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National Peace Corps Association > News > Community News > Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Haiti, East Timor, Senegal
Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Haiti, East Timor, Senegal
By JoAnna Haugen on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
AFGHANISTAN
Jacie Ragan (74-77) is the winner of the eighth annual Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse for her poem “In the Shadow of the Condor,” a sequence of 12 sonnets. A full-time writer, Ragan previously taught high school Spanish classes and was a fitness coach at Curves. This is the first time she has competed in this poetry contest.
BULGARIA
Sixth-grade language arts teacher Alan Schmidt has been named as one of the Teachers of the Semester in Arizona’s Benson School District. This is Schmidt’s fourth year at Benson Middle School. He is also a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army National Guard.
COLOMBIA
Alexander “Sandy” Fisher (62-64) was among the first wave of Peace Corps volunteers to serve. He returned to Colombia in 1967 and, until 1974, he managed Mozambique, an experimental cattle ranch. He recently published Colombia: Pictures & Stories, an illustrated record of his time in Colombia and his eventual return to Virginia.
ECUADOR
Jeff Uebel (88-90) is currently serving as the interim district ranger in Waldport for the Central Coast Ranger District and Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. He has been working as the natural resource officer for the Siuslaw Forest since 2009. Prior to that, Uebel was a seasonal fisheries technician at the Mount Hood National Forest and a biologist for the Zone District Fisheries in Zigzag.
HAITI, EAST TIMOR
Jesse Wright has joined the Clarksdale Press Register as a staff news reporter. A graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, Wright has worked for a variety of newspapers in Texas.
SENEGAL
Megan Shepherd’s (05-07) young adult novel, The Madman’s Daughter, will be published by HarperCollins in 2013. The book, set in 1896, is about a young woman in search of her father. It is the first in a three-part series.
SENEGAL
Charlton H. “Chuck” Bonham (91-93) is the new director of the California Department of Fish and Game. Prior to this position, he was the California director for Trout Unlimited. Bonham did his undergraduate work at the University of Georgia, and he attended Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., where he specialized in conservation and natural resources law.
