First Night - spreading light

One of the big benefits of working in the field of international education is the diverse and interesting group of people you meet.

Of course, this can happen in any occupation but when you travel and live in foreign lands you meet an extraordinary array of individuals that you would not normally cross if you had stayed at home. Zeren Earls comes to my mind today as the New Year approaches.

Zeren was one of a small group of people to establish the First Night movement in Boston in 1976. She was its Executive Director for many years until just recently. First Night is an artistic and cultural celebration held on the day and evening of December 31st. The First Night celebration has spread from Boston to numerous cities around the world. If you live in an urban area, perhaps you will be attending a First Night event today?

I know her, though, from a completely different world. Zeren graduated from a very good private school in Istanbul years before I become its Director in 1992. She went on to become the first Turkish girl to receive a full scholarship from Duke University. Her education took place in the late 1950s and early sixties. This was an extraordinary, almost unbelievable achievement for a Turkish girl some 50 years ago.

In addition to wearing her very significant First Night hat, Zeren served as the chair of a non-profit Board here in the United States whose purpose is to support several prominent bilingual schools and a hospital in Turkey – all of which continue to flourish today. She never forgot her roots in far off Anatolia.

Although I haven’t seen Zeren in a couple of years, I relate this story because I think of the light that one person can bring to so many.