Scholars and Explorers - Trafalgar School for Girls

S e r v i c eAnne Wood 1976Attended Trafalgar: 1972-1976; Distinguished Alumna Award Recipient 2008Education: BA (Economics), Carleton University; BS (Biology), University of Ottawa; MHSc (Health Administration), University of TorontoInternational Aid WorkerAnne Wood has had twocareers, starting with a“respectable” career inhealth-care management, in somerespects a prelude to the second.Anne is a humanitarian who hasspent the past 20 years providing lifesupport in what she terms “’complexemergencies,’ i.e. countriescharacterized by continued conflict,insecurity and the displacementof people.” She has served ascoordinator and/or director withinternational aid organizations thatinclude CARE, OXFAM, and Merlin(UK), as well as UN agencies suchas the World Health Organization,the Office for Coordination ofHumanitarian Assistance and UnitedNations Mission in Sudan. She hasmanaged refugee camps, distributedemergency supplies, provided neededhealth care, monitored electionsand human rights, and much more.“she led an OXFAM team to deliver a six-month supply of food to300,000 people in Afghanistan’s central highlands”She has done all this in devastatinghuman situations in countries suchas Afghanistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka,Burundi and Libya. Most recently,Anne served as Country Director forOXFAM in Chad and for Merlin inLibya. Her proudest moment, shesays, came during a drought in 2000,when she led an OXFAM team todeliver a six-month supply of foodto 300,000 people in Afghanistan’scentral highlands, without which“tens of thousands more would havedied.” In her time off, Anne travels,and that, too, shows her mettle. Sheis a solo traveller who prefers publictransportation and finds comfort ina hammock strung up in the boilerroom of a ferry boat. A recent tripfollowed the White Nile River by riverbarge, bus, train, ferry, etc., fromUganda through Sudan to Egypt. Sheis also a published adventure travelwriter. Anne advises young women,“Stop tweeting. Listen to/see theworld. Dare to dream and do theunexpected.” For daring to listen toand see the world with compassionand committing her life to alleviatinghuman misery, Anne is one of our125 Women of Trafalgar.Sheryl Ludwick Stotland 1985Attended Trafalgar: 1980-1985Education: BA, MSW: McGill UniversityVolunteer/Advocate/PhilanthropistOn graduation, Sheryldeveloped a project to helpbring about awareness ofelder abuse in Montreal. Twentyyears later, she realized that moregood could be done. At her class’sAnne Tinsley and Stephanie Zelman)decided to work together and makea difference. “Since we shared amutually positive experience withour all-girl education at Trafalgar, wedecided to raise money to supportgirls through their education andco-founded Forgirlsake.” Since 2007,Forgirlsake has helped to send girlsPeru that taught the textile traditionsof a remote village to a group of 30girls. This year they are partneringwith the UN Refugee Agency, theKakuma Project, and the Traf Trek toKilimanjaro to help girls attend highschool in Kenya. Sheryl, a mother offour, is also active in her children’sschools and sits on the board of theNew London Barn Playhouse. Shehas chaired the planning committee“Since we shared a mutually positive experience with our all-girl education at Trafalgar, wedecided to raise money to support girls through their education and co-founded Forgirlsake.”20-year reunion, she and some ofher classmates (Patrizia Cappelli,Leslie Kaufman, Linda Kessler, AndreaMandel-Campbell, Michele Mani,Jessica Mosher, Christina Nacos,Vivian Sallai, Shaune Thompson,in Uganda and Kenya to secondaryschool and partnered with NurturingMinds to support a girls’ school inTanzania, raising funds for a solarpoweredcomputer lab. Last year, thegroup worked to fund a course infor the Radford C. Tanzer MedicalSymposium for the past 10 years. Forher contributions to Forgirlsake andher community involvement, Sherylhas been chosen one of our 125Women of Trafalgar.Stephanie Zelman 1985Attended Trafalgar: 1983-1985Education: BA, MA: McGill University; BFA Parsons School of DesignGraphic Designer/Advocate/PhilanthropistStephanie Zelman is an awardwinningdesigner and principaland creative director at UturnDesign, based in Boston. Her careerin advertising began in Japan withthe Koyosha Printing Companyand included stints with Ogilvyand Mather in Montreal, Ingallsdecided to raise funds to supportgirls’ education, gathering smalldonations from many people. Theyestablished Forgirlsake, an umbrellaorganization of grassroots groupswho are responsible for raisingfunds from a fairly large circle ofwomen. By coming together througha way to post information abouteach project. The organizationhas no overhead. Since 2007,Forgirlsake has raised funds to send16 Ugandan village girls to highschool, helped establish a highschool library in Kenya, helped funda solar-powered computer lab in“...established Forgirlsake, an umbrella organization of grassroots groups who are responsiblefor raising funds from a fairly large circle of women.”Advertising, and Go fish! Design inBoston. She taught graphic designand advertising at the Art Instituteof Boston and MassachusettsCollege of Art for 10 years. In 2005,Stephanie and a group of friendsfrom Trafalgar planned a reunionand realized they could accomplisha lot more as a group. TheyForgirlsake, women can make theirown individual contributions whileleveraging the support of a largerumbrella organization to decidehow their money will be spent. Eachmember collects about $400 in$20 increments towards a project.A website supported by Stephanieconnects the women and providesTanzania and helped village girlsin Peru to attend secondary schooland teach traditional weaving. Intotal, Forgirlsake has directed some$40,000 to various projects to benefityoung women around the world. Forher vision and support of Forgirlsake,Stephanie has been chosen one ofour 125 Women of Trafalgar.125 Women of Trafalgar | 43