July 2

Geshe Michael Roach is the first American to complete the 20-year Geshe degree (equivalent to a double doctorate in philosophy) in a traditional Tibetan monastery. He graduated from Princeton University with honors, a recipient of the Presidential Scholar Medallion and the McConnell Scholarship Prize from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs. A grant from that school allowed him to travel in Asia, for study with Tibetan Lamas at the seat of the Dalai Lama. Thus began his education in the ancient wisdom of Tibet.