Two graduating seniors will make their mark on the global community in Peace Corps, AmeriCorps
By David Robertson,
Interim Chief Photographer
Post-graduation: sandals? Cubicles? Volunteering? Weekly paychecks? The opportunities presented to students during their undergraduate career at McDaniel are endless.
For two students, seniors Katelyn Ryan and Autumn Hilsinger, their recent acceptance into AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps respectively will help alleviate some of their accrued financial debt as well as provide them the opportunity to step out of the confines of Maryland and truly experience the global community.
In June 2009, Hilsinger will join roughly 2,500 United States Peace Corps volunteers whose talents are spread throughout 20 countries. Ryan, recently accepted into the Triple C program of AmeriCorps, will join a team of 12 as part of what she calls “the domestic version of the Peace Corps.”
“I think it is extremely important for me, as a future teacher, to see the world I will be educating students about,” said Hilsinger of her plans to volunteer in Africa, as part of the Peace Corps’ ongoing effort to stop the spread of AIDS.
A history major in the process of earning a Master’s degree in secondary education, Hilsinger said, “Getting a job immediately following college seems like a waste. If everyone took the same push they had to just make money and use it to help someone, somewhere, life would be much more fulfilling for everyone.”
Though she will be walking across the stage this May with the class of 2008, she completed her undergraduate studies in December of 2007. In addition to graduate work this semester, she has helped with the increasingly popular Late Nights activities on campus; but her dream, Hilsinger says, is to volunteer abroad.
“I have the ability to go to another country not necessarily to stop the spread of AIDS or save the world, but to at least save someone’s world,” she said, rather passionately about the prospect of this two-year commitment.
Ryan, on a more local level, will be leaving in October for Denver, Colorado, as part of an effort to aid community development, specifically relating to the homeless and by participating in a variety of environmental projects.
When finished with her ten months of service, Ryan plans to use the reward money (up to $5,000) to pay off student loans. Hilsinger expressed similar intentions.
“I have always wanted to volunteer after college. It’s a wonderful chance for real life exposure to the underprivileged, without being gone as long as the Peace Corps requires,” said Ryan.
Ryan will aid in four to six projects while a member of her team, with an 80 percent chance of traveling to Louisiana to help with continuing hurricane relief. However, there is a possibility that she may work for Amnesty International (she will hear of her acceptance over the summer), or apply for a grant to teach English in France for one academic year.
“In any event, it’s a way to postpone the real world for a while yet,” said Ryan. “This will help me figure out where I want to be.”
For more information on these volunteer programs and other opportunities available within these organizations, visit www.peacecorps.gov or www.americorps.org.