Glenn Funk to teach middle school sciences in African nation.
MOUNT BERRY, Ga. —Former president and Peace Corps founder John F. Kennedy famously said that “one person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”
Berry senior Glenn Funk is heeding his advice by traveling to Tanzania to serve with the Peace Corps beginning in July.
An education major concentrating in middle school sciences, Funk will fly to eastern Africa on July 7 to spend begin a 27-month tour somewhere in Tanzania. She will get her specific assignment after three months of training, she said.
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| Glenn Funk |
Funk said her goal going is to at least “change one child’s life.”
From Parrish, Fla., Funk said she likes the idea of teaching high school science in a developing country, which the World Bank designates Tanzania as being; she said she jumped at the chance to take her knowledge of science abroad.
“I want to see a culture that is not me based,” she said. “Our society is so self-oriented [that] meeting a different group of people with different values will be refreshing.”
Year-long application process
Applying to and being accepted by the Peace Corps has required the better part of a year. Funk said she first contacted Becky Ament, a recruiter for the Peace Corps for the Southeast region.
Funk had two interviews at the Atlanta office of the Peace Corps, then was nominated as a candidate to teach middle school sciences.
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| The timeline for Funk’s Peace Corps application and acceptance |
She learned in February that she had been admitted to the program and placed in Tanzania, her first choice.
“Glenn’s enthusiasm is terrific,” Ament said. “Glenn decided that teaching science to the children in Tanzania was her dream, and look at her now.”
After graduation from Berry next month, Funk will spend three months learning and understanding the customs and traditions of Tanzania. She will enroll in the Peace Corps University, where she will apply for her visa, transfer her medical records and complete her training. After that, she will be assigned a community in which to teach high school science, biology and chemistry.
“It takes a special kind of person to give up her comfort and life to make a difference in someone else,” said Alexandria Knowles, a Berry junior and one of Funk’s close friends.
The Peace Corps began in 1961 and since has deployed more than 250,000 volunteers in 130 countries throughout the world. Approximately 7,000 are serving today, according to Ament.