Maxwell freshmen commemorate Sept. 11 by participating in third annual park cleanup

Maxwell freshmen commemorate Sept. 11 by participating in third annual park cleanupSeptember 07, 2006Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

For the third straight year, 25 students from the Maxwell Citizenship Education Learning Community at Syracuse University will honor the men and women killed on Sept. 11, 2001, by planting flowers and cleaning up the Fayette Firefighters Memorial Park. The event will be held Sunday, Sept. 10, and will begin at 9:30 a.m.

The park is bounded by Townsend and State streets on the east and west, and East Genesee and Fayette streets on the south and north. Members of the Syracuse Fire Fighters Association and Syracuse Mayor Matthew J. Driscoll will offer brief comments at 10 a.m. Four students will speak: three freshmen and public affairs student John Dau, one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan.

Dau is a survivor of a 14-year journey from his home village in Duk County, Sudan, to Syracuse, where he arrived in 2001. He escaped death to come to the United States and live the American dream. While in America he has started two nonprofit organizations, has become a gifted public speaker, works 60 hours a week as a security guard, received an associate’s degree from Onondaga Community College, and is working on his bachelor’s degree in public affairs.

The Maxwell Citizenship Education Learning Community consists of 25 incoming freshmen who competed for the right to be part of the community. All 25 students participated at a rigorous competition in the spring, writing a four- to six-page paper and giving a presentation on a health public policy proposal. The students come from different backgrounds and have a variety of majors but unite for a common cause — doing good. They believe in the idea that they must leave their community better than the state in which they found it.

The Maxwell School at Syracuse University, founded in 1924, is the premier academic institution in the United States committed to scholarship, civic leadership, and education in public and international affairs. Maxwell is home to SU’s social science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary graduate programs in public policy, international studies, social policy and conflict resolution. Maxwell’s graduate program in public administration is consistently ranked the best in the nation.

For additional information contact Paul Alberry at (315) 778-9836 or psalberr@syr.edu, or Bill Coplin at wdcoplin@syr.edu.