$10K Grant Awarded to Graduate of LAUSD Zoo Magnet Center, Los Angeles native, Michelle "Mische" Kang

Kang is the recipient of a prestigious Davis Project for Peace Grant and will use the funding to work with youth In South Africa

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Wellesley Student Mische Kang with students in South Africa

WELLESLEY, MA (04/04/2013)(readMedia)-- Michelle "Mische" Kang, a graduate of the LAUSD Zoo Magnet Center and native of Los Angeles, has been awarded a 2013 Davis Project for Peace grant. The grant is a $10,000 fellowship to "promote peace and address the root causes of conflict." Kang will use the award to lead photography workshops and conduct collaborative multimedia projects with youth in South Africa.

Kang, who is now a senior at Wellesley College, first traveled to Mamelodi Township in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa in June 2012 on a service trip with a Christian student ministry. Mamelodi, which means "Mother of Melodies," is among the largest townships in South Africa. It is a largely underdeveloped urban area with high rates of unemployment, violence, and HIV/AIDS. Students (known as "learners") face serious poverty-related challenges, including low pass rates on the university matriculation exam. Despite these challenges, Mamelodi boasts a vibrant culture and engaging community whose young people seek better futures.

During the trip, Kang and a South African university student co-taught a classroom of lively grade 8 learners as part of an educational enrichment program. She noticed how interested her learners were in photography, which is a particular passion of Kang's. "As an artist, I process a lot through what I find to be beautiful and worthwhile in this world through visual images," she said.

Kang found disposable cameras and offered a week of photography tutorials to the young enthusiasts. The learners took their cameras -- and Kang -- throughout the township, documenting their everyday experiences. At the end of the program, she organized an exhibit of their work called "Mamelodi Through Their Eyes."

"The people really affected me, and I realized, this was not the last time I would see them, especially my students. The place, the conditions, everything that my new friends came from... I just have an overwhelming curiosity and desire to understand but also be an active part of the community," Kang said. She describes her time in the township as "life-changing."

For her Davis Project, Kang will return to Mamelodi during the summer to create a collaborative youth art program in partnership with the Mamelodi Initiative, the University of Pretoria and the U.S. Embassy. The program will involve more photography workshops (this time with higher-quality cameras) and film-making of various creative modes including poetry, dance, and drama. The goal is to create shareable works of art within the community while emphasizing youth mentorship and empowerment.

"The project is very connected to what I've studied at Wellesley," Kang says, who majors in Environmental Studies with a minor in Africana studies. "Environmental Studies has really given me a holistic view of how people are affected by their environment and how they affect the environment. That's something I'm constantly looking at, wherever I go."

Outside the classroom she serves as the president and co-dance captain of Yanvalou, Wellesley's drum-and-dance ensemble that specializes in folkloric performance traditions of the African diaspora. "My involvement with Yanvalou has given me a global perspective, and my involvement in photography here has given me the tools to process my world through a medium that I feel really comfortable with," Kang said.

Kang has a busy six months ahead of her: she graduates from Wellesley in May; in June, she departs for South Africa; and, in the fall, she will begin a year of campus ministry ("hopefully in Boston") with Cru, the same organization that brought her to Mamelodi.

"I'm so excited about everything," she said. "I'm excited because I see the challenge but also the excitement of cross-cultural communication, about being uncomfortable, but growing from that, and making friends in all ages, in all walks of life, in a place that I would otherwise not have the opportunity to go."

International philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, Wellesley College class of 1928, created the Davis Projects for Peace. She announced the initiative on her 100th birthday in 2007, and began giving $1 million each year to grassroots projects promoting world peace. Students from the more than 90 colleges and universities who are partner schools with the Davis United World College Scholars program are eligible to apply. Each winning project receives a $10,000 stipend.

Click to learn more about the Mamelodi Initiative at http://mamelodi.org/ and the Davis Projects for Peace at http://www.davisprojectsforpeace.org/.

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About Wellesley College

Since 1875, Wellesley College has been the preeminent liberal arts college for women. Known for its intellectual rigor and its remarkable track record for the cultivation of women leaders in every arena, Wellesley-only 12 miles from Boston-is home to some 2300 undergraduates from every state and 75 countries.