I finished my studies at OU in 2005 and immediately went to Malaysia on a Fulbright scholarship. After teaching English there for almost 7 months I returned back to the United States.
I worked for The Columbus Dispatch as an Automotive Advertising Sales Assistant before switching to marketing as a Research Analyst for a year and a half. I hated everyday of it. So, I joined the Peace Corps.
I am currently serving as a Youth Development volunteer in El Salvador. I love this country and culture and see myself staying here well beyond my Peace Corps service. I work in many capacities ranging from organizing and playing sports with my students, working with an environmental group to organize trash management in my community, working with a women´s group to make and sell shampoo, to all kinds of different activities.
I would say that my experience in the GLC is vital to my success as a PCV. My service is like a giant GLC project where I have been dropped in the middle of nowhere and simply told, ¨Work.¨ I have to do community analsis´ to determine the interests and needs of my Salvadoran neighbors, then organize and motivate them to reach our project goals. I have no information to start on but we work together and figure it all out. Pretty GLC if you ask me.
I also see the GLC as the best part of my educational experience at OU. I loved my degree of Latin American Studies but what I worked on and accomplished in the GLC was practical, realistic, and tangible. To this day I tell people about the GLC and everyone is always impressed that such a program exists. I am honored to have been a part of it all.
