Other Voices

Marcy Forti, in her 2018 Berne-Knox-Westerlo valedictory address, used a phrase from Southern African philosophy, Ubuntu, often translated as “I am because we are,” which she felt spoke to the way she was raised in the close-knit, rural Hilltown community. The BKW superintendent, Timothy Mundell, has modified the phrase to “They are because we are” to use as the school district’s motto. “I was really touched that my little 18-year-old musings had an impact,” says Forti in this week’s podcast. She wishes, as well, that students would learn about the South African culture that produced that philosophy. Forti is now a junior at Union College in Schenectady where she is majoring in biology while also pursuing minors in chemistry and Spanish. She liked learning about the intersection of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish cultures when she studied in Cordova, Spain — her first time crossing the Atlantic. Forti has long loved animals — from her family’s pet dog to a fledgling pigeon she rescued to hens she raised in 4-H — and would like to become a veterinarian. She is currently rooming with friends, who are like family, and, in the midst of the pandemic, is learning mostly remotely except for going to the laboratory. She did a project at Union where she chalked the anonymous stories of students who had been sexually assaulted or made to feel powerless, writing their words on a walkway. “I wanted to interrupt the daily routine,” she said. “It shook me to read those stories.” Forti advises: It’s OK to learn you were wrong and change. Diversity and acceptance is a work in progress, moving toward something better.