Two seniors win ReachOut 56-81 fellowships

“The two fellows we have selected … are outstanding seniors with fine records of achievement and public interest activity. They have devised significant projects for worthwhile organizations — projects that could not be undertaken without our funding,” ReachOut 56-81 program chair Daniel Gardiner ’56 said in a statement.

Princeton ReachOut 56-81 is a trans-generational program the classes of 1956 and 1981 created 10 years ago to promote civic engagement and public service. Two fellowships are awarded each year to graduating seniors based on the merit of yearlong service projects that applicants devise. ReachOut 56-81 also advocates college awareness and career guidance to area high schools.

Rodriguez said her first reaction to finding out that she had been selected for the ReachOut grant was a deep sense of thankfulness. “Princeton has been really great about allowing me to pursue internships in areas that I hope to go into in the future,” she explained.

Rodriguez said she plans to work in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas, with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to disadvantaged residents of several regions of Texas.

Having been interested in public service since high school, Rodriguez has worked on service projects every summer since entering the University, including teaching in China and volunteering with the support of the Class of 1969 Community Service Fund.

When she started looking at fellowship opportunities, Rodriguez said that ReachOut especially appealed to her for its flexibility.

“I could decide where I’d be in the next year, what exactly I’d be doing in work,” Rodriguez explained. She added that she felt the internship “challenged [her] to be creative, come up with an idea and execute that idea.”

The San Antonio City Council has made plans to consolidate its many homeless shelters into one larger complex. Rodriguez said she wanted to create an office at this new complex that will provide legal aid to the homeless. The office would offer case screenings and legal evaluations.

Rodriguez also said she hopes to reach out to the local legal community and establish a network of pro-bono attorneys to help with cases dealing with the homeless.

“By providing information about resources, I am hoping to better equip the homeless population to decide how to navigate different possible paths to independence,” Rodriguez said in the University statement.

Buettner will be working in conjunction with Bellevue Hospital and New York University (NYU) in their Program for Survivors of Torture, a volunteer program designed to restore individuals’ sense of trust and connection after dehumanization.

While Buettner said that law school was “definitely on the horizon” for him, he explained that he has always wanted to go into public service after graduation.

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“Just going straight into another three to four years of school wouldn’t give me the perspective that I’d want to take into the rest of my life,” Buettner said.

“From the first time we spoke, I was really struck by [Buettner’s] idealism, thoughtfulness and poise,” said Allen Keller, founder and director of the Program for Survivors of Torture. “[His] enthusiasm and compassion came shining through.”

While the current program already provides physical and mental health services, Buettner plans to incorporate a cultural aspect into the program to address “the challenges of cultural adaptation in the United States.”

“A lot of these people come to the United States and basically live in isolation,” Buettner explained, adding that the 3,000 torture survivors living in the New York area “come from around 70 countries and are seeking refuge in the United States.”

To help counter the difficult situations often associated with such transitions, Buettner said he plans to teach torture survivors English and basic computer skills. Noting the difficulty of opening bank accounts as an example, Buettner added that he intends to help people perform “the kind of everyday things that you take for granted [but] that are very hard for people coming into the United States.” Cultural trips like concerts or sporting events are also on the agenda, he said.

Keller, who is an assistant professor of medicine at NYU, also said that he connected with Buettner because he teaches a course at the University every two years titled “Health and Human Rights in the World Community.”