Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greg Mortenson to speak at Saint Martin’s
University on May 13
April 23, 2010
Lacey, Washington — Humanitarian, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize
nominee Greg Mortenson will speak at Saint Martin’s University on
Thursday, May 13 at 6:45 p.m. in the Hal and Inge Marcus Pavilion. The
program, sponsored by the Olympia High School (OHS) Rotary Interact
Club, The Olympia Rotary Club, The Community Foundation of South Puget
Sound, and Saint Martin’s, is part of Mortenson’s day-long visit to
Thurston County. The visit also includes an afternoon student march for
schools organized by the OHS Interact Club, that will culminate in a
rally on the state capitol steps. The evening program is open to the
public, and families are encouraged to attend (see ticket details
below).
Mortenson is the protagonist and co-author of the #1
New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission
To Promote Peace... One School At A Time. His most recent book
Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, the sequel to Three Cups of Tea, was
released in December. In 2009 he was awarded the "Star of Pakistan" and
was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Founder of the educational charity Pennies For Peace, Mortenson is
also the co-founder and director of the non-profit Central Asia
Institute (CAI). CAI is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting
education and literacy, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions
of Pakistan and Afghanistan. As of October 2009, Central Asia Institute
has established over 131 schools in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan,
which provide education to 54,000 students including over 44,000 girls.
Plans for Mortenson’s visit began when OHS Rotary Interact Club
co-president Kaycee Keegan wrote Mortenson a letter as part of a senior
project. Keegan and the Interact Club are working with area schools to
have their students participate in the student march and consider a
Pennies for Peace drive.
For more details about Greg Mortenson’s Thurston County events, visit
the website
www.thecommunityfoundation.com/mortensonProject. For more
information about the evening program, contact the president of the
Olympia Rotary Club, Sean Padget at
seanpadget@comcast.net. For
more information about the student march, contact co-presidents of OHS
Rotary Interact Club, Kaycee Keegan at
kaycee.keegs@gmail.com or
Teasha Feldman at
teasha.mf@gmail.com.
Tickets for the evening program are $25 for adults and $10 for
students. Proceeds will go to Greg Mortenson to help build schools for
children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tickets are available at
www.seatyourself.biz/tcf. Over 2400 tickets have already been sold.
Note that tickets will not be sold at the door.
Genevieve Canceko Chan
Director of communications & marketing
Saint Martin’s University
360-438-4332
gchan@stmartin.edu
www.stmartin.edu