Learning about the Peace Corps from #AEE400 #GlobalExperience

As the year is coming to a close, with finals approaching and summer in the air, it is nice to reflect about what this year has helped me accomplish. One of the highlights of my semester was taking the AEE 400 course which has opened my eyes to many new things. Over the span of the class, we had to pick a pen pal from either Malaysia or the PeaceCorps or do research on a country. Although they were all awesome opportunities I chose the Peace Corps Pen Pal project and it has opened my eyes to a lot of awesome opportunities.

After selectingmy project, I was introduced to Tia Sandoval who is stationed in Nepal in a small village in the district of Syangja. She has been there for over a year and a half now and is doing some awesome projects! Hired to be a Food Security volunteer to implement things such as agriculture, health, and sanitation, she has taken her role in Nepal to new heights. She has been working on gender equalities by starting a GLOW camp, which stands for “Girls Leading Our World” where she has brought 40 girls, ages ranging from 12-18 to learn about leadership, goal setting, confidence building and so much more! 

She has hosted an environmental day, initiated a youth group, and implemented an off season vegetable production plastic tunnel nursery! She has also done a lot by learning to live with what she has and to find resources to help the community gardens. “I didn’t bring anything with me, but I was able to go to agriculture offices that provided seeds in different parts of the year. I wanted the families to actually save their money and grow their own vegetables instead of spending all of their money on food and not on the family.”


While she has been in Nepal she has also traveled to different countries. She went to India for Christmas, and is also planning on going to Malaysia in July to get out of the monsoon weather that will be happening in that time. On her way home she is also planning on stopping in Europe to see the vast differences there.


 Tia has truly opened my eyes to many new things and has made me think about all the various opportunities out there for anyone! If you want to get involved with getting a Peace Corp volunteer pen pal, learning about developing countries, and meet real people who change the world every day, I highly recommend taking AEE 400 Education in Ag in Developing Nations in the spring of next year!

Olivia Murphy-Sweet

Student Blogger
Teach Ag! Avenger
Twitter Handle @OSweetMurph
2016 Agricultural Education Student Teacher