high school diploma, but decided she wouldn\u2019t let her income or social status, or her lack of a college education, limit her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never set out to be a global women\u2019s rights activist,\u201d Gbowee said. She just wanted to make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>And she did.<\/p>\n<p>Among her efforts was an initiative working with young girls in Liberia.<\/p>\n<p>Many young people in her community had sexual relations early in life and wound up pregnant before they had a chance to finish school, she said.<\/p>\n<p>One day Gbowee invited four girls from that environment into her living room. She was thrilled when, many years later, one graduated from high school without having had children of her own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was like a Nobel Peace Prize for me,\u201d Gbowee said.<\/p>\n<p>She encouraged EMU graduates to not let others\u2019 perceptions of what they will do after graduation stop them.<\/p>\n<p>All one needs is a \u201ccrazy idea or concern and a whole bunch of enthusiasm,\u201d to make a difference in people\u2019s lives, Gbowee said.<\/p>\n<p>Having one friend who helps can be a big plus, she said, citing the examples of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.<\/p>\n<p>Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, she added: \u201cThe world is crying out for risk-takers and change-makers. The future depends on what we do in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cristian Quezada, 33, a Santiago, Chile, native who received a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/cjp\/grad\/\">master\u2019s degree in conflict transformation<\/a> with an emphasis in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/cjp\/restorative-justice\/\">restorative justice<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/cjp\/star\/about\/\">trauma healing<\/a>, said it was an \u201cimmense privilege\u201d to hear Gbowee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEMU, and particularly [the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/cjp\/\">Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a>], focuses on the importance of being relevant peacebuilder practitioners that are generators of transformative revolutions, so Leymah\u2019s address felt tremendously relevant to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mariana Lorenzana, 52, is a school teacher at Smithland Elementary in Harrisonburg.<\/p>\n<p>Originally from Honduras, Lorenzana said she wanted to be an example to the Latino community and her children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s not impossible,\u201d she said, after attaining her master\u2019s degree in education.<\/p>\n<p>It took her three years of going to college part-time to finish, said Lorenzana, who has been teaching for 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to give back to the community,\u201d she said. \u201cEMU gave me the opportunity to continue working, be a mom and get a higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Courtesy of the Daily News Record, April 28, 2014<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"color: #222222\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #222222\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy of Caleb Soptelean, Daily News Record, April 28, 2014 \u201cDare to be laughed at, mocked and scorned.\u201d A Nobel Peace Prize winner gave those words of advice to Eastern <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/be-a-risk-taker-and-a-change-maker-in-the-present-nobel-peace%e2%80%88prize%e2%80%88winner-tells-class-of-2014\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Be a risk-taker and a change-maker, Nobel Peace\u2008Prize\u2008winner tells class of 2014<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":20038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,266,5583,14184,14715,16077,5642,264,5623,4513,5730],"tags":[5854,15440,14107,10067,15439],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-20035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-campus-guests","category-campus-life","category-commencement-alumni","category-faculty-and-staff","category-graduate-programs","category-special-programs","category-student-life","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-commencement","tag-cristian-quezada","tag-joshua-mensah","tag-leymah-gbowee","tag-mariana-lorenzana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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