One Year Later, the Dreams of a Fallen Peer Live On

In the wee hours of Saturday March 7, 2009, while most students were asleep on the first night of spring break, eight Conn students left Conn in a livery van en route to an alternative spring break trip to work at an orphanage is Uganda. Sadly, they never made it. Around the same time, a severely intoxicated Navy sailor left Mohegan Sun Casino. Forgetting to turn his lights on, he proceeded to turn onto the off-ramp the wrong way and head south on I-395 north. The two vehicles collided head-on, injuring everyone and killing Elizabeth Durante, member of the class of 2010.

This past Sunday marked the one year anniversary of Elizabeth’s passing. After her death, there was an outpouring of sympathy by Elizabeth’s family, her friends and the college. This year, Dean Bengochea acknowledged the one-year anniversary in a letter to students discussing the anniversary and informing students of the resources available to them in Counseling Services and the Office of Spiritual Life.

On the actual day, some 30 students gathered for a candlelight vigil at the sundial and reminisced. A smaller group gathered for a small private commemoration in the Chapel.

These events commemorated Elizabeth and the many lives on this campus she touched.

“Liz” was a unique student who worked tirelessly to better the lives of those around her. Of my peers, she was to my knowledge the most committed to helping others. Arriving at Connecticut College three and a half years ago, Liz immediately immersed herself in volunteer opportunities. She served as an EMT for Conn athletic events and the New London Fire Department. She thus became a positive student representative of the college to New London. Liz also volunteered an innumerable number of afternoon hours at the Covenant Shelter, leading an after school program for the many children there without homes.

A lost and confused freshman myself, I met Liz at one of the weekly Unitarian-Universalist Campus Ministry meetings three and a half years ago. Week after week, I heard all the amazing things Liz was doing to improve her community and help those most in need. Although we never became close friends, I shared the special bond with Liz that I share with the other dozen kindred souls that venture into the Chapel basement every Sunday night. In my mind, Liz became a pillar of service, and although I’ve only recently realized it, an inspiration for my dedication to the community.

Liz was not a perfect person, and I don’t mean to idealize her here. She had her ups and downs just like the rest of us, but she had a tireless commitment to helping others. Responses to her death reflect this ideal.

The Psychology Department dedicated its April 2009 department newsletter to Liz and established the “Elizabeth Y. Durante ’10 Memorial Award for Public Service” to recognize Liz’s passionate commitment to helping others. This award “recognizes the graduating student who best exemplifies that spirit of helping others that Liz embodied.”

The Advancement Office established a college scholarship in Liz’s name “meant to honor Elizabeth’s memory by supporting a student with financial need who exhibits a commitment and dedication to community or public service.”

Perhaps most impressively, the Asayo’s Wish Foundation (owners of the orphanage in Kaieramaido, Uganda where Liz had previously volunteered, where Liz’s alternative spring break trip headed last year) raised over $10,000 and built the Elizabeth Durante Clinic to provide primary care to over 1,000 patients from the local community. The clinic employs a local doctor, dentist, midwife and two nurses.

This year, students came together to submit an Above Current Level Request to provide scholarship funds for students to attend an on campus EMT course. The course is necessary to provide members for the EMT core, who volunteer at athletic events, volunteer (and improve our tattered relationship with) the New London Fire Department and provide first response to Connecticut College students on Thursday and Saturday nights. If the request passes, the Elizabeth Durante ’10 Memorial EMT Scholarship will be created. Although we should all appreciate the Psychology Award and Advancement scholarship, Liz was about action and not recognition. The Clinic and EMT scholarship fund implore action where the other responses do not.

In my time since Liz’s passing, I’ve tried to convey to my peers that despite being young and unlikely to die, we are not invincible. Death could come at any moment, accidental or not. What’s important is that we live every day as if it’s our last. In the rat race amongst classmates to be the most successful and have a building named after us, Elizabeth Durante has already won. The impact you leave on the world is decided by your actions every day. Thank you for reading and I hope you take a moment to consider Liz and her very powerful message in your heart.

View a poem about Liz by the Asayo’s Wish Foundation founder here.
View the press release about the completion of the Elizabeth Durante Medical Clininc here.
View a Youtube video of Liz’s first Spring Break to the Asayo’s Wish Orphanage in Uganda here.
View the College’s memorial webpage here.
View the College article about the accident and Liz’s death here.