Summer is the Season of Service for these Carleton Students

For most students, the summer months are time to kick back and relax with family and friends. But for the 14 recipients of Carleton’s 2007 Initiative for Service Internships in International Development award, summer break will also bring the opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture and lend a much-needed hand to other communities.

This summer, select members of the classes of 2008 and 2009 will spend up to eight weeks participating in programs in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Nepal, India, and Thailand.

Elizabeth Alspach ’09 (Spirit Lake, Iowa) will volunteer with Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots, an organization dedicated to the care, growth, and education of Triqui Indian youth in southern Mexico; Mya Dosch ’09 (Shell Lake, Wisc.) is going to Cusco, Peru, where she will work with ProPeru Student Service Corps assisting in the community and living with a Peruvian family; Olivia Jee ’08 (Chicago) will work with Child Family Health International in Bolivia, where she will assist in a number of pediatric hospitals; Beth Mynar ’08 (Seattle) will also participate with Child Family Health International in Bolivia, focusing on public pediatric health in La Paz; Mary Ellen Stitt ’08 (West Fork, Ariz.) will work through the Foundation for Sustainable Development with la Fundacion Pro-Habitat, a Bolivian organization that works low-income communities to sustainably improve their surroundings; Rachel Carroll ’08 (Superior, Wisc.) will teach English at The Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan in the small town of Phaltan, India and will live with a local Marathi teacher; Peter Gill ’09 (Palo Alto, Calif.) will join The Mountain Institute in Nepal, working with farmers throughout the Himalayas in agricultural extension and environmental preservation efforts; Rachel Klein ’08 (Sierra Vista, Ariz.) will work with Amigos de las Americas in Veraguas, Panama, promoting youth leadership with workshops on health, the environment, artistic expression, and other service projects; Sarojini Rao ’09 (India) is going to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala with the Cross-Cultural Solutions program to teach English and assist with local programs; Juliet Dana ’09 (Saint Paul, Minn.) is traveling to Ladakh, a northern region of India, to work with the SECMOL (Student’s Education & Cultural Movement of Ladakh) organization, which aims to reform the educational system of Ladakh and build sustainability within the region; Hope Harvey ’09 (Lexington, Ind.) will join the i-to-i Volunteering program in Costa Rica, working in a nonprofit day care center to teach and assist children affected by poverty or abuse; Lily Li ’08 (Oberlin, Ohio) will participate in a Cross-Cultural Solutions program based in Bangkok, Thailand, engaging in medical volunteer projects; Lindsey Shaughnessy ’09 (Ipswich, Mass.) will join the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Peru, working with ProMujer to promote women’s empowerment, business skills, and healthcare; and Alexis White ’08 (Portland, Ore.) will teach English through World Teach in Ecuador.

The average award is $5,000, which covers expenses such as application and program fees, transportation, lodging and meals, and a stipend designed to partially compensate students for wages they might have otherwise been earned over the summer.

Established in 2003 with a gift from Stephen R. West and his wife Phyllis at their 50th class reunion, the Initiative for Service Internships in International Development are intended to help Carleton students participate in international programs focusing on community development. The internships provide students with valuable experiences outside the classroom, motivating many to pursue careers in international service.