SUNY Potsdam

'On the Way to War' Author Speaks to SUNY Potsdam Freshman

09.29.11

Cpt. Rye Barcott, author of “It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace,” will speak to SUNY Potsdam freshmen through the First-Year Success Seminar’s Common Reading Program It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace,.

The discussion will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12 in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.

This event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

In 2000, Barcott, a 20-year-old college student heading to the Marines, sought to understand the ethnic violence that had convulsed Africa and might one day confront him in uniform. While in Kibera, Nairobi, one of the world’s largest slums, Barcott stumbled into friendship with a widowed nurse and a tough community organizer. Together they built Carolina for Kibera (CFK) and became pioneers in a movement called participatory development. Engaged in two seemingly-contradictory forms of service at the same time, Barcott continued his leadership in CFK while serving in Bosnia, the Horn of Africa and Iraq. Struggling with the stress of leading Marines in dangerous places, he took lessons from CFK’s approach to social entrepreneurship and became a more effective counter-insurgent and peacekeeper.

Students will be asked to consider what lessons might be learned from these two “worlds” of service, as well as how they can make an impact on the world as college students.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu called the book “a tremendous story of the power of friendship, love and the transforming grace of God.”

This event is sponsored by the Student and Family Transitions Office of SUNY Potsdam’s Student Success Center. The SSC staff encourages and guides students to more effectively identify and use available campus resources in order to promote their academic and personal success at SUNY Potsdam and beyond. The Center is dedicated to assisting and supporting students in understanding and meeting College requirements/standards and providing students with timely, accurate assistance and information.

To find out more about the programs offered through SUNY Potsdam’s Student Success Center, visit www.potsdam.edu/support/ssc.

Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America’s first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.