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Centre Daily Times, Wednesday, November 19, 2014 A3

Charity nets Childrens Peace Prize

Prize, continued from A1

ably she was just a child herself when she began this
work, Penn State President
Eric Barron said in a statement.
Were very proud that she
has been recognized with the
2014 International Peace
Prize, and hope that this visibility will inspire others to also pursue worthy endeavors
to benefit humankind.
Yousafzai, a Pakastani activist for female education
who survived being shot, reportedly by the Taliban, won
the International Childrens
Peace Prize Award in 2013
before earlier this year becoming the youngest Nobel
recipient.
Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, spoke Tuesday at
Penn States Schwab Auditorium.
Schreyer Honors College
Dean Christian Brady said
he and other Schreyer faculty members were very
proud and ecstatic Tuesday after Gupta was honored.
Shes been a remarkable
young woman, Brady said.
She deserves all the accolades shes receiving.
The college had known of
Guptas selection since she
entered the university in the
fall, Schreyer Coordinator of
College Relations Beth
Kocher Gormley said, adding that keeping the secret
until the award ceremony
was pretty hard.
But the advance knowledge didnt lessen the emotional impact of Tuesdays
news, especially in light of
Guptas immediate predecessor, Kocher Gormley
said.
I think it really hits home
when you see Malala won it
last year, Kocher Gormley
said. We know how inspirational she is.
Gupta, an Eberly College
of Science scholar entering
the premedicine program,
started Empower Orphans
after making an annual visit
to India with her grandparents. During their stay, following family tradition, she
helped celebrate birthdays
at a local orphanage.
Shocked by the malnutrition, disease, lack of education and bleak futures faced
by her friends, who resembled her, she returned to her
Philadelphia home and
launched her first fundraiser,

YOUSAFZAI PREACHES POWER OF EDUCATION

By Annemarie Butkiewicz
For the CDT

UNIVERSITY PARK Education

transforms people, polishes personalities and it can change the world.
That is what Ziauddin Yousafzai
told an audience of more than 200 people in Schwab Auditorium on Tuesday
night.
Yousafzai is the father of education
activist Malala Yousafzai, who recently became the youngest winner of the
Nobel Peace Prize.
Yousafzai recounted his childhood
and his education, which was filled
with struggles, being bullied for his
dark skin and his stutter.
If it had not been for education, he
could have retaliated and become
mean as well, bullying for vengeance.
But in an effort to overcome his
stutter, Yousafzai worked on reciting a
speech with his father, a source of
great inspiration in his life.
I learned it by heart, I closed my
eyes, and spoke it ... and it was wonderful, Yousafzai said.
Yousafzai talked about his passion
for education, and his passion for
sharing education, which later inspired him to start a school.
Despite his great appreciation for
his education, none of his five sisters
could get an education, he said. He
promised himself as a young boy that
should he have a daughter, he would
according to the Childrens
Peace Prize website.
That effort from going to
door to door and reaching
out to friends collected toys
for a garage sale, netting
$800 for Indian children. She
sought more donations from
friends, family and the public, and a year later returned
to India with $5,000, the start
of her charity.
Since then, the organization has raised more than
$1.3 million for underprivileged children, helping more
than 25,000 worldwide with
projects that have included
opening libraries, providing
health care and promoting
education.
Shes an inspiration to our
scholars here: just the potential of what you can do if you
put your mind to it at an early
age, Kocher Gormley said.
So were looking forward to
getting to know her.
Presented for the 10th time
this year, the International
Childrens Peace Prize was
created by KidsRight, an Amsterdam-based
childrens

give her an education.

When he talked about his daughter
Malala, his pride radiated through the
room. In an act of love and rebellion,
Yousafzai wrote Malalas name on a
cousins family tree when she was
born. His cousin looked at him in
shock, because women dont traditionally go on family trees.
I just smiled at him, Yousafzai said
with a laugh.Almost everybody in a
patriarchal society is known by his
sons. I am one of the few who is known
by his daughter, and I am proud of it.
Yousafzai talked about the importance of giving women dignity and
respect, which included an education.
He encouraged the girls at his school,
who are brilliant, to disobey, with
respect, when their parents try to
make them conform to archaic patriarchal traditions, like arranged marriages between very young girls and
very old men.
In the school he started, he said he
always encouraged critical thinking
and questioning, because the one
thing that is worse than illiteracy, Yousafzai said, is indoctrination.
Yousafzai talked about growing up
in Pakistan during tensions between
the U.S. and the Soviet Union during
the Cold War, and how he had math
questions like If there are 15 Russian
soldiers, and Muslims kill 5 of them,
how many Russian soldiers are left?

