{"id":44094,"date":"2014-10-26T10:13:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-26T15:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=44094"},"modified":"2014-10-24T13:52:30","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T18:52:30","slug":"ole-miss-alumna-to-begin-peace-corps-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/ole-miss-alumna-to-begin-peace-corps-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss Alumna to Begin Peace Corps Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

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OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 A 2014 graduate of the University of Mississippi has been accepted into the\u00a0<\/span>Peace Corps<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and is set to depart for Albania in March.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jessica Williams, 22, will be the fourth Ole Miss alumnus currently serving in the Peace Corps. Since 1961, more than 125 Ole Miss students have served in the Peace Corps.<\/span><\/p>\n

“This experience means freedom for me,” Williams said. “This past summer, I was in a car accident and fractured my spine. I got my invitation to the Peace Corps during my recovery and was discouraged because I did not know if I would be able to serve with my back being the way that it was. I am close to a 100 percent recovery and I know I will be free to serve in the Peace Corps, which I am very grateful for.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A South Carolina native, Williams spent most of her life in California. Her mother was in the U.S. Navy and eventually was relocated to Gulfport.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I decided to follow her and come to Ole Miss, the only school I had really heard of in Mississippi,” Williams said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams graduated from UM\u00a0with a degree in religion. She knew she did not want to attend graduate school right after college, so she decided to look into the Peace Corps.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I knew I wanted to work. The Peace Corps is definitely a job,” Williams said. “What drew me in were the benefits, mainly being able to see the world and serve and work in a country other than the U.S.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams will begin her pre-service training as a secondary English education volunteer. She will live with a host family in Albania for the first three months of her service to become familiar with the country’s language and culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams is scheduled to teach English to middle or high school students for two years in Albania.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Peace Corps website, “Volunteers return from service as global citizens well-positioned for professional opportunities in today’s global job market. There are currently 78 volunteers in Albania working in the areas of health, community economic development and English education. During their service in Albania, volunteers learn to speak Albanian. More than 560 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Albania since the program was established in 1992.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams’ plans for the future go beyond the Peace Corps. She would like to continue to teach middle or high school students after her time with in Albania ends.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There is a program called Teacher’s College at Columbia University in which returned Peace Corps volunteers can complete graduate school while teaching full time,” Williams said. “It would allow me to do something I have experience with and get a master’s degree. After that, I would not mind being a counselor at a middle or high school. I would also want to incorporate my love of writing somewhere in there.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 A 2014 graduate of the University of Mississippi has been accepted into the\u00a0Peace Corps\u00a0and is set to depart for Albania in March. Jessica Williams, 22, will be the fourth Ole Miss alumnus currently serving in the Peace Corps. Since 1961, more than 125 Ole Miss students have served in the Peace Corps.Read the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[899],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nOle Miss Alumna to Begin Peace Corps Service - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ole-miss-alumna-to-begin-peace-corps-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ole Miss Alumna to Begin Peace Corps Service - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 A 2014 graduate of the University of Mississippi has been accepted into the\u00a0Peace Corps\u00a0and is set to depart for Albania in March. Jessica Williams, 22, will be the fourth Ole Miss alumnus currently serving in the Peace Corps. 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