Originally from Maryland, I ventured down to Tampa, FL in 2013 to start my freshman year at the University of Tampa.  With a sincere desire to learn and grow, I originally majored in medical sciences. As I matured though my freshman year I quickly realized that my passion and ultimate path lied in the field of communication, journalism, and film/media studies. Since then I've interned with three amazing companies and learned so much along the way. In 2015, I decided it was time to get out of the country and start exploring. I stumbled upon the International Volunteer HeadQuarters and got ready to head to Napoli, Italy to teach english and care for children in low-income areas. After my small taste of international volunteering I developed a hunger for seeing new places. In January of 2016 I embarked on a journey around the world with Semester at Sea. For four months I traveled on a ship around Asia and Africa learning communication studies and volunteering with local agencies. Seeing the world allowed me to grow a passion for non profit organizations; I strive to integrate my passion for communications and digital marketing into a humanitarian focus. 

International Volunteer HeadQuarters gave me my first taste of volunteering with new people in a new place. My first experience was teaching English in an inner city elementary school in Naples, Italy. I didn't speak the language, yet I was communicating and teaching perfectly fine. With limited translation, pointing, and a lot of laughing I found that I could make a lasting connection with a child. I may have only taught the basics of English to these little Italian students, but more importantly I showed them a world outside of their own. These inner city children don't know about traveling yet or getting out of their own little world. Napoli doesn't get very much tourism so I was the first foreign influence majority of the children had encountered. By showing them a little bit of America and my culture, I was introducing them to a world that they could one day go to and visit if they worked and studied hard. 

Working with IVHQ gave me the passion of volunteering abroad, especially with children. With Semester At Sea I spent time in two orphanages in Myanmar. There, the visits were short but sweet. I would go in to each orphanage to spend time making crafts, playing sports, and doing other activities with children from a place so different then my own background. Even though Myanmar, Italy, and America are totally different places, the children from each background enjoyed the same things: soccer, making bracelets, and having fun. Spending just a few days with these children in Myanmar taught me so much about the simplicity of happiness. 

When the ship came into Ghana, West Africa I was ready for my next volunteer opportunity. I had the chance to work with the City of Refuge Ministries. CORM was started by a couple that rescues children from the child slavery and human trafficking industry in the poor fishing villages of Ghana. The couple houses these children as well as women from the villages. These women are taught a trade, given an opportunity to use that trade in the job market, and taught English. While the women are living at CORM, the organization teaches them the signs of child trafficking and how to stop it, so once they graduate from the program they can go back to their village to educate others. CORM is also home to a private school that the rescued children attend in addition to the children from the surrounding area. This school has one of the highest overall test scores in Ghana. While I had the pleasure of staying with the amazing people of CORM, I was responsible for painting dorms, teaching a class, and doing handywork around CORM. My favorite part was playing with the children. They brought such happiness and passion in whatever room they walked in. Every single child was sincerely happy, which taught me the most important lesson I could pass on: happiness comes from the energy you carry, not the circumstances around you. 

For four months I traveled from California to Asia, to Africa, and then finished my journey in the United Kingdom all on a boat while taking classes. I learned from and lived alongside the best professors from the most prestigious schools. Semester at Sea gave me connections all around the world and the skills to put those connections to use. I now know that the world is much smaller than we think and people from across the globe are just like me. Semester at Sea gave me the world.