Melissa Holmes spent two years in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Dominican Republic: Peace Corps Dominican Republic : The Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic: Melissa Holmes spent two years in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer

By Admin1 (admin) on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 2:31 pm: Edit Post

Melissa Holmes spent two years in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer



Melissa Holmes

Melissa attended the University of Michigan where she majored in Psychology. She also studied Humanities and Arts at Loyola University of Chicago – Rome Center, worked on the Wolf Reintroduction Howling Survey in Montana as part of a Biology seminar sponsored by San Francisco State University, and studied leadership and outdoor survival skills at the National Outdoor Leadership School in the State of Washington. Throughout high school and college Melissa traveled extensively in Central and South America. She speaks fluent Spanish.

During college Melissa volunteered as a Counselor at Arbor Heights Juvenile Detention Center and served as a Teacher’s Aid at a Community Day Care Center. Melissa also was a member of the University of Michigan’s Crew Team and Snowboarding Club.

After graduation Melissa spent two years in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer. Her responsibilities included a large-scale latrine project, grant proposals, AIDS education, health education in a local primary school; English as a second language education for local English teachers; first aid courses for local Search and Rescue volunteers; translator; President of the Peace Corps Youth Committee; and assistant to a doctor in the local clinic and emergency room. Melissa’s Peace Corps experience cemented her commitment to public service. When she returned from the Dominican Republic she worked for The Children’s Cabinet, a non-profit organization that assists low-income children. All of Melissa’s families were Spanish speaking. She lived in a trailer near many of the family while she worked in the Middle and High Schools developing and implementing special educational and tutorial programs. Most recently Melissa worked with Outward Bound in North Carolina training Spanish-speaking adolescent boys from the inner city of the Bronx and urban adolescents from North Carolina as diversity leaders in their own communities. She also organized a cross-cultural expedition for Outward Bound in Costa Rica. Melissa’s desire to continue helping impoverished communities at a more structural level led her to law school.

Currently, Melissa is volunteering for the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. She visits detainees at the Wackenhut INS detention center, conducts intake interviews, and determines whether the detainees have any relief available such that they may remain in the country. If they do have available relief, she finds a pro bono attorney to take the case, since there is no public defender in immigration court. Melissa is learning a lot about immigration law and is really making a difference in the lives of these detainees.



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Date Last Modified 11/16/01 CHANCELLOR'S SCHOLARS Public Service Through Law

By MeL (host198.36.229.207.in-addr.arpa - 207.229.36.198) on Monday, December 22, 2003 - 12:06 pm: Edit Post

Hey! Ok, I don't you, but I know one thing we have in common! Our names or Melissa Holmes! LoL!
Yah! Kool eh? Well, as u can tell I am Canadain from the eh! LoL Ok well uh....k I have nothing else 2 say! c ya!

By Payton Iacobucci (168.169.31.12) on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 - 7:48 am: Edit Post

You are a great newscaster and I watch you every morning before I go to school. I hope I will be like you when I persue this job!!!!

By Payton Iacobucci (168.169.31.12) on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 - 7:45 am: Edit Post

I watch you every morning on channel 4 before I go to school. You are a great newscaster and I hope to be like you someday when I persue this career!!!!


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