2008 Woodie Awards
Senior heading to Africa
By: Joe Nevills
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: News
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But Lansing senior Shannon R. Brown took the slogan and is running with it all the way to Africa.
After she graduates, Brown will prepare for the next phase of her life as a member of the Peace Corps.
"I graduate in December and I didn't have a really concrete plan as to what I was going to do and then Peace Corps just kind of came up and answered all those questions for me," she said.
Starting in June, Brown will spend two years in a yet-to-be-assigned French-speaking nation in northwest Africa - likely Senegal. She is waiting for a village to send an invitation.
Brown's initial time there will be spent figuring out the needs of her new village. From there, she will help meet those needs or she will be put under the supervision of locals already working on projects.
"You really don't know exactly what you are going to do until you get there," she said.
Brown has traveled abroad in the past, visiting Honduras and Italy.
However, she said her grandfather is the biggest influence in her decision. He spent three months in Kenya on a mission trip in the 1970s.
"I just always thought that was really cool," she said. "We had carvings and tapestries hanging around our house and it was just like 'oh, that is so cool.'"
Though she is thinking ahead to her time in Africa, Brown still has plenty of work left to do at home.
"They (Peace Corps) sent me a contract saying that I would learn French," Brown said. "I'm working on it."
Brown has hired a tutor and plans on taking a French class in the spring.
While the language gave her some anxiety, safety was not a top concern for Brown.
"My main concern when I first found out where I was going was availability of shampoo," she said. "We figured it out that I'll just have my mom send me stuff in bulk if I need it. My concerns are trivial."
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