Investing in the Future of Others

A scholarship recipient, Maurice made the most of his time at the College, becoming an exceptional academic achiever, studying abroad and serving in everything from Conn’s Honor Council to the Black Student Union (Umoja) to tutoring at Jennings Elementary School in New London.

Through TRIP (the Travel, Research, and Immersion Program), he and 12 other students in a course on Black women’s contributions to the Civil Rights Movement visited historically Black colleges in Tennessee and Mississippi and other important sites while learning about the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and Freedom Summer, when white students from the North traveled to the South to help register voters. He was one of 17 students who traveled to Cuba and Mexico during a spring break through the College’s Study Away, Teach Away (SATA) program with Michael James, now professor emeritus of education, to conduct a comparative study of two distinct revolutions in nations whose populace is still living the outcomes.

As a senior, Maurice was awarded the Anna Lord Strauss Medal for outstanding work in public/community service. He has since earned his M.A. in religion from Yale Divinity School and has returned to Conn to direct the race and ethnicity programs, investing in the future of others, just as others propelled his dreams.

“Money may not always be able to change the world, but it can extend opportunities to people who will.”