ALUMNI RETURN FOR POWERFUL PANEL A panel discussion can offer an audience a variety of perspectives. But a discussion becomes even more interesting when instead, it turns into a conversation, and the audience feels like it’s eavesdropping on old friends. That was exactly the case in September when the Berkshire community was treated to a conversation between Don Goodrich ’61, Mati Amin ’08 and Shabana BasijRasikh, sister of Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’08, Mati’s classmate at Berkshire. Don Goodrich and his late wife, Sally, had three children. Their oldest son, Peter Goodrich, graduated from Berkshire in 1985, and tragically died in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Remarkably, Don and Sally responded to the death of their son not with vengeance but with hope. They established a foundation, the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation, devoted to furthering education in the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan, and less than five years later, a new school in Logar Province, Afghanistan, opened its doors to 520 girls in grades K-12. In addition, Don and Sally and the Foundation played an integral role in bringing Berkshire four fine young men from Afghanistan, the first of whom was Mati, who came to Berkshire in 2006. After graduation, Mati went on to Williams College and started the Afghan Youth Initiative, an organization which supports democratically-minded young people in Afghanistan through funding for a college education and other initiatives to improve the quality of life of the people of Afghanistan. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of SOLA, School of Leadership, Afghanistan, Afghanistan’s only boarding school for girls. Mati works closely with Shabana Rasij-Rasikh, the co-founder and president of SOLA. Shabana Basij-Rasikh was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. Under the Taliban, she dressed as a boy to escort her older sister to a secret school—with dire consequences if they were caught. She attended a high school in America under the YES exchange program and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont. During college, she founded HELA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Afghan women through education. She also raised funds to build a high school for girls in her ancestral village and to build wells on the outskirts of Kabul to give communities access to clean drinking water. SOLA began with four students in 2008, when Mati and Mustafa were graduating from Berkshire. It has been expanding ever since, and this year en-
rollment is at 34. The school began with only word of mouth to attract students (attending school being a dangerous proposition for girls in Afghanistan), and now it has an online application in three languages. Shabana was named one of National Geographic’s 2014 emerging explorers, a “designation that honors tomorrow’s visionaries—those making discoveries, making a difference, and inspiring people to care about the planet.” “Berkshire proudly reached out to our alumni base to create a panel of experts to engage our community in an informed dialogue about Malala’s remarkable journey and barriers facing world education today,” said Bill Bullock, director of development during the planning phase of the 2014 All-School Read. He continued, “All three helped to better inform our community about education trends in Pakistan and Afghanistan and were amazing role models for our students.” It was an honor to host such an esteemed panel. The thoughtful discussion, insight and candor from all three guests were an inspiration to students and faculty alike. To learn more about The School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), visit www.sola-afghanistan.org.
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