Three Cups of Tea Author Visits VU
This past Wednesday, Greg Mortenson, author of New York Times Bestsellers Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools, visited the Vanderbilt campus and held a question and answer session for the class of 2014 and their VUceptors. Over the summer, all freshman received a copy of Three Cups of Tea and were asked to read the book, knowing that they would later discuss it in Vanderbilt Visions and attend this discussion with Mortenson.
Having heard of Mortenson but never having read his books, I was excited to learn more about the Central Asia Institute and all that it does for children of the Middle East. Mortenson believes that education is the best route to finding peace between different cultures, and acts on this belief by building schools for children who normally may not receive a proper education. After reading his first novel, I found myself not only admiring Mortensen, but also completely agreeing with his sentiments. This one man made a huge difference in entire cultures, by providing the means for informing them of current situations in an unbiased way. When Mortenson visited Vanderbilt, he expanded on this idea and shared more about his experiences. I know everyone who left Langford Auditorium that night was more informed about the situation in Central Asia and all that we can do to help, all because of the work of one man.