income and marketable skills nurtures their independence and self-esteem, helping them to escape the cycle of poverty and shame. Van Dort’s mom and dad met while doing graduate work


at the University of Michigan, and stayed in the area to marry, raise a family and pursue their careers. Te service-oriented energy of the middle of their three daughters was already evident at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, where Amanda was captain of both the cheerleading and soccer teams, a member of the student council and a percussionist in the band. “Te leadership positions that I had in high school carried


over into college and carried over into my job now,” she says. “Eastern’s great because it allows you to be a leader. I was given so many opportunities, one aſter another, by my professors.”


H


er intelligence, passion, youth and track record fit nicely with the needs of Emerge Global, Emerge Lanka Foundation’s parent organization in the U.S., which is busy establishing


beachheads in other countries even as the number of young women it serves in Sri Lanka is growing. “Emerge is an organization that has been built largely


18 Eastern | WINTER 2012


Van Dort’s work with youth started before arriving in Sri Lanka, when she served as coordinator of Project Healthy Schools at the University Preparatory Academy in Detroit.


by young people for young people,” says Alia Whitney- Johnson, its executive director, who founded it in 2005 while still a student herself at MIT. Not only that, but “all of our country directors to date have come from varied educational backgrounds, none of which seemed like a ‘traditional’ fit on paper,” she adds. “We have not evaluated leadership potential through


degrees because we don’t expect people to have all the answers when they enter the job,” Whitney-Johnson says. “Rather we want them to be great and enthusiastic learners who are willing to push themselves in new ways and embrace challenges with drive and creativity. Amanda had a great rapport with staff in her interviews and demonstrated a confidence that I knew would go far in Sri Lanka.” While Van Dort’s duties include those familiar to any


manager—supervising staff, finances and programming, and serving as a liaison to the “parent company”—her vision transcends them, both in terms of the organization in particular


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36