Two GW seniors will visit the former Soviet Union after graduation this spring as volunteers with the Peace Corps. Melissa Doherty and Minal Amin will teach English, joining more than 500 GW alumni who have served in the organization.
Doherty is receiving a degree from the Elliott School of International Affairs with a concentration in Eastern Europe and Russia. She will depart for Moldova June 4.
Amin has completed course work for GW and will graduate in May. She is working at the American Embassy in the Republic of Georgia and will leave for Kazakstan next month, according to her mother.
Doherty spent a semester during her junior year studying in St. Petersburg, Russia and said she is looking forward to returning to the region.
“When I was there last year, I really didn’t want to leave,” she said. “I met Peace Corps members when I was living in St. Petersburg and volunteering with the organization seemed like a good opportunity to return to the area.”
Doherty has taken Russian throughout college and said she is looking forward to building on these language skills and also learn Romanian, which is the other language spoken in Moldova.
Before she teaches English to students ages 10 to 18, Doherty will go through three months of training in Moldova from Peace Corps and area representatives. After training, Doherty will spend two years volunteering.
Doherty said teaching will present a challenge.
“I will try to make these kids interested in learning English and be creative in my teaching,” she said.
Doherty said she is excited about experiencing another culture for an extended period of time.
“Because the area is going through a transitional time, everyone there is a lot poorer than people here,” she said. “Being there you get a whole different perspective on things and learn not to take things for granted.”
In preparation for her departure, Doherty is contacting organizations in the United States for grants or donations of materials to bring to Moldova.
The Peace Corps was started in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. It has sent more than 150,000 volunteers to 132 countries. Currently, 6,119 volunteers are serving in 84 countries, according to a press release.
“The men and women of the Peace Corps are a tangible expression of American idealism,” Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan said in a press release. “But there is an idealism that is coupled with a pragmatic, common-sense approach to meeting the needs of ordinary people in developing countries.”
