FALL 2012 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 29
The Education
Connection
Leading educational programs in Africa has
been popular among younger KSP alumni.
The cultural savvy gained from the KSP ex-
perience translates into strong qualification
for this type of work. Rewards include re-
connecting with one’s own experiences and
the satisfaction of guiding a new generation
of students in their own understanding of the
continent.
•
Rebecca Brown ’03
(
KSP fall ’01) has led
student and teacher programs in Kenya for
the World Leadership School.
•
Leah Knickerbocker ’04
(
KSP spring ’03)
is academic program director for The Trav-
eling School, an education-abroad program
for high school girls, which offers programs
in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia
and Mozambique.
•
Hope Thornton ’01
(
KSP fall '99) and
Patrick McLaughlin '05
(
KSP fall '04) have
led programs in Africa for National Geo-
graphic Student Expeditions. More than 15
other KSP alumni have led high school ser-
vice learning programs in Tanzania and else-
where in Africa for Putney Student Travel.
Other KSP alumni have stayed connected to
Africa through higher education:
•
Assistant Professor of History Matt
Carotenuto
,
who teaches courses in African
history and coordinates the African Studies
program at St. Lawrence, enrolled in the KSP
as an undergraduate at SUNY Cortland. He
has said, “To have a chance to be part of the
KSP again is really amazing, because my ex-
periences on the program were the spark that
led me to a career in African history. St. Law-
rence has one of the largest commitments to
Kenya of any university in the U.S., which to
an African historian like me is remarkable.”
•
Katie Gauthier '04
(
KSP fall '02) and
Sa-
jana Blank '08
(
KSP spring '06) have both
worked at St. Lawrence with outgoing KSP
students as assistant directors of off-campus
programs at the Center for International and
Intercultural Studies. Drew Pynchon (Dick-
inson College ’10, KSP fall ’08) currently
holds the position.
•
JohnMcPeak ’88
(
KSP fall ’87) is associate
professor and vice chair of public administra-
tion and international affairs at the Maxwell
School of Syracuse University, where much
of his research is focused on northern Kenya.
Tanks forthe Rain
Some Laurentians start doing altruistic work in Africa before they graduate. In
summer 2011, Benjamin Hull ’14, of nearby Madrid, N.Y., and a friend vol-
unteered through the Ugandan Water Project (UWP) to make a documentary,
“
Uganda23” (named for its length in minutes), that they hope will spur finan-
cial support that will result in clean, disease-free water for thousands of families
in that landlocked African nation. They released the film last Christmas. It can
be seen at uganda23.com.
The film portrays children walking miles to obtain potable water – and pol-
luted water that some people must share with livestock.
“
It is so exciting to see ‘Uganda23’ being used so actively by the Ugandan
Water Project,” Hull said. “It is helping the UWP team tell their story in almost
every touchpoint they have, and I couldn't be happier about that.”
The UWP’s goal is to place rainwater collection tanks in accessible places, and
by last winter some 32,000 people were benefitting from them. In July, Hull
learned that a tank had been installed in Kivulu, a Kampala slum where they
had filmed (pictured). “How incredible is that?” he asked. “With $3,500 (the
cost of the tank) and the diligence of this organization, clean water is available
in a place where it is needed desperately. I'm talking garbage-piled-in-the-street
and sewage-contamination desperately. That is one of the reasons I was moved
to make this film; the connection between water tanks and saving lives is un-
mistakably intimate.
“
We created this film to be used for years to come, but my greatest hope is that
one day it becomes irrelevant,” Hull added. “I pray that someday we can watch
‘
Uganda23’ and know that every person in Uganda has clean, accessible drink-
ing water. But until that day we must keep telling the story.”
–
NSB
“
My
greatest
hope is that
one day
(
this film)
becomes
irrelevant.”
–
Ben Hull ‘14
Josh McGrath