When Grace Park graduated from the College of Education in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation and human services (RHS), she had no clear idea of what career path she wanted to take other than being able to make a difference in people’s lives. Her curiosity and altruism led her to a post in Malawi as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps, and she took a leading role in establishing a school library as part of an effort to create a literacy-rich environment for the students.
Park, who currently is pursuing a master of social work degree at the University of Michigan, moved to Malawi to serve in the Peace Corps in June 2019 as a volunteer secondary school English teacher. After pre-service training, she relocated to the southern district of Malawi to teach at a school called Luntha Community Day Secondary School (CDSS), which she found had a dire need for a proper library.
“I spent the first few months living and working alongside the community to truly understand what the needs are,” said Park. “I realized as an English teacher, part of my responsibility was helping out with the library.”
When Park started teaching at Luntha CDSS, she said, she assumed that the school had a library. To her surprise and dismay, she discovered that the “library” was a janitorial closet with a stack of books in every corner. Not only was the space visually unappealing, Park said, the system was inefficient as students would wait a couple of hours in line to place their request with a teacher, who would retrieve the books. She added that students would typically ask for textbooks since they could not see the variety of fiction and nonfiction books on the shelves.
“After speaking with both our school and community leaders, we realized that what our students don’t have is the freedom to even know what books are available to them,” said Park.
As part of a community-wide effort to construct a library at Luntha CDSS, Park joined a committee of local leaders that included the school’s head teacher, the head of the English department, a village chieftain and student leaders. Park took on the role of fundraising chair for the Luntha CDSS Library Project.
A wrench was thrown into the project, Park said, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Park and her Peace Corps cohorts to evacuate Malawi — when she was only eight months into what was supposed to be a 27-month commitment.
“Literally a week after our first meeting, I had to leave (Malawi) and the whole project was put on standby,” she said.
Park said upon returning to the U.S. she kept in touch with Luntha students and teachers and realized that a physical presence was not essential to continuing her fundraising efforts for the library. Park helped set up the campaign and started applying for grants. The total project cost $13,000 in U.S. currency. The fundraising team found a donor that matched half that amount, $6,500, and raised the remaining funds on GoFundMe. Construction on the library started in August and Park said it is expected to be complete this fall.
Park said that she attributes her interest in foreign cultures and humanitarian causes to her experiences at Penn State. One of her co-curricular activities was participating in PSU Project Haiti, a student organization that performs volunteer and fundraising activities throughout the State College, Pennsylvania, community to raise funds for its charitable partners in Haiti. After graduation, she completed an internship with Penn State’s Division of Development and Alumni Relations (DDAR), which gave her additional experience in fundraising.
“I would say I owe everything to my time at Penn State,” she said.
Park said after she finished her internship with DDAR, she tried to find ways to return to Haiti but a mentor from Penn State suggested the Peace Corps.
“What (the volunteers) were doing, living alongside the community they were serving, was what I wanted to do,” she said.
Park’s advice to current RHS students is not to feel too pressured by the expectations of everyone around them.
“Don’t settle for the first opportunity that comes your way,” she said. “Find what you care about and do what you can to serve those people.”