Williams Economics Major Named Global Citizen Finalist

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Will Turett, an economics major of Williams College and native resident of Irvington, N.Y., has been honored as a finalist for the IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year Award. 

The IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year Award is the first student-focused study abroad award of its kind, recognizing six U.S college students who studied with IES Abroad in 2017, positively impacted their communities through academic, philanthropic, or personal efforts while abroad, learned from their cross-cultural experience, and continued to better their communities, at home and abroad.

Through internships abroad with the European Environmental Bureau and European Forum Alpbach, Turett invested his translation and research skills and was able to partake in once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to share knowledge globally. 

One winner from Grinnell College, Yesenia Ayala, and four other finalists - from Loyola University of Chicago, University of California-Berkeley, Villanova University and Yale University - join Turell as the next generation of global leaders as part of the 2017 Global Citizen of the Year Award. 

IES Abroad is a not-for-profit organization providing access to 140 study abroad and internship programs in 34 cities around the world. IES Abroad received inspiring submissions from its students across more than 30 different U.S. colleges, such as Williams College, University of California- Berkeley, and Yale University, to name a few.

As part of their applications, student winners shared a range of meaningful contributions and anecdotes, such as working with students from low-income communities in Santiago, translating documents to support the work of an environmental bureau in Vienna, volunteering with a nutritional health organization in Buenos Aires, and bringing attention to the individual stories of women in Spain and Morocco.

As the winner of the Global Citizen of the Year Award, Ayala will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and the five finalists will each receive a $200 cash prize.

Menorah Lighting Begins 8 Days of Hanukkah, Thoughts of Gratitude

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
01:14PM / Thursday, December 26, 2024

Rebecca Wax gets some helping light as she works the controls. The full ceremony can be seen on iBerkshires' Facebook page. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With a boost from her dad, Rebecca Wax on Wednesday turned on the first candle of the more than 12-foot tall menorah at the Williams Inn. 

 

Around 40 people attended the community lighting for the first night of Hanukkah, which fell this year on the same day as Christmas. They gathered in the snow around the glowing blue electric menorah even as the temperature hovered around 12 degrees.

 

"We had a small but dedicated group in North Adams, so this is unbelievable," said Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams. "This is honestly unbelievable."

 

Barenblat had earlier observed the lighting of the city's menorah in City Hall, which the mayor opened briefly for the ceremony. 

 

In Williamstown, Rabbi Seth Wax, the Jewish chaplain at Williams College, with his daughters Mia and Rebecca, spoke of the reasons for celebrating Hanukkah, sometimes referred to as the Festival of Lights. 

 

The two common ones, he said, are to mark the single unit of sacred olive oil that lasted eight days during the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem and the military victory over the invading Greeks.

 

"For the rabbis of antiquity, who created and shaped Judaism, these two events were considered to be miracles," said Wax. "They happened not because of what humans did on their own, but because of what something beyond them, what they called God, did on their behalf.