On May 22, 2004, at Friends World Senior Recognition Day, the Program will also be recognizing the following two distinguished members of its alumni:

Matthew Cassetta, graduated from FWP in 1992 after studying at the NAC, LAC and completing a six-month independent study in Venezuela in June 1991. Matthew went on to complete a thesis on strategies for international environmental conservation of the United Nations, and appreciated the expert support from his adviser Kathleen Modrowski during this process. After graduating from Friends World, Matthew went on to complete a Masters degree in environmental science and entered the Foreign Service, completing two overseas tours with the Department of State in Nicaragua and Brazil. For the moment, he is living in Washington D.C. and assists in monitoring several international marine conservation treaties. This summer, Matthew will take up the position of Regional Environmental Liaison of the U.S. for 24 countries of West and Central Africa, helping coordinate efforts in protected areas and rural resource management. Matthew feels that his experiences at Friends World were instrumental in gaining the insight and openness to engage other cultures and foreign governments. In particular, he found his program of study in the LAC pivotal, under the skillful direction of Emilio Vargas, and enjoyed immensely the field trips organized by Rafael Bolanos and Ileana Castro to various parts of the region.

David Lerner was a member of the first Friends World College class at the Livingston Campus. He started his Friends World studies in 1971 with an orientation at White Pines, Georgia and then completed projects: working with attorney William Kunstler defending the "Harlem 4" in New York; spending time at the Appalachian Folk Life Center with Don West in West Virginia; working with Fundacion Amour, a small community of gamines (street gang children) of Bogotá Columbia; working with a legal defense team in Madrid, Spain; tutoring a child in the hills of Andalusia in Spain; and working at a Community Law Center in London. He also spent time at the Latin American Center in Cuernavaca where he was introduced to Yoga, immersed in Spanish language and visited various archeological sites. David also studied at the European Center in Norwich England and was mentored by a group he affectionately refers to as the "Three Musketeers" (Vic Clarke, George Delf and Richard Lannoy). David’s Friends World thesis was entitled "Legal Services for Kids at Risk." Upon graduation, he went to work at the Center for Constitutional Rights—first as a legal secretary and then later as their press representative where he publicized many high-profile lawsuits. In 1989, Lerner started his own PR firm, Riptide Communications, where his clients have included: David Ronald Chandler, the federal death-row inmate pardoned by President Clinton; an organization for restaurant employees thrown out of work by September 11; United for Peace and Justice, the leading anti-war group, human rights and civil liberties groups challenging the Bush Administration’s policies on several fronts including the indefinite detention of those held on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and corporate accountability organizations. Tim Robbins, the actor, has called him "the best progressive publicist in the United States."