December 13, 2004: Headlines: COS - Bulgaria: Planning: University of Cincinnati: Rebekah Kranch spent two years in the Peace Corps where she taught English in Bulgaria
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December 13, 2004: Headlines: COS - Bulgaria: Planning: University of Cincinnati: Rebekah Kranch spent two years in the Peace Corps where she taught English in Bulgaria
Rebekah Kranch spent two years in the Peace Corps where she taught English in Bulgaria
Rebekah Kranch spent two years in the Peace Corps where she taught English in Bulgaria
PROFILE: PEACE CORPS LEADS STUDENT TO STUDY PLANNING
University of Cincinnati student Rebekah Kranch of Mansfield, Ohio, spent two years in the Peace Corps where she taught English in Bulgaria. This fall, she started as a master’s student in UC’s School of Planning and is now organizing home-buying classes in Over-the-Rhine.
Date: 12/13/2004 7:59:00 AM
Contact: Mary Reilly; E-mail: Mary-Bridget.Reilly@uc.edu
Phone: (513) 556-1824
Photos By: Dottie Stover
While teaching English to Bulgarian children in 2001-2003, University of Cincinnati student Rebekah Kranch, 25, had something of a quiet life. Living in a valley guarded by mountains on three sides, she never heard heavy traffic, much less an airplane or a helicopter. “It’s been too loud for me since I got back,” laughs Rebekah. And busy too.
She returned to Ohio and this past fall, started back to school as a first-year master’s student in UC’s well-respected School of Planning. Rebekah is specializing in international development, hoping to return one day to the Balkans.
But first, she has to negotiate a full load of classes, an on-campus job and one in Over-the-Rhine as well. Rebekah is working in Over-the-Rhine as UC’s first member of the Peace Corps Fellows/USA program – a partnership that the Peace Corps has with 37 universities that matches former Peace Corps volunteers with degree-related service.
In Over-the-Rhine, Rebekah is working with SmartMoney Community Services, a non-profit that provides affordable financial services and economic education to underserved individuals. She’s been organizing a Wednesday series of home-ownership workshops that focus on the home-buying process for first-time home buyers, everything from finding a home to applying for a mortgage.
“I like being in the community. It’s fun to be in a different environment than school, working with a non-profit and just the one-on-one with people,” explains Rebekah. She laughs, “And I sit in on the home-buying classes I’m organizing. I’m learning a lot.”
She says the same was true of her time in Bulgaria. There, she had to acquire language skills, and she even had to learn how to teach English. “Just because you speak a language doesn’t mean you know how to teach it. Boy, did I learn that in a hurry.”
Rebekah opted for the Peace Corps after graduating with an anthropology/criminology degree in 2001 from Ohio State University. “And ten days later,” she remarks, “I was in the Peace Corps. When I decide to move on, I move on.”
For the moment though, she doesn’t plan to move on from SmartMoney. She’s set to organize another series of home-buying education sessions during winter quarter. “We had a waiting list for our current fall classes for first-time home buyers. There’s a waiting list for the classes that start in January too. I hope to make the classes more and more effective. Right now, we have guest speakers and materials, and I’m asking people to fill out pre- and post-program surveys to find out what was most valuable, what they learned, what’s memorable.”
With her community work as the first Peace Corps Fellow at UC, Rebekah seems to be setting a trend. Already, several more former Peace Corps volunteers have applied to enter the School of Planning, part of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, in the fall of 2005.
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: University of Cincinnati
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Bulgaria; Planning
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