Tomorrow - yes, tomorrow! - MPI Nicaragua welcomes our 2007-2008 Program Directors (PDs). They
come
from four states, two countries, four universities, and include all-star students and campus leaders.
- and -
...this stellar team is still accepting applications. For more details, email Lori.
The 2007-2008 MPI Nicaragua team
Marcela Camargo
Marcela Camargo grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil and moved to the US at ten years old. She spent her middle school
and high school years soaking up the sun in Boca Raton, Florida. To get a true taste of the South, she ventured up to Vanderbilt where she
double-majored in economics and political science. She was an active member of Alternative Spring Break, Alternative Winter Break, and Dance
Marathon. Marcela learned about Manna at the beginning of her senior year and hopes to strengthen the microfinance and art programs in Nicaragua.
She's also interested in coordinating the spring break and summer volunteer trips. Down the road, she's aiming at an MBA with a focus on
international business and/or nonprofit management. She's ready to embrace all the adventures that come her way!
Matthew Crozier
matthew@mannaproject.org
Born in Temple, Texas, Matthew Walker Crozier
grew up for the most part in Austin. At
Vanderbilt he double-majored in Spanish and
Neuroscience. Matthew chose MPI because he wanted the opportunity to do
something he would never get the chance to do again once he begins a
career. Driven by a personal desire to to dedicate his time, talents, and treasures, Matthew
will focus on
health care, teaching English and coaching
sports. After a year in Nicaragua, he hopes to go on to medical school.
Erin Duncan
erin@mannaproject.org
Despite her blond curly hair, Erin actually thinks she's Latina. After studying in the Dominican Republic, she returned to Vanderbilt singing Daddy
Yankee songs and teaching everyone around her the merengue. The Manna Vanderbilt folks invited her to join their cool-kids club, and when they
graduated
she flawlessly balanced her classes in Spanish and Medicine, Health and Society with her new duties as MPI-Vanderbilt president. Now she just can't
seem to kick the Manna bug. Erin looks forward to working on public health issues in Cedro Galan and la Chureca before returning to the States for
medical school in 2008.
Tessa Kramer from Denver, Colorado, just graced the graduation stage and moved the tassel from left to right
(or was it right to left?) to receive her Bachelors in Psychology from
the University of Colorado at Boulder. Having already spent
several spring breaks providing medical services in Quito, Ecuador, she came across the blog of childhood piano partner and 2006-2007 Nica Program
Director Abbie Foust. Tessa cannot wait to be speaking Spanish,
hearing 'mango rains', teaching music and exercise, and becoming part
of a new community in a new and beautiful land.
After
Nica, she hopes to attend school to receive a graduate PhD or PsyD degree
in psychology and work as a psychotherapist with a focus
women's health or mental health care on
college campuses.
In the meantime, Nicaragua better get ready - she'll be the anxious blond with the ear to ear grin and the
itsy-bitsy-teeny-weenie yellow polka dot bikini!
Julie Mills of Sugar Land, Texas graduated from the University of Texas with a marketing degree. She spent most of her four years in Austin posing as
an anthropology major and tutoring at the Salvation Army learning center (losing at checkers to five-year olds). Her friends at Vanderbilt
introduced her to Manna, and she claims it was love at first mission-statement-sight. So she's packing her bug juice and hoping to help out with the
microfinance, after-school tutoring, and women's health programs in Cedro Galan. Julie won't speculate too much on her post-Nicaragua plans, but her
options range from asset management to youth ministry to perfecting her quiche-making skills.
Geoff Stetson graduated from Brown University with a major in biology. He spent the 2005 summer in the
Dominican Republic incorporating the local dances of the merengue and the bachata into his already expansive dance repertoire. While there, Geoff met
another American and future Nica PD, Erin Duncan. Erin had a similar thirst for the dance floor, and their friendship blossomed immediately.
During their summer together Erin mentioned Nicaragua and Manna Project a few times (approximately every half hour), and Geoff decided to pursue this
opportunity. While in Nicaragua, Geoff plans to use his biology background to help out in the health care endeavors of Manna, while improving his
footwork by playing soccer with the local children. After Nicaragua, Geoff will attend medical school, unless "Lord of the Dance" comes looking for
Michael Flatley's understudy.
Hailing from Sugar Land, Texas, Dane Eric Thorwaldson trudged out into the unknown when he left Texas for the
Volunteer State. It was a rough adjustment for him to leave the comforts of Sugar Land and enter a world full of
classes made up of co-eds and the occasional football player (Dane majored in Human & Organizational Development). After taking to the high
seas
for 3 months in 2006 and returning a changed man with a new view of the world, Dane knew that Manna Project International was his next step. He
plans to work with the sports programs in Nicaragua, along with teaching classes and anything else he can get his hands on. Eventually, Dane
will return to graduate school in Human Resource Development, because he sometimes misses football players.
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