Princeton University To Honor Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa Saturday

(This is the edited version of an original report by Karen Wall, Patch Staff)

PRINCETON, NJ — Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, a 1986 graduate of Princeton University, traveled to New Jersey for a ceremony at Princeton on Saturday, where she is to receive the university's Woodrow Wilson Award in honor of her Nobel prize.

The Woodrow Wilson Award is given to "an undergraduate alumna or alumnus whose career embodies the call to duty in Wilson's 1896 speech, 'Princeton in the Nation's Service,' " according to the university website.

Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, chosen "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace," Nobel Prize officials said.

Ressa visited Toms River High School North on Friday, and spoke with students during a brief visit.

"You will create the new world," Ressa said. "The world we oldies knew is dead."

On Friday in the media center at Toms River North, Ressa answered questions for more than an hour, sharing with students how her time as a Mariner influenced the path that carried her to the Nobel honor.

"You can't make it the goal," Ressa said.

Ressa, who graduated third in her class, played the violin and was a member of the school's orchestra. She was involved in the theater program, played basketball and softball and was class president her freshman, sophomore and junior years. She encouraged the students to try many things as they search for their path in life.

"I like being a jack of all trades," she said.

Getting into Princeton was a defining moment in her life, Ressa said, as not only did she achieve a high goal — "I applied to 13 colleges," she said — it exposed her to a wide range of possibilities. It also honed her ideals.

At Princeton, students had to sign the honor code for every paper they turned in and every test they took: "You had to pledge on your honor that you didn't cheat, and you also had to pledge to report everyone around you who is cheating," she said.

That is the backbone of who she is as a journalist. She has spent her career in Southeast Asia, first working for other companies and later co-founding Rappler, a digital media outlet based in the Philippines, pushing to expose corruption and hold the governments in Southeast Asia accountable. Ressa's efforts have resulted in her being arrested 10 times by the Philippine government, and she is facing the possibility of 10 years in prison on a charge of "cyberlibel" leveled against her for her reporting.

That threat does not deter her from the work. "The mission is to hold power to account," Ressa said, to halt corruption and force change. It is the focus of a book she has written that is anticipated to be released later this year: "How to Stand Up to a Dictator."

To read what Maria Ressa had to say to students at Toms River High School North, click here.

(This story was originally reported by Karen Wall, Patch Staff)