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Volume
1
Fall Edition 2004
 Greetings
From
Master's
International!
We are excited about our e-newsletter,
developed by our summer intern, Gina Piacentino.
There are three different versions of the newsletter. This one is
designed for you, current students both in the United States and overseas; one
is specifically for your MI campus coordinators; and the third, available
soon on the Peace Corps MI Web page, is primarily for potential
MI applicants.
We will keep you informed of new developments
at Peace Corps headquarters and we look forward to hearing about your
experience as MI students. We welcome articles and photos from you
about your MI program as we strive to achieve representation from all MI
schools. Articles and photographs can be submitted electronically to mastersinternational@peacecorps.gov.
Enjoy this newsletter and share it with others
in the program. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sylvia Alejandre (Left)
Program
Manager
Master's
International
Gina Piacentino (Center)
Summer
Intern
The Washington
Center for Internships and Academic
Seminars
Asherra
Meskheniten
Administrative
Assistant
Master's
International
In This Issue
- Master's
International Program News
- Feature Article: Ed Stewart, an MI
student at Michigan
Technological University,
is currently serving in Jamaica and reports on his
experience as a Volunteer.
- Alumni
Update: Check out what some of our MI graduates are doing.
- Contact Us
Master's International Program News
v
The revised
student handbooks are now available. See your university MI coordinator for
a copy.
v
A Volunteer's
Role Is Unique.
It employs cross-cultural understanding in grass-roots community
service. Completing the online Training Activities will give
you a deeper understanding of the challenges of being a Peace Corps
Volunteer and a competitive edge in preparing for service. You will
need your user name and password that the Peace Corps has provided to open
the Training link. Click here to
start.
v
A Friendly
Reminder:
It is important to send in all your medical and dental forms on time.
(Don't forget to put your name and social security number on all forms sent
to the Peace Corps.) Please mail or fax these forms to: Office of
Medical Services, Peace Corps Headquarters,
1111 20th Street, NW,
Washington,
DC 20526;
Fax: 202.692.1561
v
This newsletter
will feature students who submit articles about their MI experience.
If you are interested in submitting an article or photograph, please e-mail
mastersinternational@peacecorps.gov. We would love to hear
from you.
Back to In
this Issue
Feature Article: Aiding Communities in Jamaica
By Ed Stewart
 I'm working on my masters in environmental engineering and have been
in Jamaica
for eight months. My job assignments have been fairly appropriate for
my interests. The primary assignment is to work as a lab technician
four days a week for the water commission. This is not engineering,
but the people in the lab are great, and I am gaining a background in my
specific field. On my own initiative I wrote a proposal to an NGO to
conduct an engineering evaluation of some new sanitation technology the NGO
developed. The technology looks pretty good, but there is no solid data
regarding how well it works or how to rationally reproduce it in other
locations on the island. My supervisor in the lab supports the NGO's work
and I can contract the lab to perform the water tests. This project
will probably be the main focus of my degree report. Working in the
lab turned out to be a good assignment.
My secondary assignment is urban community development
with two citizens' associations. The local community development
worker knew improved sanitation was a need in the community so we started a
sanitation survey and then went to find funding.
We are now in the
first stages of having the commission meet with the community and explain
the development process. The plan is to review all the community's
needs and have the community decide their priority. This is a better
way to do development than starting on a specific project. So far I
am glad we chose this agency for funding. I hope enough people in the
community work to help themselves so the priority projects will be completed
while I am here.
Back to
In this Issue
Tracking
Our Graduates:
v Monica Monk completed two years of Peace
Corps service in El
Salvador in 1997, working in agroforestry. A graduate of the MI program at the
University of
Montana, she now
works as a biologist, organizing a restoration program that restores about
800 acres of agricultural land to native brush each year. She and her
family live in Texas.
v Dale Woitas served in Honduras
from 1998 to 2002 under the MI program at the
University of Montana.
He now has a staff position with the Black Hills Fire Use Module at
Jewel Cave
National Monument, in Custer, South
Dakota. He works in the area of fire
management.
v Patrick Shane McCarthy, the first MI student to
complete the program at the University of Montana, did his Peace Corps
service in Ecuador from 1993 to 1995, where he was a natural resources
technical trainer. He is now living and working in East
Timor. His job as an agribusiness advisor includes planning
and monitoring the staff and farmers of an "income
diversification" project for a small farmer cooperative in East Timor.
Back to In
this Issue
Contact Us
Let
us hear from you! Send contributions, comments, suggestions, and requests
to Master's International, Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters, 1111 20th Street, NW,
Washington, DC
20526;
e-mail
us at mastersinternational@peacecorps.gov;
or call 202.692.1812.
If
you are not interested in receiving our newsletter, please e-mail mastersinternational@peacecorps.gov to be removed from our
mailing list.
Back to In
this Issue
The
opinions expressed in the Master's International newsletter are those of
the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Peace Corps or
the government of the United
States.
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