Two seniors win Labouisse Prize

Seniors James R. Williams and Soraya Umewaka have been awarded the Henry Richardson Labouisse '26 Prize, a $25,000 fellowship to fund independent projects serving the public good for the year after graduation.

Umewaka, a politics major, will travel to Brazil to work for a nongovernmental organization and make a documentary about a mentoring program for poor children. Williams, a Wilson School major, will work as an apprentice for a prominent human rights activist and lawyer in India.

"The Labouisse is really about commitment to disadvantaged peoples around the world," Williams said. "It's about social justice and democracy and about working for disenfranchised communities whether here in the United States or abroad."

Williams will serve as an apprentice to M.C. Mehta, a lawyer who has won more than 40 supreme court cases in India. In addition, Williams will work in the village Dahanu with local grassroots organizations. He hopes to obtain a better understanding of the connection between environmental law and social justice.

He plans to attend law school but said his "real passion is politics and public policy" and sees law as a "tool" in pursuing his passion. "India has the perfect interplay between democracy and diversity, economics and the environment. And law is a key part of that."

Williams also won a Truman Scholarship last year as a junior. This scholarship provides $30,000 per year for graduate school. He was also one of two winners of the Pyne Prize, the University's highest undergraduate award.

"The most important thing is to know your passions and what you want to do and to know there is some fit to help you achieve those goals," he said. "My passion is public service, politics and public policy."

The open-ended nature of the fellowship was both its greatest challenge and strength for Williams. "[Applying] makes you think about what you really want to do and how you can be the most effective," he said. "There are all these things you want to do. You have to distill it down to a clear, manageable, interesting and sustainable project where you are able to make a tremendous difference in the lives of people and where you will grow a lot as a person."

Wilson School professor Stanley Katz, Williams' mentor, praised the prizewinner for his intelligence and commitment to service.

"James was a standout for the unusual clarity and passion of his interests in working on environmental law problems in India," Katz said. "His entire young adulthood seems to have been dedicated to the achievement of other-directed public policy goals, whether in the public schools of Portland, Ore., or in rural villages in South Asia — not to mention in voluntary activities at Princeton University."

Filmmaker, humanitarian

Umewaka said her unique background has deeply affected the way she views people in need.

Her mother is Lebanese and her father is Japanese. She grew up in Japan and visited Lebanon often as a child. "The contrast of lifestyle really got to me," she said. "I realize[d] I could have easily been in their shoes. It impacted me greatly. I always wanted to do something for them. I am still figuring out how to reach them."

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Over the past few years, Umewka has traveled to Afghanistan — where she filmed "Afghanistan Unveiled" — as well as Lebanon, where she created a documentary on street children called "Lost Voices."

"Whenever I interact with street children, I actually learn so much from them from their dignity, their resilience," she said. "They've gone through so much, and they can still smile and run."

Umewaka also expressed disappointment that so many of her peers are more concerned with materialism than humanitarianism.

Career fairs at Princeton were "focused on business, earning money and becoming rich," she said. "It's a shame because there's so much to be done. I think with the academic tools we gain while we're here, we can actually do something. We have the passion and energy when we're young. We shouldn't invest it just in making money."

Umewaka urged students to pursue activities about which they are passionate.

"Find something that stirs you, something that gives meaning to who you are and the reason why you wake up," she said. "I don't want to be an idealist ... but there are so many opportunities to realize a dream that's just in your head."