Photo by Christie Gingras
By Emily O'Connor, For The Miami Student
The Peace Corps releases an annual list of the top volunteer-producing universities throughout the country, and Miami University has made it on the list for the past eight years in a row.
Kelly Muenchen ('13) and Christie Gingras ('13) are two Miami alumnae who joined the Peace Corps after graduating. Both are working in Asia --- Muenchen in Kyrgyzstan and Gingras in Mongolia.
Muenchen left the United States in April 2013 and was sworn into the Peace Corps that June. Gingras left for Mongolia in May 2014 and was officially sworn in a few months later, in August.
Muenchen said her interest in the Peace Corps began with an adveristment. She remembers passing it on a bulletin board outside one of her international studies classes at Miami.
"Seeing that poster always gave me a sense of excitement, a desire to see where life would take me, if I first took the risk," Muenchen said.
Gingras, who graduated with an education degree, said she decided to apply for the Peace Corps because she wasn't fully ready to commit to teaching in an Ohio classroom for 40 hours each week.
"I wanted to travel more. I wanted adventure," Gingras said. "But I still wanted to teach."
For students like Gingras, the Peace Corps offers benefits after completing service, much like the military. The Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program partners with 80 schools to provide scholarships and financial aid to Peace Corps volunteers so they're able to afford graduate school.
Muenchen noted that everyone who volunteers with the Peace Corps has a different experience, even for those who serve in the same country.
Muenchen lives in a 500-person village with her host family. Her typical day begins around 6:30 a.m., when she milks the family cow as part of her daily chores. Hundreds of miles away, Gingras wakes up at 6:00 a.m. to build a fire by her ger, which is a typical Mongolian home.
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While both Muenchen and Gingras spend their days teaching English at local schools, there are many other options for Peace Corps volunteers.
Many join for medical or engineering purposes. The volunteer work also depends on the individual needs of the country.
Muenchen teaches with a local counterpart and is currently working on a project called GLOW on the Go! This project trains six female students on self-esteem, diversity, goal setting and gender. The students will eventually provide the training to other schools in the region.
Gingras, who works with grades four through 12, teaches four to seven classes a day, holds English clubs, makes lesson plans with other teachers and plans English compositions. She is a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (T.E.F.L) volunteer.
Muenchen returns home around 4:00 p.m. and spends her evening interacting with her host siblings and helping her host mom cook dinner over a small fire. The food they make is called lagman.
"My host mom has become one of my best friends here, and she is actually more like an older sister because she's only a few years older than me," Muenchen said. "It's great to spend time talking about our days together as we cook."
Gingras usually returns home around 5:15 p.m. Once home, she grades papers and works on lesson plans along with spending time with her host family, which is called khashaa in Mongolia. She also interacts with friends at other sites, reads books and watches American television on her computer.
Both Gingras and Muenchen recommend volunteering for the Peace Corps to Miami students. While Muenchen warns against going with any expectations, Gingras said she does not regret joining the Peace Corps after graduation, despite missing some of the luxuries of home.
"Don't get me wrong, there are days when I want to go back to America, the land of running water and Chipotle," Gingras said. "But Mongolia is beautiful. The people are helpful, generous, hardworking and kind."
Muenchen said she is most fond of the experiences she's had learning about how other people live.
"With Peace Corps, you really get a deep understanding of the country's culture that you can't get anywhere else," Muenchen said. "It's a personally rewarding experience."
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