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Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa
Take a stand for what's right. Accept and embrace your fears. Don't assume you have to know everything right now. And treat others the same way you want to be treated.
Those were just a few of the pieces of advise Maria Ressa, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, had to offer students at
Toms River High School North on Friday during a quick visit.
Ressa, a 1982 Toms River North alumnus, also reminded her alma mater's students that she believes they can change the world that social media has warped and corrupted.
Ressa said, "You will construct the new planet." "The world we grew up in is no longer there."
Ressa, who graduated from Princeton in 1986, flew to New Jersey on Saturday to accept the university's Woodrow Wilson Award in recognition of her Nobel Prize.
According to the university website, the Woodrow Wilson Award is given to "an undergraduate alumna or alumnus whose career symbolizes the call to duty in Wilson's 1896 speech, 'Princeton in the Nation's Service."
Ressa and Russian writer Dmitry Muratov were given the Nobel Peace Prize in October for their "efforts to defend freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and sustainable peace," according to Nobel Prize authorities. Continue reading: A Journalist With NJ Ties Wins The Nobel Peace Prize.
Ressa fielded questions for more than an hour in the media center at Toms River North on Friday, sharing with students how her experience as a Marine inspired her road to the Nobel Prize.
Ressa said, "You can't make it the goal."
Ressa was a violinist and a member of the school orchestra when she graduated third in her class. Her freshman, sophomore, and junior years saw her participate in the theater program, play basketball and softball, and serve as class president. She urged the pupils to attempt a variety of things as they seek their life's calling.
She explained, "I prefer being a jack of all crafts."