Westminster’s Projects for Peace Students Travel to Nepal

As a participating college of the Davis United World Scholars Program, Westminster College has been given the opportunity to participate in the Projects for Peace program since 2007. Due this generous funding, Westminster students have had the opportunity to travel and perform service projects all over the nation and world including, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Nepal, to name a few.

Kathyn Wasserman Davis is the funder of the Davis Foundation Projects for Peace program and used the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2007 to initiate the program. Mrs. Davis commented, “”I want to use my 100th birthday to help young people launch some immediate initiatives — things that they can do during the summer of 2007 — that will bring new thinking to the prospects of peace in the world.”. Her daughter, Shelby M.C. Davis, funds the Davis UWC Scholars Program currently involving over 90 American colleges and universities, including Westminster College. Mrs. Davis has committed one million dollars each year since 2007 to fund numerous $10,000 Projects for Peace initiatives. She believes that today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and should be challenged to initiate and implement their own ideas for building peace in the world.

Students at Westminster College undergo an application process in early January to be eligible for project selection. The Projects for Peace campus committee selects finalists to be recommended to the Davis Foundation for funding. The Davis Foundation then selects projects for funding in mid-March. All projects are completed over the summer of that year. Past projects included, health needs assessment, greenhouse construction, arts program in local school, and water purification implementation.

This year, four Westminster students have traveled to Nepal on behalf of the Making Lives Better project. Scroll through some pictures from their journey above and catch up with their blog here.