Donor Acknowledgement - Courtney Latta

It is an honor to write in acknowledgement of Courtney Latta's contribution to my marathon journey. This is by no means her first contribution to the Periclean program. As a member of my cohort, Courtney remained fully involved and invested in our project's success - from conception through completion and to sustaining it today.

Courtney's contributions are balanced in the best way possible. She is full of adventure - always pushing us beyond our limits and energizing us with stories that make us laugh. Yet, she is also deeply spiritual and uses her values and her knowledge of her place in the world to both propel her further and keep her grounded.

During our undergraduate career, Courtney was fully immersed in the mission of Periclean Scholars. She was a constant source of ideas and inspiration for developing the project. She invited her father, a doctor and model global citizen who is connected to Haiti, to serve as a Periclean Scholar-in-Residence. She was the only student to travel to Zambia twice - both on the information gathering trip in May 2008 to Kaoma Village in the Western Province, and on the build in January 2009 to Kawama Village in the Copperbelt Province. She is featured in our video postcard, produced in summer 2008.

Courtney dedicated her life after Elon to service, as well; she served with the Children's Nutrition Program (CNP) in the village of Leogane, Haiti. Even after living through the earthquake, she put the interests of the organization and those she served above herself; she did not stop her work with CNP. She lived out her commitment to others, proving that, even though the time to give the most of yourself is when it is most difficult, it is then that it is the most necessary.

The Class of 2015 will be focusing on Haiti. Courtney's experience after Elon in Haiti will be an incredible resource for this class. Her involvement in the Periclean program, and her desire to see all projects succeed and be sustained, gives me confidence that the newest class will accomplish much. With her on our team, Pericleans have a fierce ally and advocate.

In Courtney I have a friend, a classmate, a role model, a supporter, and more. I am fortunate to have her in my life and humbled that she has contributed toward my goal.

To conclude, I will place under the cut a poem that Courtney sent to my class - a poem that I think exemplifies her nature beautifully.

Thank you, Courtney.



To Be of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

~Marge Piercy