UAA alumna Sarah Johnson begins Peace Corps service in Ecuador
by Michelle Saport |
UAA alumna Sarah Johnson has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Ecuador to begin training as a health volunteer.
UAA alumna Sarah Johnson has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Ecuador on May 27, 2019, to begin training as a health volunteer.
"By joining Peace Corps, I'm excited to represent America, learn about other cultures and bring back that knowledge to share with my friends and family back home. Overall, I want to be able to make a difference in other people's lives while forming friendships, learning, and becoming part of a community," said Johnson.
Johnson is the daughter of Jane and Dave Johnson of Anchorage, and a graduate of South Anchorage High School. She attended University of Alaska in Anchorage, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing and Bachelors of Arts in Spanish in December 2016. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, she was a nurse for two years at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. Her volunteer activities included a providing medical assistance on a mission with Proyecto Fe in April 2016, coaching Juneau-Douglas High School's volleyball team, and acting as a comfort care companion at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.
During the first three months of her service, Johnson will live with a host family in Ecuador to become fully immersed in the country's language and culture. After acquiring the necessary skills to assist her community, Johnson will be sworn into service and assigned to a community in Ecuador, where she will live and work for two years with the local people.
"I hope to become a more fluent speaker of Spanish and learn more about the culture and lives of the Ecuadorian people," said Johnson. "Professionally, I hope to improve my skills in public health. Having been a bedside nurse the last two years, it will be a new challenge to serve primarily as a health educator. I'm hoping this experience will open doors to more international organization opportunities and widen my field of nursing."
Johnson will work in cooperation with the local people and partner organizations on sustainable, community-based development projects that improve the lives of people in Ecuador and help Johnson develop leadership, technical and cross-cultural skills that will give her a competitive edge when she returns home. Peace Corps volunteers return from service as global citizens well-positioned for professional opportunities in today's global job market.
Johnson joins the 27 Alaska residents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 1,052 Alaska residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.
"UAA alumna Sarah Johnson begins Peace Corps service in Ecuador" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.