Alumni Information
(Active links on alum names are for email.)
Elizabeth Edwards
I'm in Kenya as a public health volunteer in the Peace Corps. I've been working with
a community-based organization that does community development in Oyugis, a fairly
large town in Western Kenya, about a half an hour drive from Lake Victoria. We work
with women's groups, widows, youth groups, and orphans and vulnerable children in
five rural communities outside Oyugis. Nyanza, the province of Kenya I live in, has
the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the country at around 18%.
I've trained two women's groups to improve the quality of their products that they sell as income-generating activities. I've also helped them expand their market to some craft fairs in the U.S. I organize football (soccer) tournaments with a health focus for youth groups on their school breaks. We use music and a public address system to mobilize community members to watch the tournament and receive health information. I invite health organizations to the tournaments that provide services like voluntary HIV testing and counseling and male circumcision, since the predominant tribe where I live doesn't traditionally circumcise and male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection by 60%. I've also taught life skills and health to girls and orphans and vulnerable children and done leadership/empowerment activities for girls. I work with trained community health workers who provide home-based care to people who are too sick to go to the hospital. I created a manual with information on various illnesses and treatment for them to consult and carry with them. For International Women's Day I organized for a family planning clinic to provide free family planning services to women in the area.
Kariela Almonte, '10 (information received 5/11)
I have been placed at Amigos de El Museo del Barrio as a volunteer coordinator in
order to manage and sustain its volunteer program for a year through NYC Civic Corps.
Affiliated with the National Americorps program, NYC Civic Corps was launched by Mayor
Bloomberg in 2009 to answer President Obama's call to service by addressing New York
City's most pressing needs through various volunteerism initiatives. Being recognized as New York's leading museum in Latin American and Caribbean art,
El Museo del Barrio has been a pleasure and an incredible learning experience to work
at during my Civic Corps tenure.
The 2011–12 NYC Civic Corps application is now open for those students who are interested to become Civic Corps members. For more information and to access the online application, please visit the NYC Civic Corps site.
Lincoln Brody '07(information received 12/07)
At ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ, Lincoln's major was Spanish. Following graduation, Lincoln says he "did
the entire Camino de Santiago"—a pilgrimage crossing northern Spain—and is now living
in Arcos de la Frontera, in Andalucia, Spain. Lincoln is currently working as an assistant
English teacher with a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education.
Julia Burns '07(information received 11/07)
Julia majored in Spanish and minored in Latin American studies while at ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ.
After volunteering as an ESL teacher with Saratoga Springs Headstart Program in the
summer of 2007, Julia is now currently teaching at Princeton Day Middle School (grades
6–8) in New Jersey and lives in Pennsylvania.
Maggie Sullivan '03(information received 11/07)
Maggie double-majored in Spanish and economics and minored in Latin American studies.
She received her master of arts in law and diplomancy in 2008 from the Fletcher School
of Law and Diplomancy, where she concentrated in development economics and international
monetary theory and policy with a regional focus on Latin America. She was a member
of the Latin American Club at Fletcher. She has also been certified in Puerto Rico
to teach secondary-level spanish. After graduating from ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ, Maggie taught ninth
grade spanish for two years in a public school in Puerto Rico, volunteered in an orphanage
in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, completed a summer internship with the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime in Bojotá, Columbia, researched Cuba's economy and trade
relations with Tufts in Cuba and traveled to Argentina, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Maggie
currently resides in Massachusetts.
Lindsay Tarnoff '05(information received 2/08)
Currently Lindsay is applying to grad school (a public administration program at
URI), but for the past two years she has worked as a director of an immigration consulting
firm in D.C. She says, "The great majority of our clients were from Central America
and spoke little to no English." She has recently relocated to Rhode Island and is
now working with international students at Johnson & Wales University, where she creates
programs to improve retention. Lindsay is also teaching ESL.