After Kenyon

I serve in Cambodia as a Community Health Education volunteer for the Peace Corps. I work in the local health center in the mornings and spend the afternoons going door to door or fruit stand to fruit stand talking with people. I enjoy learning the Khmer language and reaching out to as many people as possible and being part of another community. I applied to the Peace Corps the summer before my senior year with my sights set on public health, maternal and child health in particular. When I received my nomination and placement, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to work on the grassroots level with people to improve their health and well-being.

The Kenyon connection

Everyone in The Center for Global Engagement was very influential when it came to encouraging me to apply for the Peace Corps. Marne Ausec, Lisa Swaim, Patti Maiorino, and Kim Smith helped me through every step of the process, and the Health and Counseling Center staff was wonderful when it came to filling out all my medical forms.

How a Kenyon education helped

My study abroad experience with the School for International Training piqued my interest in the Peace Corps. In the fall of my junior year I went to Nepal, where I completed a month-long research project about maternal and child health providers. When I returned to Kenyon, I took Professor Jan Thomas's class on "Society and Illness", and Visiting Professor Holly Donahue Singh's class on "Healing in Southeast Asia". Those classes - and Professor Marta Sierra's "Transnational Feminisms" class - inspired me to look at global engagement on a grassroots level. My relationships with those professors and with the staff at the Center for Global Engagement gave me the support to prepare me for a new phase in life.

Why Kenyon

Kenyon's admissions essays were different and a breath of fresh air. When I visited campus for the first time, I felt very welcomed and at ease. I knew I would be able to make Kenyon my home for four years and, of course, I miss it.