The French Cultural Studies Colloquium at Hope will feature a presentation on "Life after Hope" by 2007 graduate Margaret Fylstra, who recently completed service with the Peace Corps, on Monday, April 4, at 4 p.m. in the Maas Center conference room.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Fylstra graduated from Hope with a degree in management and French. For three months after graduation, she interned at the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) in Chicago, Ill., performing market research for the organization's study-abroad programs.
In September of 2007, she joined the Peace Corps and served for three and a half years in Senegal, West Africa. For the first two years of service, she was assigned to be a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer, teaching business-management skills to local entrepreneurs. Her supplemental projects included working with local artisans, helping middle school girls obtain scholarship money, and assisting with agriculture seed extension in local villages. After her two-year Peace Corps service was complete, she extended her stay for another year and a half to work in the Dakar, Senegal office headquarters, assisting the Small Enterprise Development program and supervising trainees, volunteer site placement, and program research.
After completing her service in January of this year, Fylstra traveled in West Africa and Europe before heading home. She now lives in the Chicago area and is hoping to find a career in the non-profit sector working in the international development programming field. She notes that she used to eat apple pie without the apples; but since her years in the Peace Corps, her tastes have changed and she now eats all parts of the pie, including the apples.
The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street.