rights organization.
When you look at the
world, Gupta said on the
Childrens Peace Prize website, you see so much discrepancy between what you
have and what others do not.
There are many more poor
people than rich people. You
should not only sympathize
with people, you have to empathize, and turn ideas into
action.
In India, Empower Orphans has funded five libraries, four computer labs, a science center and a sewing
center, all in schools, according to the Childrens Peace
Prize website.
The charity also has sponsored the education of individual children, an eye and
dental camp, surgery for polio victims; raised awareness
of the risks of cancer from
candied tobacco popular
among Indian children; and
provided water purification,
home furnishings and diapers for babies.
Closer to home, Empower
Orphans has helped abused

He talked about praying to god for

the Muslims to kill the infidels, one of
the dangers of the indoctrination system in which he was educated.
In the world as it is, where children
arent allowed to speak, women arent
allowed to be educated, and everything that is being done by adults, its
not right to call people childish, Yousafzai said.
The world has gone mad, Yousafzai said, I cant say it is childish, it is
adultish. Children are very innocent,
they are very cute, they are very wise.
They dont know how to manipulate,
or how to cheat or how to lie, how to
kill each other.
Modern education, Yousafzai said,
which encourages critical thinking,
can demolish fundamentalism and
terrorism.
It can fight it. I believe in it. That we
provide our children with quality education, they will not pick up guns.
Raunaq Malhotra, a graduate student in computer science, came to
hear Yousafzais story. Malhotra is
from India, which he compared to Pakistan.
Coming from a similar patriarchal
background, I can understand how
difficult it is to stand up, Malhotra
said.
Annemarie Butkiewicz is a journalism student at Penn State.

and abandoned children in

Pennsylvania and worked
with hospitals and a school
for underprivileged children,
according to Childrens
Peace Prize.
The prize is presented annually to an exceptional child
whose courageous or otherwise remarkable actions
have made a difference in improving childrens rights,
which helps children worldwide, Childrens Peace
Prize said on its website.
The motivation behind
the prize is to provide a platform to children to express
their ideas and personal
involvement in childrens
rights.
Prize recipients, the selection committee said, must
have a clear history of standing up and fighting for the
rights of him/herself and
other children.
It is important that the
child has an active approach
in accomplishing this goal,
which has led to a concrete
result.
Gupta, Childrens Peace

Prize said, has inspired children in India, America and

worldwide to help her
through Facebook.
She has mobilized over a
thousand young people in
her quest to help those in
need, and is proving that children can be change-makers,
taking a stand for what they
believe in, and making things
happen, the organization
said.
Schreyer Associate Dean
for Student Affairs Michele
Kirsch, who manages the
colleges admissions and
recruiting, said she meets
many outstanding prospective students. For each class,
the college accepts only 300
Schreyer Scholars, who represent the top 2 percent of
Penn State students academically.
But she is one who stuck
out, even when we met her
early in the spring just very mature, very personable,
very humble, very down to
earth, Kirsch said. Just a
delightful young woman.
In addition to her strong

academic record, Kirsch

said, Guptas charity caught
the attention of Schreyer because it fit with the colleges
philosophy of expecting students to commit their talents
to service.
She was one of those superstars you identify early on
just because of her personality, Kirsch said.
For her efforts over the
years, Gupta has won numerous other awards, including
the 2011 World of Children
Award, the Presidents Volunteer Service Award, the
Congressional Award and
the National Prudential Spirit of Community award. She
has been featured in books
and magazines, on TV and
online.
Nehas altruism and leadership in service to others
presents a powerful and positive force that embodies not
only the philanthropic energy of Penn State, but also the
desire to be better, to do
more, and to have a meaningful and lasting impact on the
world around us, Brady said
in a news release.
One International Childrens Peace Prize nominee
worked on improving Russias gay rights laws. The other established a project to
stop hunger in Somalia.
In addition to her prize,
Gupta
received
a
100,000-euro grant for projects associated with her organization.
Nehas devotion to children
is
inspirational,
Schreyer Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs Nichola
Gutgold said in a news release. Her commitment to
making the world a better
place for orphans is so much
of what the Schreyer Honors
College celebrates.
Kirsch said Schreyer will
work with Barrons office to
plan a campus reception in
Guptas honor.
Were thrilled, very excited for her and her family because they are such nice people, Kirsch said. She
worked hard, and she did it
all for the right reasons, not
just for the recognition.
Its nice to see someone
who worked hard be recognized internationally because she deserves it.
Chris Rosenblum can be
reached at 231-4620.
Follow him on Twitter
@CRosenblumNews.

