Rice student blogs for White House

Shannon McNamara writes about African initiative for ‘Winning the Future’

Rising Rice University sophomore Shannon McNamara didn’t start her summer with a bang. She started it with a blog — for the president.

Shannon McNamara

The young New Jersey resident has contributed to a series of blogs for a White House website called “Winning the Future: President Obama and Young Americans.”

McNamara, a Lovett College resident from New Jersey, wrote this week about her program to empower girls in Africa by supplying them with a steady stream of books. She started the program called SHARE in Africa in 2008.

The program was featured in the Wall Street Journal last year, and McNamara was invited to deliver an address at the White House for an International Woman’s Day 100th anniversary celebration hosted by Michelle Obama last March. She also received the Daily Point of Light Award, a program established by President George H.W. Bush.

This summer she plans to return for the fifth time to the Tanzanian community of Bukoba, where she will work with young girls who were the first to benefit from the program McNamara started after she volunteered at their school during a visit with her family in 2008. The program has now donated 33,000 books to students in three African countries.