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Recently I was honored to receive the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award, and Peg Miller, editor-in-chief of Change, invited me to tell the magazine’s readers how I intended to make use of the $500,000 that accompanied the award. I immediately thought of “The Star Thrower.” That story, inspired by the writing of naturalist and poet Loren Eiseley, is the tale of a young beachcomber who picked up a starfish that had washed ashore and returned it to the ocean. A passer-by commented that there were miles of beach and hundreds of starfish along each mile, so such a gesture couldn’t possibly make a difference. The young man picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean, and said, “At least I made a difference to that one.”
William (Brit) E. Kirwan is chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) and chaired the College Board’s Commission on College Access and Success. Among his current major USM initiatives are closing the student achievement gap, producing more STEM teachers, and increasing college readiness and completion rates.
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