Connecticut College News

Elizabeth Durante ´10

The Connecticut College community suffered a heartbreaking loss in the early morning hours of March 7. Elizabeth Durante ´10, of West Islip, N.Y, was killed in a traffic collision on Interstate-395 in Montville, Conn. She was part of a group of Connecticut College students traveling to Uganda on a community service trip through the Asayo Wish Foundation. A certified Emergency Medical Technician and an aspiring doctor, Elizabeth, 20, was passionate about Africa and wrote that she aspired to "saving the world, one day at a time." In 2007, she traveled to South Africa with the New London Collegiate Ministry to build relations between communities and visit local AIDS hospices. She was a psychology major with a focus on pre-med, and she volunteered as an EMT for the West Islip Fire Department. With her friend Stefanie Hinman ´10, Elizabeth spent her 2008 spring break at an orphanage in Kaberamaido, Uganda, where she joined a group of volunteers from Vassar College to provide medical services and bring medical supplies. This year, the two young women had organized a group from Connecticut College to return to the orphanage. The students raised money to pay their own travel expenses and to buy much-needed medical supplies. Elizabeth and seven other Connecticut College students were traveling in a passenger van to Logan Airport for their flight to Uganda when the van was struck by a vehicle traveling the wrong way on I-395. The other students were taken to area hospitals. All but one have been treated and released. In a statement to the Connecticut College community, President Leo I. Higdon Jr., said, "Elizabeth was a student of enormous talent, commitment and compassion. Her passing is an incalculable loss to our community. Our deepest sympathies are with Elizabeth´s family and with her many friends on campus." See a photo montage of Elizabeth´s work in Africa on YouTube

For media inquiries, please contact:
Amy Martin, 860-439-2526, a.martin@conncoll.edu or Deborah MacDonnell (860) 439-2504, dmacdonn@conncoll.edu