I graduated from Rockway in 2011. In my final year, I participated in a learning tour in Guatemala through Rockway’s partnership with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Because of what I learned on this trip, I was inspired to study Agricultural Sciences and International Development Studies in the Arts and Sciences program at the University of Guelph.
In my undergraduate classes, we studied lots of examples of “development gone wrong”, but we also studied positive examples of development and MCC appeared among them. By the time I graduated in 2016, I was ready to gain some meaningful experience working in community development, so I decided to participate in MCC’s Serving and Learning Together program. From 2017-2018, I lived in Korba, Chhattisgarh, India working with an MCC partner in rural development and living with a local Mennonite family.
Returning to Canada, I completed a Masters in Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo, studying youth livelihood decision-making in rural Honduras. This research opportunity allowed me to learn Spanish (I studied in Guatemala!) and to develop program evaluation skills, which set me up for my current role as the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluating, and Reporting Coordinator for MCC Guatemala-El Salvador. I started that role in 2021, 10 years after I had first visited Guatemala with Rockway.
Looking back, I see so many moments where God guided my steps and prepared me for what was coming next. In particular, as I write this from my apartment in Guatemala City, I’m smiling about how that high school trip with Rockway planted a seed that went on to shape my life and career so significantly.
