Timeline in pursuit of my Dreams

December, 2012 - Associate in Arts Degree (Anoka Ramsey Community College)

September, 2014 - Made the mental decision to apply for the Peace Corps in hopes of departing late summer 2015

November 1st, 2014 - FINALLY submitted my Peace Corps application after writing, editing, rewriting and enlisting others to edit my 500 word essay and resume (that is all the Peace Corps was judging me off of). My first 3 choices in applying were Youth Development-Peru, Youth Development-Costa Rica and anywhere with a preference for Spanish-speaking.
*Special shout outs to Dad, Katie (sister), Katie Kampa, Sarah, Robert and Kim, Kyla and anyone else I am forgetting-I sure did need a lot of help :)!

December 2nd, 2014 - Placed under consideration for Peace Corps Peru

February 9th, 2015 - Asked to provide documentation showing 4 years of high school spanish or 2 semesters of college spanish completed, to continue being considered for Peru (I had 3 yrs in high school and 1 semester in college)

February 13th, 2015 - Informed I could no longer be considered for Peru due to it being a highly competitive program and not fitting neatly into the language prerequisites. Told I can be considered for Fiji if I would like with no guarantee that I would recieve an interview 

February 17th, 2015 - Offered an interview for Peace Corps Fiji - Community Youth Empowerment Project

February 23rd, 2015 - Interviewed via video call for Peace Corps Fiji

February 26th, 2015 - Invited to serve with Peace Corps Fiji!

May 9th, 2015 - Bachelor in Arts Degree in Family Life Education (Concordia University-St. Paul)

May 28th, 2015 - Medical and dental clearance granted (after 3 months of nearly weekly appointments to get poked and prodded)

August 31st, 2015 - Temporarily scheduled to depart for training in LA (Peace Corps calls it staging)

September, 2015 -Temporarily scheduled to leave for Fiji. Will stay with a host family and receive in country training for two months

November, 2015 - Receive specific job/village assignment for the next two years 

Dreams Deferred

During my freshman year of college (@ University of Wisconsin-River Falls) I decided I wanted to join the Peace Corps some day…

…It wasn’t a completely random thought. In March of 2008 I spent two weeks exploring the amazing country of Belize through a study abroad program. After just a few days there, I asked my professor how one might go about coming back to Belize to do an internship, or something of the sort, for a longer period of time. Professor Ed Robins walked me over to an organization called Cornerstone Foundation in the town of San Ignacio and introduced me to the staff. He said he had a former student who volunteered with them and she had only good things to say. After returning from the two week trip, it was only a matter of weeks before I made a commitment to intern with the Cornerstone Foundation (in Youth Development) for 3 months in the summer of 2008. (Highly Recommended: They have programs ranging from 1 week long to as many months as you can afford in areas from health to environmental studies to women empowerment. They are much more affordable than most study/volunteer abroad programs, provide a meal a day and dorm style living quarters equipped with a computer room ;) http://www.cornerstonefoundationbelize.org/ )

I could tell you about Belize ALL DAY LONG but if you already know me, you can go look at one of my 10 Belize photo albums and see the PURE JOY living in Belize brought me. I immersed myself into the culture, made life long friends with locals and other volunteers and made the first best decision of my life. I have now been to Belize on 5 different occasions and will be back for more. 

After that summer, I knew. I knew there was this whole other world out there. I knew, more than ever, that diversity was a passion of mine. I knew I wanted to continue to indulge in cultures aside from my own. I knew I wanted to join the Peace Corps. There was only one thing stopping me…lack of an undergraduate degree. I had heard it was very difficult to get into the Peace Corps without such a thing.