Tony Cook – Remarks at the TalloiresNetwork Conference in Madrid, Spain 6-14-2011

Good afternoon. Before I tell you about the origins of the MacJannet Prize and

the people behind it, I’d just like to do one thing…

TONY TAKES A PHOTO OF THE AUDIENCE

Thank you. I wanted to take a picture of this distinguished audience and theseimpressive prize winners …because the people in whose name we are makingthese awards today – Donald and Charlotte MacJannet – would be absolutelydelighted to witness this event and see the wonderful work being done byuniversity students and instructors literally around the world.

The MacJannets are no longer with us, but I’m going to post this photo onFacebook, on the off-chance that these two remarkable people might somehowlearn about it out in “cyberspace” and be able to celebrate with us today.

This picture is for you, Mr. and Mrs. MacJannet.

Because of the MacJannet Foundation’s partnership with the Talloires Network,I would like to tell you more about the MacJannets themselves and how theirwork as 20th-century educators directly relates to the community engagementprograms you have created and the student achievements we are recognizingwith the MacJannet Prize.

It all goes back to Paris, just after World War One. Donald MacJannet, was ayoung American pilot – a graduate of Tufts University – who had flown an open-cockpit plane over the skies of Europe in the “war to end all wars.” When theconflict was over, MacJannet stayed on in Paris and began tutoring youngpeople from abroad who were living with their families posted to France.

He started with a single student. Soon there were two students, then three, andbefore long he was running his own school.

Now Donald had almost no money and he didn’t even have a teachingcredential, but he was a natural educator who had a gift for both listening to andinspiring young people. And he delighted his students with his enthusiasm andbelief in learning-by-doing – providing what we would call a “hands –on”education. He made the process both challenging and fun.

At the MacJannet School in St.-Cloud in the 1920s and ‘30s, a history lessonwas a trip to a battlefield or an ancient chateau. Studying French literaturemeant dressing up in 17th-century wigs and costumes and speaking lines writtenby Molière. Learning math involved measuring the dimensions of a building andthen drawing it to scale.

Because he wanted to bring French and American young people together, heand his German bride, Charlotte, started an international camp on the shores ofLake Annecy in the French Alps, near the picturesque village of Talloires.

The camp wasn’t just for summer play. The MacJannets made sure there werecharacter-building lessons and practical knowledge provided every day.

At the MacJannet Camp, learning a language meant speaking it in conversationwith your fellow campers. Music class required that you first make a flute, thenlearn to play it. You like sports? Go climb that 3500-meter mountain right overthere…and help your fellow camper from another country up the path.

The MacJannets’ educational philosophy was: First, create a warm, welcomingand secure atmosphere. Second, surround young people from around the worldwith beautiful natural surroundings. Third, provide the opportunity for students totake risks in order to realize their full individual potential. And fourth, encouragethem to become bi-lingual, and familiar with cultures that were different thantheir own.

They were thinking globally before their time...true internationalists before therewas a United Nations.There were many people over the years who came under the spell of these twoinspiring educators, and their young lives were forever changed by theexperience. People like Indira Gandhi, a MacJannet camper, who led hercountry as Prime Minister of India. And J. Potter Stewart, the AmericanSupreme Court Justice.

...Or our own Dr. Robert Hollister, distinguished Dean of Tufts Tisch College ofCitizenship and Public Service, one of the architects of the Talloires Network,who during the 1950’s won the award as the most outstanding MacJannetcamper two years in a row. Congratulations, Rob.

In 1986, when Donald MacJannet died at the age of 92, he bequeathed hissummer home in Talloires, the beautiful 11th century Prieure, to his alma mater,Tufts – or as the locals call it: Toofts. He and Charlotte also endowed theMacJannet Foundation, a non-profit organization that for 43 years hascontinued their work -- funding scholarships for international student exchangeat the graduate, undergraduate and high school level and helping to underwriteprograms that support the mission of the Prieuré in Talloires, now a thrivingcampus of Tufts University... and the place where this network was first formed.

Today there are hundreds of beneficiaries of our foundation working around theworld in business, economic assistance, public health, diplomacy and

community development that bear witness to the commitment to internationalunderstanding that the MacJannets championed in their lifetime. The vision weestablished for our efforts is a community of global citizens.

When we launched the MacJannet Prize program three years ago in apartnership with you, the Talloires Network members, we had no idea howmeaningful it would become – not only to the participants in the 24 programsthat have now been recognized as winners. But also in raising public awarenessacross the globe about the value of community engagement and the importanceof the commitment by your universities to the development of civil societies.

We congratulate you, the participants in these pioneering communityengagement programs, and we salute you, the administrators of the collegesand universities, for encouraging this important mission.

And we thank you, the winners of the 2011 MacJannet Prize, for your help inbuilding our community of global citizens.

Donald and Charlotte MacJannet would be very moved by youraccomplishments.

END