Alumni Spotlight
Anthony Tarzia '97 and Virginia Gordon '97
Year Two in the Peace Corps: What Anthony and Ginnie are up to these days.Anthony Tarzia '97 and Virginia Gordon '97, Teacher Trainers for the Peace Corps in Belize, were featured in the Winter 2008 issue of Stonehill Alumni Magazine.
In that interview they said that, "The values of our education at Stonehill have continued to reinforce the notion that a life of purpose considers the needs of others."
Recently, Anthony sent an update detailing the many new projects he and Ginnie are involved in as they begin year two of their service in the Peace Corps.
Keep up with Ginnie and Anthony. Ask them about their work. Visit their blog: http://www.anthonyandginnie.blogspot.com
From Anthony Tarzia:
"We are still in Belize, we are now starting our second year of service. We continue to work on our [main] projects in primary schools, but each of us has become more involved in secondary projects as well.
HIV/AIDS Prevention Projects
"In addition to my primary project of working as a teacher trainer at an elementary school I am working with an organization called Hand-in-Hand Ministries, whose focus is on working on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness, building homes and educating people in need of assistance, and runs a pre-school for children with HIV. I have been helping them prepare a new outreach project for adolescents living with HIV in the Belize City community.
"I also work with the Belize Red Cross as an HIV/AIDS trainer and running workshops to prepare youth to serve as peer educators in their communities. Ginnie and I work together on presentations for middle school students regarding sexuality and STI education.
Empowerment and Leadership Projects
"Ginnie is [also] working with an organization called Youth Enhancement Services which is an organization devoted to the empowerment of women and educating people on issues such as the commercial sexual exploitation of children; she works with their teen mother support group and parenting class, the youth female leadership group, and conducts a literacy class to assist mothers.
"She also worked with a group of 8 other volunteers to implement a leadership camp for girls - Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) - which took place in July and will begin advising a Club GLOW with the girls in Belize City to continue to empower the girls to be leaders in their lives.
Bringing Great Books to Children in Belize City
"We've also been working to start a library at the school where Ginnie works so the children will have access to quality, age-appropriate literature to improve their reading ability and interest in books."
