Shannon Roach leaves to spend the next two-plus years putting her teaching skills to work for the Peace Corps somewhere in the Caribbean
Peorian puts pickiness aside in favor of purpose
Jul 22, 2004
Peoria Journal Star
by Jennifer Towery
PEORIA - Had the interview been for any other job, the questions would have made Shannon Roach choke.
"Do you think you can handle living in a fishbowl?"
"Do you have a significant other?"
"Are you a picky eater?"
As a teacher, she knows privacy is a relative thing. She isn't dating anyone special, either.
But she had to fess up to being a pretty picky eater.
She got the job anyway, and on Tuesday leaves to spend the next two-plus years putting her teaching skills to work for the Peace Corps somewhere in the Caribbean.
The Peoria High School graduate has spent five years as a teacher at Irving Primary School. She was ready for a change when she read the best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life."
"It said you are given interests for a reason," she said. "I've always thought traveling was a hobby, something to do in the summer. ... It just hit me: I have the interest. I have the time right now. ... I'm 28 years old, and I didn't have anything holding me back. I'm finally taking the risk and doing it."
In fact, when she sat down to think about it, she realized she was in an excellent position to take the rather drastic step of committing to more than two years overseas. She isn't married. She has little debt except college loans, which are deferred for Peace Corps service. Her brother was willing to live in the house she rents from their mother.
"Because of that, I've never been so confident about a decision I've made," she said.
Roach has the endless patience of a teacher and a sunny disposition, but her friends consider her quiet and steady.
"It probably shocked a lot of people. I'm not too outspoken," she said. "I think I'm a quiet adventurer."
Roach's grandmother, 88-year-old Bernadine Roach of Peoria, a retired schoolteacher, was not surprised, but she was extremely proud.
"She has a thirst for travel, and travel with a purpose," she said.
Shannon Roach is taking a laptop computer with her to the Caribbean, and she and her grandmother and other friends and family will e-mail regularly. She hopes to also have Internet access, though she won't know for certain until she gets her job assignment after a three-week training on St. Lucia.
"I don't know yet. Some people don't even having running water or electricity," she said.
Her ultimate destination will be one of five islands: St. Lucia, Grenada, the Grenedine Islands, St. Vincent or Dominica. As far as Peace Corps jobs go, this one is considered a fairly cush assignment - she sort of expected to be assigned to Africa. A fellow teacher who is a Peace Corps veteran said Roach got lucky.
"She was really kind of envious. 'Wow, you might have a shower!' " Roach said.
And Roach has found a certain freedom in selling her car, canceling her utilities and planning for a much simpler life.
"I love telling the telemarketers that I'm moving to the Caribbean, so quit calling," she said.
