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National Peace Corps Association > News > Community News > Cameroon, Colombia, India, Liberia, Indonesia, Lesotho, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Togo, Yemen,
Cameroon, Colombia, India, Liberia, Indonesia, Lesotho, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Togo, Yemen,
By JoAnna Haugen on Monday, December 31st, 2007
CAMEROON
The shelf life of electronics is now being extended through Robin Ingenthron’s (84-86) businesses, Good Point Recycling and World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association. At Good Point, employees wipe the hard drives of computers clean and test them. Many of the machines are then shipped overseas to people in developing nations who can purchase the computers cheaply. The World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association sets fair trade standards for international recycling. As president, Ingenthron certifies that the electronics are wiped clean of information, recyclables are handled appropriately and that no products are disposed of.
COLOMBIA
Sandy Gamboa, veteran educator of gifted students, was honored as the 2007 Gervaise Wynn Perdue Gifted Teacher of the Year. The Houston County, Ga., resident grew up in Africa and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
INDIA, LIBERIA
Gerald Nelson’s (India 71-73, Liberia 67-70) newest book, The Third Plate, is about three men whose paths cross during the blizzard of the century. His first book, The Return, told the story of his return visit to India 20 years after serving in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer.
INDONESIA
When Ed Axline (63-65) served as a Peace Corps volunteer he introduced the sport of baseball to a group of young men to whom he served as a mentor. Several years later, the sport has flourished thanks to these students who helped establish and build local and national interest in the sport in the form of everything from Little League teams to the Asian Games. Axline recently visited Indonesia where he was a guest of honor at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Red Fox baseball team.
LESOTHO
Amy Vandegrift (99-01) has an opportunity to pursue her love for history with her new position as executive director of Marion County Historical Society in Oregon. She has been working as volunteer coordinator at A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village for the past five years, and she’s also been serving as a member of the historical society board for the past year. Prior to joining Discovery Village, Vandegrift worked at McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington, Ill. The society, which serves about 1,000 visitors each year, was formed in 1950 to promote historical research and education by collecting and preserving artifacts and documents. Vandegrift has a degree in history from Miami University in Ohio.
PARAGUAY
Milton Butterworth III has joined Blue Ridge Community Heath Services in North Carolina as the new director of development. He has worked at Blue Ridge as an outreach specialist and has also served as a member of the Blue Ridge board since 2002, most recently as chairman. Butterworth is known in his community for his work with the Henderson County Public Schools Migrant Education Program.
SIERRA LEONE
Sculptor Martin Puryear (64-65, 73-75) currently has an exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. A Washington, D.C., native, Puryear now lives in upstate New York. He studied printmaking at the Royal Academy of Sweden and earned his Master of Fine Arts in sculpture at Yale. In addition to his current show at MOMA, Puryear’s environmental sculptures and gardens can be found in Manhattan, Boston, Seattle and Japan.
SOUTH KOREA
The State Department recently named Kathleen Stephens (75-77) as the next ambassador to Seoul, South Korea. Stephens has been working with the Foreign Service since 1978. She has served as the principal officer at the U.S. Consulate in Busan, internal political unit chief at the American Embassy in Seoul and the deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs. Stephens most recently worked as the senior State Department adviser for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. She will be the first female ambassador to represent the United States in South Korea.
TOGO
Mary Vita Rosmarino (81-83) has been working as the executive director of the Mahomet Area Youth Club in Champaign, Ill., for about a month. The club is a place for the community’s youth to learn about and embrace the organization’s five core values: sports and recreation, health and nutrition, life skills, character and leadership development, and arts and creative expressions. Rosmarino worked in government positions in St. Louis, Mo., as property maintenance supervisor for Champaign and as fund development director for the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois for three years.
YEMEN
Holly Ann Reichert (90-92) recently became the new principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn. She has worked in the city’s public schools for more than nine years and has spent time in the Arab world as a teaching fellow at the American University in Cairo and as head of the English department at an English-Arabic dual language school in Bahrain. Reichert holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic Language and Social Anthropology from the University of London and master’s degrees from the American University in Cairo, Teachers College at Columbia University and Baruch College.