Group offers safe zone for orientation issues Kane

Safe Zone, continued from A1

are gone, one man said.

It was just an exercise,
but the people in the Safe
Zone training at the HUBRobeson Center on Tuesday learned a little something about what it is like to
come out as sexually different, risking losing the
things that mean the most
just to be honest about who
you are.
Some of the people in the
room already knew that lesson. Of the 15 people taking
the class, everyone comes
from a different perspective, academically or socially or experientially.
They all came together to
get a better idea of how to
help someone on campus
who is facing questions
about their sexuality or gender identity, or experiencing problems.
Everyone picked up
some information along the
way.
Daniel Renner works in
biochemistry and molecular biology. He is a husband
and a father and, if you ask
him, he will tell you he is
straight. He is also a transgendered man. That means
that, today, he lives a life
that mirrors how he feels inside, but that wasnt how he
was born.
In a discussion on sex
and gender terms, Renner
was sometimes a resource
to the other members of his
group,
helping
coach
through the meanings of
terms like transgender or
cisgender. Dont know that
one? Its a more scientific
term for having the gender
you say you are match up
with your biology.
However, he was sometimes at a loss to describe
some more evolving terms
and newer definitions being
seen. What makes pansexual different from bisexual?
Does gay refer to everyone
with same-sex feelings or
just men? What does it all
really mean?

details
emails
Emails, continued from A1

CDT photo/Christopher Weddle

Kelly Powell, an administrative assistant for the biochemistry and molecular biology department, talks during a group
discussion at a Safe Zone training on Tuesday.

NEED HELP?
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Ally
Student Resource Center
http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/lgbtqa/safezone
865-2127
There are a thousand
billion different words,
Renner said.
Some are outdated and
generally avoided, like
cross-dresser.
Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual Transgender,
Queer and Ally Student Resource Center program coordinator Natasha Cox
called that a term to challenge, something that is
more derogatory and inappropriate.
Queer, on the other other
hand, led some people to
blanch, remembering it as a
high school insult. Thats

not necessarily true anymore.

Its really powerful for
me, said Cox, who used
the word. If youre not
comfortable with it, dont
use it.
That kind of comfort and
appreciation is a hallmark
of the community, and the
training.
I think so much of this
just relates back to social
norms of respect, attendee
Kelly Powell said.
Penn State does well in
this area, Cox said. The university scores five stars

from Campus Pride, an organization that rates colleges on inclusiveness and

support.
I think Penn State is really receptive. It seems that
Penn State has been thinking of inclusiveness for a
long time, she said.
More training sessions
will be held in February
and April, but Cox said individual departments can also schedule sessions by
contacting the resource
center. More specialized
training will also be planned
for the spring semester.
The resource center
plans events for the LGBTQ
community. Some are fun,
like a game night. Some are
educational, like a lecture.
Others are more like survival skills.
On Wednesday from 6-8

p.m., they will host Home

for the Holidays, an opportunity for people to prepare
for the sometimes daunting
task of sitting around the
Thanksgiving table with
family members who dont
understand.
A lot of people are out at
school and not at home,
Cox said.
That means having a Safe
Zone on campus is even
more important. The participants in Tuesdays class all
left with a sticker a rainbow background with a
blue and white paw print
to display as a subtle sign to
anyone who needs to talk
without fear of judgment or
scorn.
Lori Falce can be reached
at 235-3910. Follow her on
Twitter @LoriFalce.

down.
The hundreds of emails
that Kane has released included pornographic or explicit photos, videos and
jokes. Kanes office plans
training, starting in December, for all employees and
will set up a way for staff to
report such behavior without
facing retaliation.
Kane previously had said
the emails surfaced during
an examination of how state
prosecutors handled the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse
case, a review she promised
while running for the office
in 2012.
She also had disclosed the
participation of several former employees of the office,
leading at least four to leave
government jobs elsewhere,
including the states environmental protection secretary,
a lawyer in that agency, a
member of the state parole
board and a county prosecutor.
Last month, Justice Seamus McCaffery retired after
his fellow justices suspended
him amid the disclosure he
had he sent or received 234
of the emails. McCaffery
sent most of the emails to a
now-retired agent in the attorney generals office, who
then forwarded the emails to
others in the office, Supreme
Court Chief Justice Ronald
Castille has said.
Kane, a former Lackawanna County prosecutor, is the
first Democrat and first woman elected attorney general in Pennsylvania. She took
over from Linda Kelly, one of
two Republicans to serve on
an interim basis after Republican Tom Corbett stepped
down to become governor in
2011.