Elon recently recognized students for completing the Peace Corps Prep program, a partnership with the U.S. Peace Corps agency that prepares students for international careers through mentoring, coursework and field experiences.
Nine Elon students completed the requirements for Elon’s Peace Corps Prep Program during the 2023-24 academic year, earning them a Peace Corps Prep Program certificate issued by the U.S. Peace Corps agency. In recent years, Elon has ranked as both a top producer of Peace Corps volunteers and as a top-10 Peace Corps Prep partner university.
Elon students recognized for completing the Peace Corps Prep Program in the 2023-2024 academic year:
- Abby Brantman ‘24
- Mackenzie DeMania ‘24
- Lily Hill ‘25
- Sidra Kennedy ‘24
- Kat Lobach ‘24
- Morgan McGlynn ‘24
- Eliana Olivier ‘24
- Samantha Schwamberger ‘24
- Avery Sutherland ‘24
The university’s Peace Corps Prep Program prepares students for international service through mentoring, coursework, and field experiences. Through the program, students develop four competencies—training and experience in a specific work sector, foreign language proficiency, intercultural competency, professional leadership, and development skills. The program includes all six Peace Corps service areas — Agriculture, Community Economic Development, Education, Environment, Health and Youth in Development.
This year, two Peace Corps Prep certificate earners are preparing to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers after graduation: Abby Brantman ‘24 has been accepted to serve as a Youth in Development volunteer in Morocco, and Mackenzie DeMania ‘24 will go to Peru this September as a Community Health Facilitator.
The program is directed by Jennifer Eidum, associate professor of English, who previously taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine.
Mackenzie DeMania ‘24 said her experiences studying abroad prepared her for international service after graduation. “I studied abroad in India in January of 2023 to complete my Public Health Practicum, and fulfill a requirement for the Peace Corps Prep program,” DeMania said. “I learned so much by observing the incredible community-based healthcare provided to rural Indian villages in Maharashtra by the Comprehensive Rural Health Project. The Jamkhed model highlights community empowerment as a sustainable way to improve health outcomes.”
When asked what advice she has for future Peace Corps Prep students, DeMania advised she was easily able to fulfill the required courses and experiences by taking classes she was interested in. “Don’t be overwhelmed by the requirements, because many courses and experiences will also fulfill other major or core requirements,” she said.
Lily Hill ‘25 said her experience visiting a Burlington elementary school weekly to deepen her Education-related training. “I worked with 4th graders and it was so much fun to watch them learn each week,” she said. “While here, I taught two lessons: one on history and the other on science/ELA”
Hill recognizes how the Peace Corps Prep Program complements her major and also deepens her global skills, sharing that the program is “a great opportunity to experience work in a specific sector. I did education because I am an education major. It also allows us to work on foreign language proficiency, intercultural competency and professional leadership.”
Sidra Kennedy ‘24 similarly found her Peace Corps Prep courses to benefit her professional development, especially the human service studies course Working with Groups and Communities. “It helped me gain tangible skills that can be applied to any work environment,” she said.
When asked what advice she has for future Peace Corps Prep students, Kennedy reflected on the value of this international service preparatory program. “There is so much that connects to the Peace Corps outside of the traditional preparatory program,” Kennedy said. “When you are in other classes and activities, open your mind to see all the connections, because it only enhances your learning.”
After graduation, Kennedy will work as an assistant director at a summer camp in Georgia.
Eliana Olivier ‘24 advises Peace Corps Prep students to “ take advantage of the different opportunities within the program to explore the things you’re passionate about. … Working as an Environmental Justice Intern for the Office of Sustainability was an amazing experience and I have learned so much from the job.”
Eliana Olivier ‘24 will utilize the skills she developed in the Peace Corps Prep Program this fall as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Colombia.
Abby Brantman ‘24 said the coursework she completed for the program’s intercultural competence requirement expanded her perspectives. “As a political science major, I already had an express interest in politics and global dynamics, but after looking into the Peace Corps Prep program, I added the Peace & Conflict Studies minor to my degree audit,” Brantman said. “The course, Foundations of Peace & Conflict Studies, required by my minor and satisfying a portion of the intercultural competency aspect of the PCP program, fundamentally changed the way I viewed international conflict and expanded the critical mindset with which I approach the analysis of global relations.”
Brantman credits the fieldwork components of the Peace Corps Prep program as important for developing her abilities to work within local communities. Her focus on Youth in Development “pushed me to select work and volunteer opportunities, such as working at a sleepaway camp or at the Burlington Boys and Girls Club, that were centered around the youth population” Brantman said. “Those experiences ended up being some of the most rewarding of my college career.”
Brantman encourages students considering the Peace Corps Prep Program to “Just give it a shot! It may feel intimidating to participate in a program during college that is a route to possible post-graduate plans, but you are in no way bound to entering the Peace Corps upon graduation and if anything you can look at Peace Corps Prep simply as a program that looks to foster service-minded, well-rounded global citizens.”