I graduated from ISU in 2007 with a BA in French and went on to serve in the Peace Corps until the end of 2009 as a secondary education teacher in Lesotho, Africa.
Living in a rural village without amenities, I initiated youth clubs at our school to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic (nearly one third of the population) in addition to my teaching responsibilities.
I served on the Project Advisory Committee which oversaw the goals of our education program and made recommendations to adhere to them and improve our capacities as volunteers. Additionally, I chaired the Gender and Development Committee for which I wrote, managed, and reported on a PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) grant for nationwide workshops to engage youth and teachers in gender norm transformation, education about women’s rights, and most importantly critical HIV/AIDS training for them to take back to their communities. By the end of my service I attained an intermediate-high level of Sesotho language.
My French degree provided a solid framework with which to acquire another new language – Sesotho, which has over ten noun classes! My time studying abroad (in Angers, France) also prepared me greatly. It gave me the experience of being a minority in another culture, learning to be open to new daily norms, and having the resiliency to bounce back from daily challenges.