2019年5月10日
Two graduates from Susquehanna’s Class of 2019 will head to Africa soon for positions with the Peace Corps.
Jennie Lien will travel to Togo, a tiny country in West Africa, to begin a two-year mission as an agriculture development specialist.
Phoebe Kurien will travel to Malawi where she will serve as a community healthcare specialist developing healthcare programming, some of which will focus on HIV p牧师ention 和 education.
Lien said Susquehanna’s 全球机遇/走自己的路 experience in Nepal gave her the courage to embark on her next adventure with the Peace Corps.
The summer after her junior year, she spent five weeks in Nepal with Projects Abroad, an organization that places volunteers 和 interns around the world. 在尼泊尔的时候, she conducted biodiversity surveys for the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, the largest protected l和 trust in Nepal.
在多哥, Lien will have the independence to determine many of her projects, but anticipates they will 牧师olve around food 和 water security, including implementing water collection 和 irrigation systems, as well as building animal enclosures for chickens, 山羊和兔子, which the Togolese raise for food.
Lien anticipates her time in Togo will also help her to advance her zero-waste lifestyle.
“I’ll be forced to be more conscious with day-to-day things I don’t really think about, 更多的重用, because that’s just the lifestyle,”她说。. “I hope it’s just an incredibly humbling experience. I’m ready to come out of this with a real change in the way I see the world.”
After the Peace Corps, Lien, a double major in environmental sciences 和 公共政策, hopes to attend graduate school 和 pursue a career in government service.
Healthcare for a Cause
作为一个高中生, Kurien participated in short-term service trips in Ghana 和 Costa Rica, all with her sights set on eventually joining the Peace Corps.
“The Peace Corps is a federal agency dedicated to building relationships with global communities,”她说。. “The opportunity to be part of that initiative 和 truly give back is incredible.”
A 生物医学科学 major, Kurien wants to pursue a career in healthcare. To prepare for that 和 her Peace Corps service, she has shadowed doctors, volunteered in the emergency room at a local hospital, 和 volunteered as an EMT in New Jersey.
After the Peace Corps, she is considering medical school or a career in global health 和 disease control.
“Healthcare is so unique because unlike many other scientific fields, it is personal. You are really making a difference in an individual’s life,” Kurien said. “I know that whatever work I end up doing, I want to make my community a better 和 healthier place.”