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Nemanja Koroman '13 (left) and Levon Vardanyan '13

Two St. Lawrence students have been awarded "Projects for Peace" grants for 2012, in the sixth year of the program. At least one St. Lawrence student has been awarded a grant every year since the program began.

Class of 2013 members Nemanja Koroman, a Davis United World College Scholar from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Levon Vardanyan, whose hometown is Yerevan, Armenia, were awarded a grant of $10,000 for a project titled "Aiding Post-War Returnees to Improve their Living Conditions." Both are government majors.

Koroman and Vardanyan plan to build a water supply in the village of Kamenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina, facilitating an atmosphere conducive to community and rural development and improving overall quality of life. Kamenica is a small village with a population consisting entirely of 10 families, all of whom lived there prior the war (1992-95) and have since returned. Five of the families' houses have been fully renovated and the additional five are scheduled to be renovated this year, but infrastructure - including electricity and water - has not been restored.

With the assistance of the grant, Koroman and Vadanyan plan to sanitize water in a nearby spring and develop a system to prevent future contamination; build a water tank to support the needs of all village households; connect the spring to the tank, thereby supplying the village; and the necessary excavation and backfilling for the project.

Davis Projects for Peace is an invitation to undergraduates at the American colleges and universities in the Davis United World College Scholars Program to design grassroots projects that they will implement during the summer. The projects judged to be the most promising and do-able are funded at $10,000 each. The objective is to encourage and support today's motivated youth to create and try out their own ideas for building peace. The Davis Projects for Peace is made possible by Kathryn Wasserman Davis, an accomplished internationalist and philanthropist. Upon the occasion of her 100th birthday in February of 2007, Mrs. Davis, mother of Shelby M.C. Davis who funds the Davis UWC Scholars Program, chose to celebrate by committing $1 million for one hundred Projects for Peace. Because of the many marvelous achievements made by students in prior years, Mrs. Davis has continued the program in subsequent years.

More information: Davis Projects for Peace Web site

Posted: April 13, 2012