Aspiration Statement

So one of the things that the Peace Corps wants within the first 10 days of having received and accepted your invitation is for you to write an Aspiration Statement. It is supposed to detail some of your goals and ambitions for the Peace Corps. Luckily they outline what they want like a blueprint; 5 sections A-E with detailed explanations of what to write about (before I noticed those details, it seemed a little vague and daunting..thank god, their guide made it super easy, I don't like to write...)

So below is what I wrote and sent in with an updated resume (all of this is sent to the specific country desk at the PC and will be used to get the Senegal PC staff familiar with who is heading over in March, since apparently they haven't seen any of our applications) It's long, and repetitive by nature of the topics, but I think it works, enjoy if you're super bored or can read quicker than I.

A: Working as an Emergency Medical Technician over the past year and a half has given me the opportunity to develop skills for interacting with people in rushed and stressful situations. From responding to emergency calls for medical assistance, I have gained and begun to fine-tune the ability to initiate communication with new people, assess situations, and make rapid decisions. Another skill that volunteering as an EMT has helped me develop is the ability to calm patients down and explain their condition in simple medicinal terms, consequentially gaining their trust. This ability has successfully helped me question my patients for information required to administer proper care and ultimately transfer them safely to a hospital.

I feel that these skills and abilities give me a good basis to work with other people. I believe that my ability to interact quickly and effectively with people has given me the right tools to work with others over time. I have been trained to listen and observe intently while still performing other duties and making decisions. These skills, along with my easy demeanor will be essential when working with counterparts, Peace Corps staff, and groups in my community in Senegal.

While working with the Peace Corps, I hope to further develop my communication and decision making skills. I am excited to get the opportunity to act not only as an educator, but also as a member of the community who can work and invoke action in others. During my service, I want to further develop my people-skills by making lasting impressions and relationships within my community; I know that these will be integral to making effective progress as a Preventive Health Educator. In addition to my aspirations for my specific Peace Corps job, I also have other goals. I look forward to traveling and experiencing as much of the Senegalese and greater African cultures as possible. This will be a great opportunity to expose myself to many new and different experiences that few from developed countries will get to have. I am determined to make the most of this experience.

B: In order to accomplish my goals and expectations during my Peace Corps service, it will be necessary to create and develop strong relationships with many partners in the Senegal PROSPERE program and throughout my future community. Interacting and forming good friendships will be an important foundation to the partnerships that I will be involved on a daily basis during my service. I am eager to get out into my community and learn as much as I can about the citizens, their lifestyle and needs. Being friendly and well acquainted with the community will help assure trust, harboring a good environment for teaching and training.

I know that this new setting will be extremely different from any situation that I have ever been in; therefore I am enthusiastic to utilize the expertise of my Senegal counterparts in order to find my way in carrying out my duties. Though my job title now states that I will be a “preventive public health educator,” I do not expect to be the only one acting as the ‘teacher.’ I realize that early on, a great determining factor of my success will be assuming the role of a student and learning as much as I can from my partners. I understand and expect that these relationships will work in both directions, with each of us learning and taking from one another in order to create the greatest benefit for the community. Good communication, problem solving, and abstract thinking skills will be some of the most important tools in effectively working with my future partners in Senegal.

C: Adjusting to the new culture and living in Senegal will be more challenging than anything I have ever encountered. I hope to be open to trying as many different experiences, foods, and customs as possible. Being shy and reluctant to trying these new aspects of life would be the biggest mistake possible. My one regret from studying abroad in Paris was spending much of my time with other American students. Looking back, I know that I could have accomplished and experienced much more if I had just reached out and spent more time within the local community.

While experiencing the new culture in Senegal, I am certain there will be times when I will become homesick and miss the comforts and ways of life in the United States. I think that a good way to get through such periods would be to share my past and my United States background with my host family, partners and new friends in the Senegalese community. Telling stories of what I did growing up and attending school in the United States will help comfort me while sharing American customs and ways of life with my community.

Additionally, I know that there will be an excellent network of Peace Corps staff and volunteers (including some that have been there longer), who I can ask for advice or even just for camaraderie. Developing good friendships with other volunteers in my class will be helpful since we will all be experiencing the same cultural integration from similar backgrounds. On a similar note, I will keep an updated web blog about my activities while in the Peace Corps. That will help to keep me connected with friends and family; helping to ease me into my new everyday life in Senegal.

D: While volunteering in Senegal, I hope to learn many skills and experience many positive life-changing events. Though I have little experience teaching to groups, my service over the next two years will enable me to become a strong leader and educator no matter how difficult or unique the situation is. I hope that my pre-service training will afford me with many new techniques and methods for working with community outreach and public health awareness.

In addition to the pre-service training for preventive public health education, I expect that the difference in cultures will help me develop my sense of patience. To my understanding, life in the United States is far more fast-paced and materialistic than it is in Senegal. I am looking forward to gaining an appreciation for a different lifestyle and learning how to work with a community that operates differently than the one I am apart of in the U.S. This integration will begin during pre-service training and living there with a homestay. I expect that these initial experiences will prepare me for the following two-years working in my future community.

More so, I understand one of the biggest components of the pre-service training is learning the languages of the region. It has been over a year since my last French course and I am extremely excited to study it again. I feel that I have a very solid French foundation and I am eager to see my progress during the first three months. In addition to French training, I also expect to learn a native Senegalese language. One major aspect I took from learning French was the concept of how languages are constructed and how piecing together a new one works (this was never apparent to me when English was the only language I knew). I am thrilled to learn whichever new language this one will be and I fully anticipate and hope for a rigorous language schedule during the pre-service training.

E: Currently, my main goal for after my Peace Corps service is to attend medical school and become a doctor. I am still unsure of the field of medicine I want pursue, but I do know that I want to help others; I feel that health and medicine is the best and most interesting way to do so. I know I can gain a lot from my Peace Corps experience and it will benefit me for the rest of my life. Since the career that I want to pursue is about working with and helping other people, I cannot imagine a better preparation than the Peace Corps. I think that my time in Senegal will expose me to many unexpected challenges and tasks that will help shape me into a stronger willed person; preparing me for the unknowns that I will encounter in the field of medicine. The experiences that I will likely have and the techniques I will learn from my service will be indispensable for my future career as a doctor.

I hope that my experience in the Peace Corps will open many opportunities not available to others, such as preparing me for possibly working with groups like Medecins Sans Frontiers. I believe that the Peace Corps will inspire me to continue a life of service abroad in countries where people need help the most. I expect to make the most of my Peace Corps experience because it will only inspire me to work harder for myself and others in the future.