Davis Projects for Peace to combat war with education

Bailey Ulbricht ’15 (Severna Park, MD), a senior political science and international relations major, was recently awarded a prestigious Davis Projects for Peace Grant from the Davis United World Scholars.

Ulbricht’s project: “Combating War with Education: Expanding Educational Opportunities for Syrian Youth,” centers around facilitating peace in an area that has been in constant struggle with violence and war. With the grant, Ulbricht plans to provide Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) instruction and resources for college-aged Syrian refugee students in Reyhanli, Turkey. This program would expand educational opportunities for Syrian students and provide alternatives to joining violent factions. Ulbricht will collaborate with the Reyhanli Center, which is currently the only free test-prep center in southern Turkey.

Ulbricht will also launch a second test-prep center in the area and will collaborate with teachers in clinics to improve their resources. Ulbricht hopes to reach an extensive network of 1,200 students and ensure infrastructural sustainability of the program before her project ends. In addition to her collaboration and formation of the new teaching center, Ulbricht will rely on the program Paper Airplanes, a Skype tutoring program that she founded and continues to manage. Paper Airplanes will provide the Syrian refugees in the teaching centers with additional English instruction after Ulbricht’s program ends.

Ulbricht credits two prior visits to the Reyhanli Center for inspiring her to pursue the project. Ulbricht first visited in June 2013, and she returned again in December 2014 to conduct research for her comprehensive senior project. Ulbricht describes her experience in Turkey and the relationships she formed there as a key inspiration in forming her program.

“When I was there I befriended a lot of college-aged Syrians who were unable to attend a university because they didn’t have the resources to take the TOEFL exam, which is required for entry into a university. When I returned from Turkey I started the program Paper Airplanes, but I wanted to do something more on the ground and firmly establish Paper Airplanes in ESL tutoring centers.”

[[id=”1268240″ width=”250″ float=”right” caption=”The local mosque in Reyhanli”]]

Ulbricht wanted to help college-aged Syrians and, in the spirit of the Project for Peace program goals, she is attempting to provide alternatives to violence for Syrian refugees: “If young men aren’t provided with educational alternatives, they’re going to fight. The goal of my program is to diminish violence and provide opportunities for young Syrian refugees outside of fighting.” Ulbricht and her supervisor this summer emphasize that Syrian refugees are “normal kids who want to be college students just like anyone else. They aren’t a threat, they were forced out by the war and they’re innocent kids.”

Ulbricht’s ultimate goal for the program is to help college-aged Syrian refugees obtain admission into American colleges. “That’s the ultimate dream,” says Ulbricht, “I hope this program can expose them to ideals that they wouldn’t normally be exposed to: freedom of expression and freedom of speech, along with other freedoms that their home environment doesn’t provide. These ideals are incredibly powerful when you’re looking to rebuild a country.”

Ulbricht will undertake her project during the summer of 2015, but she hopes to continue her involvement with the program and Syrian refugees into the future. “I’ll definitely continue my involvement with Paper Airplanes because I believe in the power of education and the opportunities it can create for Syrian refugees. I’m interested in getting involved in American foreign policy in the Middle East, so this is a gateway to that. Even if just five individuals decide to pursue an education instead of violence, that is better than nothing.”

Ulbricht plans to keep a blog and photo journal about her experiences this summer, so keep a lookout for updates from her on the project’s progress. For more information about Ulbricht’s Paper Airplanes program, visit the program website at paperairplanestutoring.org.

The Davis Projects for Peace Program is in its ninth year and supports and encourages today’s motivated youth to create and test their own ideas for building peace. Kathryn W. Davis, an international philanthropist, set up the grant in celebration of her 100^th birthday. In her goal for the grant, Davis stated: “My challenge to you is to bring about a mind-set of preparing for peace, instead of preparing for war.” For more information, visit the  Projects for Peace website.