On Friday, May 9th, Williston alumni Kinda Hibrawi ’96 was awarded the Ward Medal. The award is named in honor of former Williston Headmaster Robert Ward who led the school from 1972-79.

The Ward Medal has been given annually since 1987 to Williston alumni who have contributed outstanding service to humanity. As Jeff Pilgrim, Williston Director of Alumni Relations said while introducing Hibrawi, “It recognizes individuals who exemplify the values of humanitarian service and volunteerism, who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, who have done some good, and done it well.”

Hibrawi, who is of Syrian desecent, but grew up in Saudi Arabia, has used her artwork as a platform to improve cultural relations between the U.S. and Middle Eastern countries, as well as working with to inspire children who are victims of the conflicts in Syria.

In 2007, Hibrawi was named Artistic Ambassador by Arab News and in 2008 she was chosen by the U.S. State Department Art in Embassies Program to have her work displayed for the United States Permanent Representatives to NATO in Belgium. In 2012, Hibrawi was named a Rio+20 global thinker and influencer by the United Nations. She was invited to contribute to the Rio+20 sustainable development conference held In Brazil, only Arab-American sustainable development for the  Rio+20 conference held in Brazil. Most recently, in 2013, she co-founded and is currently the Executive Director of Zeitouna. It is a program that holds workshops in conflict zones to creatively inspire and improve the lives of children who have been affected by the Syrian conflict.

During the assembly in Williston’s Philips Stevens Chapel, Hibrawi gave a very brief acceptance speech. She then opened the floor to take questions from the audience, a session that was moderated by History and Global Studies teacher Peter Gunn.

Hibrawi opened her acceptance address by saying, “To be honest with you, I didn’t become an artist or a humanitarian for the awards, or the notoriety, or fame, or money. It was because it was my passion and it was my truth. It was the highest form of expression that I knew for myself.”

She told the audience a story about how a friend of hers passed away in a car crash and how that made her contemplate the question: “Was I okay with what I had done in my life, thus far. And the answer was no.” Hibrawi said, “From that point on…I changed the way I lived my life as an artist, as a humanitarian.” Hibrawi then posed asked the audience, “What is your leave-behind, think about how you want to be remembered, because that’s really the most important thing for how I live my life every day.”

Hibrawi reflected on her time at Williston and spoke about one of her mentors at the school, the now retired art teacher Marsha Reed, who was in attendance at the ceremony. “She was not only a teacher, but a friend. She taught me what it meant to be an artist, how to be an artist. She actually gave me the key to her art studio, which apparently now is a bagel shop [Tandem Bagel Co.],” said Hibrawi.

Traci Wolfe, Williston’s Director of Communications provided information used in this article.