June 5, 2018
Six K-State students, alumni to serve in U.S. Peace Corps
This spring semester, six K-State students and alumni were accepted and invited to serve in positions in the U.S. Peace Corps after graduation according to Rebekah Carnes, Kansas State University's U.S. Peace Corps representative.
The six representatives:
Kelsey Kendall, May 2018 graduate with dual degrees in journalism and anthropology with a cultural emphasis. She leaves in June to begin her two-year service as a secondary English volunteer in Sierra Leone.
Hannah Rogers, summer 2018 graduation candidate, summa cum laude, master's student in German literature with a graduate certificate in gender, women, and sexuality studies. She will depart in June for two years of service as a teacher of English in China.
Morgan Peterson, May 2018 graduate with a bachelor's degree in biology. She will depart at the end of September to serve as a health volunteer in Swaziland.
Hannah Minson, December 2016 graduate with a bachelor's degree in life science. She will depart in September for two years of service as a HIV/AIDS and youth empowerment volunteer in Lesotho.
Lindsay Curl, December 2017 graduate with a bachelor's degree in biology pre-medicine and minor in leadership studies. She will depart in September for two years of service as an HIV/AIDS and Maternal Health Educator in Zambia.
Emma Unsderfer, May 2018 graduate with a degree in social work and a minor in leadership. She will depart in September to serve two years in Lesotho as an HIV/AIDS Awareness and Youth Empowerment Volunteer.
As an agency, Peace Corps has been active since its inception by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. It continues to send volunteers to serve in countries that invite Americans to work in partnerships with local experts on some of the world's most pressing issues like poverty, food security and HIV/AIDS. Volunteers serve at the grassroots level, learning local languages and living in communities where they can form intercultural friendships.
Carnes has served as K-State's Peace Corps representative since 2016. She will finish her position under the direction of the K-State Career Center, Office of International Programs and the College of Agriculture this summer, and will move on to complete her doctorate in sociology of international development at K-State.
"We are so excited that K-State had so many students accepted from our university into the U.S. Peace Corps program this semester," Carnes said.
During her tenure as Peace Corps representative, Carnes fostered partnerships with many departments and student groups, participated in the Vernon Larson Lecture Series, helped to prepare Truman scholars and International Service Teams groups, and mentored Peace Corps student campus ambassadors.
Carnes graduated with a master's degree in sociology from K-State in 2013 before she began her Peace Corps service as an HIV/AIDS capacity building volunteer in Botswana from 2013-2016.