| ATCHISON, Kan. –
Wangari Maathai has been awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her
contributions to sustainable development, democracy and peace.
The native of Kenya graduated from Atchison’s Mount
St. Scholastica College, now Benedictine College, with a degree
in biology in 1964.
She went on to be Africa’s first female Ph.D., found
the Green Belt Movement in 1977 and is currently serving as Assistant
Minister of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya.
She is the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize.
She was also one of the first two women from Africa
to attend Mount St. Scholastica College. Dr. Maathai has many treasured
memories of her four years with the sisters, who continue to educate
and interact with the more than 1,000 students at Benedictine College.
“Being a student at Mount St. Scholastica certainly
influenced my life,” Dr. Maathai wrote. “I was surrounded by women
who treated me as if I were their daughter. They did everything
to help me, educate me and enrich my life. I had already benefited
from a full scholarship, yet I continued to receive so much more.
I think this is partly where I got my deep sense of service and
my detachment from things material. On a daily basis, I saw women
working hard for higher goals and inner peace. This must have impacted
my own conscience and values as I matured.”
In a recent letter to the Benedictine sisters, she
attributed her success to their guidance.
“On coming to Mount St. Scholastica College in September
1960, the sisters, whose faces I focus on with tears in my eyes,
became more than my teachers: they became my friends, mothers and
sisters,” she wrote. “They touched my life so profoundly and made
it so much better then… and now. They made the Mount my home and
gave me the most wonderful four years which have partly made me
who I am and may ever become.”
Benedictine College President Steve Minnis said the
entire college community is proud to have had a role in Dr. Maathai’s
formative years.
“We were fortunate to have had her with us during her
college years and are confident that the excellent education Dr.
Maathai received continues here to this day,” Minnis said. “We’re
very honored to have Dr. Maathai as an alum. We already recognized
that she has been doing wonderful work and this is a culmination
of her impressive efforts.”
According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, “Peace
on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment.
Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically
viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in
Africa. She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development
that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular.
She thinks globally and acts locally.”
Sister Thomasita Homan, long-time friend of Dr. Maathai
and her family and current Benedictine College English professor,
echoed the sentiments of the selection committee.
“Dr. Wangari Maathai is highly deserving of the Nobel
Peace award. She is a woman faithful to her dream, faithful to her
environment, faithful to her people and her many friends and faithful
to her country and the world at large,” Sr. Homan said. “Environment
and peace have been the pattern of her life since her college days
at Mount St. Scholastica College, now Benedictine College.”
On the bluffs of the Missouri River, north of Kansas
City, Benedictine College and its parent institutions Mount St.
Scholastica and St. Benedict’s College have educated young men and
women in a community of faith and scholarship since 1858. Currently,
there are more than 40 international students attending the four-year,
liberal arts college.
Contact: Lindsey V. Corey
Communications Coordinator
913.360.7464
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