Alumnae Bulletin
November 2010
Letters
Shaping the future
In the May and August Alumnae
Bulletins President McAuliffe
underscored the significance of the
College's 125th anniversary in a global
context, stating, "It provides a year-long
occasion to begin shaping the future as
we celebrate our distinctive past," and
noting, "possibilities for global
connection will shape our future
academic program and our sense of
mission as a women's institution".
By both accounts, we are off to an
exceptional start! This August the
Alumnae Association hosted its first
international community service trip.
Ten members of the BMC community
answered the call to create positive
impact on a global scale by embarking
on an expedition to Costa Rica. Their
mandate: to partner with field scientists
and micro-capitalists in the Tarrazu
Coffee Region and develop sustainable models of coffee production, one of the
country's most vital exports and
determinants of economic growth.
The team spanned four decades,
came from different walks of life and
contributed perspectives as unique as
Bryn Mawr itself: a business owner and
her husband of 40 years, a social worker
getting "hands-on", a banker seeking
purpose, a doctor striving to achieve, a
web-designer wanting inspiration, an
entrepreneur conducting research, a
non-profit professional with a sense of
adventure, and a student on the trip of a
lifetime with her father.
Although their personal motivations
were different, they were unified in
their commitment to intellectual
excellence, social responsibility and
global citizenry that is quintessentially
Bryn Mawr. For this week they joined
forces, rediscovered what makes us "Us"
and proceeded to represent that to the
world at large. Through the lessons learned, the perspective gained, the
work done and the friends made—
they've laid the groundwork for more to
come. To Caroline Beale '70, Betsy
Soifer '76, Nora Adelmann, M.S.S. '78,
Paula Anderson '88, Jackie Leung '04,
Katie Pflaumer '08, and Morgan Turner
'13, thanks for answering the call.
—Leslie Knotts '00
