Volunteer View September 2009
2009-2010 Volunteers (left to right): Betsy Bowman, Jon Kennedy, Mary DeAgostino, Peter Ulrickson, Elissa Kergosien, Samantha Russell, Meg Smith, Kristen Zeiler, Corey Paulino
During the Volunteers’ first month in Haiti, we have been settling into our lives at LCS. We’re working hard helping with maintenance projects, learning Kreyol, getting to know each other and our Haitian colleagues, and preparing for our role as teachers. These weeks have been essential to us in learning more about each other – where we come from, what brought us to Haiti, and how we hope to contribute to and learn from our work together. We come here from many different places and with diverse life experiences, but one thing we all share is that we are not here by accident. We chose to spend this year of service in Haiti at LCS for particular reasons, and we are eager to share ourselves with the community.
Samantha Russell grew up in Maryland and graduated from Mt. St. Mary’s College this past spring with a degree in international relations (with a focus on the Caribbean) and French. While in college she was active in various outdoor education activities, including a women’s wilderness retreat that she coordinated and led each year. She hopes that her experience with team building and working with groups will help her guide the Celebrate Women program at LCS. She is already working hard to build relationships with the junior staff so she can “help them to develop even stronger leadership skills that will serve the whole LCS community.” Samantha will be teaching 3eme and 2nde English
Corey Paulino comes to LCS all the way from Guam, by way of Seattle University. He graduated in June with a degree in biochemistry. Corey has known for a long time that he wants to be a dentist, because he recognizes the importance of an individual’s oral health, a community’s overall health, and health as a key to social justice. This commitment led him to several jobs and internships in the dental field during his undergraduate years, and he was well on his way to applying to dental schools when he decided instead to come to Haiti. He explains that, “I was drawn here by the verse from Matthew, ‘What you receive for free you must give for free.’” Corey is already working hard with Christina Moynihan on community outreach projects that will benefit the neighborhood around the school. He will be teaching biology and computers at LCS.
Jon Kennedy is from Columbus, Ohio and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May with a degree in political science and peace studies. Jon’s academic interests are in international developments, particularly the complex power dynamics involved in such activities. He spent a summer in Uganda where he saw many organizations that were run entirely by foreigners and seemed unable or uninterested in empowering the local people. He was drawn to LCS because it is clearly different. He could see that, “this is an organization committed to changing lives, and in so doing, changing Haiti.” Jon will be teaching Rheto and Philo English.
Kristen Zeiler is from Spartanburg, South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University in June with a degree in elementary education. She is responsible for quality control on all volunteer and residential staff projects and has been busy coordinating the Volunteer group’s work projects. Kristen has been very impressed with the staff at LCS. She has noted that it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the poverty and negativity outside of LCS, but that the people who work within these walls bring so much joy and professionalism and a genuine hope for real change. She explains, “You just believe they really are going to make a difference. They know it and you know it.” Kristen will be teaching 6eme and 5eme English.
Meg Smith also graduated from Clemson University this summer with a degree in biology, but hails originally from Colorado. Meg was a college varsity soccer player and has already spent many afternoons in these first few weeks impressing the Haitian students and staff with her quick footwork on the field. But her reasons for coming to Haiti are much deeper than a shared passion for the national sport. She explains that she came here to “share the joy that I have experienced through my faith in Christ.” She hopes that demonstrating this joy through everything she does here will help the Holy Spirit move within the LCS community. Meg will be teaching 4eme English and religion.
Mary DeAgostino grew up in Michigan and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May with a degree in biology and anthropology. She has already been accepted at Vanderbilt Medical School, but she chose to defer for a year in order to spend this year in Haiti. She has felt drawn to humanistic medicine concerned with social justice, but was worried that the rigor and intensity of medical school might challenge that idealism. She chose to come to Haiti before going to medical school in the hope that “truly dedicating myself to serving others for a year will make me a more conscientious and socially concerned physician.” Mary will be teaching biology and computers.
Peter Ulrickson lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and graduated from Hillsdale College with a degree in math in 2008. He then spent a year in seminary at Mt. St. Mary’s in Maryland. Peter will work this year to build the spiritual life of the student and staff communities. He explains that, “I hope to incorporate aspects of the Liturgy of the Hours, particularly the Psalms, into the staff morning prayer as a way of uniting what we’re doing here with the prayer of the universal Church.” He also plans to provide opportunities for students and staff to gather for the rosary and other prayer. Peter will be teaching math and religion.
Elissa Kergosien grew up in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She is our third Clemson University graduate from the class of 09, with a degree in psychology. She is serving as Lead Volunteer, and in that role has worked closely with Patrick Moynihan and LCS and Haitian Project Staff. Elissa expresses great appreciation for how welcoming and generous the Haitian Staff has been in helping the Volunteers settle into our lives at LCS. Their patience helping us learn Kreyol, willingness to show us the ropes in the kitchen, and “their eagerness to share their culture and hopes for their country have been inspirational.” Elissa will be teaching Rheto Religion and co-teaching Philo Religion with Patrick Moynihan.
My name is Betsy Bowman, and I have been teaching middle school and high school history in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts for the past ten years. I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1999 with a degree in history and Italian literature, and have a master’s degree in teaching and curriculum from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I am taking a yearlong sabbatical from my school in Cambridge, and was inspired to come to Haiti in particular because my school serves a large Haitian community. I am eager to share my experience and enthusiasm for teaching with the other Volunteers and the Junior Staff and to support them as they start out as teachers. I will be teaching three Spanish classes.
While this time to get acclimated to life in Haiti has been wonderful, we are eager to get the school year underway. It has been exciting to get to know so many LCS graduates, to know from the start the kind of outstanding young people this school produces. Now we are ready to get to know the next generation of Louverturians!
