ANN ARBOR, MI –Lutheran Campus at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce that 2008 graduate Andrew Bracken will spend the next 27 months working in Community Development and Environmental Education as a Peace Corps Volunteer stationed in Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa.
A native of East Lansing, Michigan, Andrew earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a minor in the Program in the Environment from the University of Michigan. While in college, he joined Lord of Light Lutheran Church where he was active in Lutheran Campus Ministry, served as manager of the men's track team and Co-Chaired Outreach and Education for Michigan Students Advocating Recycling (MSTAR).
The desire to serve comes naturally to Andrew. “My parents encouraged volunteer work,” he says, “practicing what they preached by giving their time and talent to East Lansing Public Schools and to my home congregation, University Lutheran Church. When I got to Michigan I did some volunteer work and in 2006 I spent an incredible month in Ghana with the University of Michigan’s Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU).
“Our group of 12 students developed and implemented plastics recycling programs in Accra and Senya-Beraku. I consider it the best four weeks of my life, and the main reason I chose Peace Corps over the other options.”
When people ask why he’s chosen to go abroad when there is so much need in the U.S., Andrew responds, “Going to Ghana opened my eyes to the new realities. Seeing crippling poverty in person - not on TV or in pictures - hammers it home. I remember walking down an alley along a canal. Within 100 meters we saw people drinking the water, washing clothes in it, and defecating in it.
“I do not want to marginalize the problems faced by millions in the US, or exaggerate living conditions in the developing world, but I believe I can do the greatest good with my education overseas. In Power Politics Arundhati Roy put it aptly: "Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it."The following summer, Bracken served as an intern with Nike, which he describes as “an incredible place to work.” And yet, found the corporate world unfulfilling; that experience further convinced him that, “If I did not feel happy there, no traditional job could satisfy me.”
A native of East Lansing, Michigan, Andrew earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a minor in the Program in the Environment from the University of Michigan. While in college, he joined Lord of Light Lutheran Church where he was active in Lutheran Campus Ministry, served as manager of the men's track team and Co-Chaired Outreach and Education for Michigan Students Advocating Recycling (MSTAR).
The desire to serve comes naturally to Andrew. “My parents encouraged volunteer work,” he says, “practicing what they preached by giving their time and talent to East Lansing Public Schools and to my home congregation, University Lutheran Church. When I got to Michigan I did some volunteer work and in 2006 I spent an incredible month in Ghana with the University of Michigan’s Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU).
“Our group of 12 students developed and implemented plastics recycling programs in Accra and Senya-Beraku. I consider it the best four weeks of my life, and the main reason I chose Peace Corps over the other options.”
When people ask why he’s chosen to go abroad when there is so much need in the U.S., Andrew responds, “Going to Ghana opened my eyes to the new realities. Seeing crippling poverty in person - not on TV or in pictures - hammers it home. I remember walking down an alley along a canal. Within 100 meters we saw people drinking the water, washing clothes in it, and defecating in it.
“I do not want to marginalize the problems faced by millions in the US, or exaggerate living conditions in the developing world, but I believe I can do the greatest good with my education overseas. In Power Politics Arundhati Roy put it aptly: "Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it."The following summer, Bracken served as an intern with Nike, which he describes as “an incredible place to work.” And yet, found the corporate world unfulfilling; that experience further convinced him that, “If I did not feel happy there, no traditional job could satisfy me.”
You can keep up with Andrew's work in Cape Verde by logging onto his blog: Sunburned in Cape Verde (http://abrack6.blogspot.com/)
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