InterAction

My interests, background, and aspirations:

I have an interest in culture and language, and my ultimate goal in this life is to come to a better understanding of what makes us all human. I plan on doing just that by immersing myself in other cultures much unlike my own. My underlying belief is that everyone and everything on this earth is connected, and we all have an obligation to provide what we can for others. The world is one community that we are a part of -- and have a responsibility for.

In August 2009 I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics. I also received certificates in both International Engineering and Technical Communication. I have basic conversational ability in French. I have an analytical mind and enjoyed the classes and structure found in the engineering discipline, but have chosen not to pursue a career in the industry. Rather, I am focusing the next several years of my life (perhaps the remainder of my life, but the future is yet to be determined) on international development issues. I have always been an advid traveler and keen on adventure, and feel that with my educational and experiential background I have a great deal of knowledge and wisdom to offer communities seeking development assistance. In the spring of 2008 I studied abroad in Singapore at Nanyang Technological University and spent a great deal of time traveling through Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Yunnan province of China. It was during my travels when I was able to see firsthand the implications of lesser-developed communities, and the influences the West has had on these countries, in both positive and negative forms.

In September of 2010 I will begin training as a Peace Corps Volunteer; from November of 2010 until November of 2012 I will serve as an Education Volunteer in Tanzania, teaching primarily mathematics in a secondary school, but perhaps also physics and chemistry. I will engage in HIV/AIDS awareness and education and likely focus on girl's empowerment as secondary projects. I have no definte plans for when I return home but would like to become involved in a non-profit focusing on education, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, rural development, or refugee assistance, to name a few. I certainly plan to attend graduate school in the near future for sociology and/or or some field related to international development. I also plan to become fluent in Kiswahili and French, and am open to learning all other languages.

An explanation on my selected Areas of Expertise/Interest:

Community Development

Community Service

Culture and Ethnicity

Disaster Response

Education

Gender Equality

Gender Integration

HIV/AIDS

Refugess, Displacement, and Protection

Rural Development

Women and girls

An explanation on my selected Countries:

Cambodia: I spent time in and around Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in 2008, and researched the gendered implications of development focusing on the topics of labor, migration, health, and education.

China: I traveled throughout the Yunnan province of China in 2008.

Indonesia: I briefly traveled in Indonesia in 2008.

Laos: Laos is an amazing country virtually untouched by development, and for that I admire it. But it has also suffered a great deal from the intervention of the US policy during the Vietnam war, and for that reason many Lao people have been displaced.

Malaysia: In 2008 I briefly traveled through Malaysia.

Nepal: A country to which I have never been, I have always been fascinated by the people, the culture, and the scenery of Nepal. I plan to spend a great deal of time there someday and would love to be posted in the country for an extended assignment.

Singapore: I spent five months studying in Singapore and found it to be a rich and thriving country.

Tanzania: I will devote 27 months of my life to teaching in Tanzania with the United States Peace Corps.

Thailand: I spent time traveling through Thailand in 2008.

Vietnam: I traveled through Vietnam in 2008.

An explanation on my selected Job Categories:

Communications: I hold a certificate in Technical Communication, the principles of which are excellent for applying towards any sort of communication.

Education, Training and Facilitation: As a Peace Corps Volunteer I will be teaching secondary school mathematics, as well as physics and chemistry.

Graphic Design: Graphic design is of my artistic outlets and I enjoy creating page layouts for zines, reports, brochures, and other publications, as well as creating vector graphics and doing some light photo editing. I have designed a few logos, letterheads, brochures, and assisted with an independently published cycling zine in Austin, Texas.

Organizational Development: I am interested in working with non-profit organizations to further the cause of development in a number of sectors worldwide.

Research: I am an enthusiastic life-long learning and strive to better understand other cultures, languages, and the world. I throughly enjoy independent research, compiling knowledge, and forming it into something cohesive and purposeful.

Writing/Editing: Both writing and editing go hand-in-hand with my research; some of my most enjoyable and rewarding assignments in college have been those of research and writing.