Lacey Dean ’11 is heading back to Dakar, where she studied abroad, for another stint of humanitarian outreach. She shared her thoughts with KCNR 1460 AM Radio in Redding, Calif.
In Dakar, Senegal, Dean lived with a host family, volunteered at two orphanages, spoke French and began learning the Wolof language. Once summer ends she’ll return, to work and volunteer for at least a year.
“I only have one life to live so it’s important not to allow these opportunities to pass me by,” Dean says.
“My Linfield education taught me to ask questions and to respect differences. As a sociologist, my goal is to understand human beings, to know why we do what we do, where our suffering and happiness comes from. Wherever my home is, there is need. I want to understand and help my community.”
Graduate’s study abroad experience shapes career plans
Dean is quoted in an Oregonian guest column by Linfield Professor Robert Gardner:
“It only takes one person to start a ripple of change. Neither I, nor anyone else, can really grasp or fix every social problem, but we can start using our resources and our beautiful human ability to create connections and to find the small solutions that will create the big solution.”
