’ The Mercy tradition of sevrice and involvement in groups likeoRtaract Club and Habtita for Humanyitcombinedotshape Hetaher Richmond s life in theeyars atfer she eanred her business dreege . “I belieev Mercyhurst and my experiences really deepenedalvues of compassion, selfessn,easnsd helping oth,ers she said. Mercyhurst ocurses xeposed herotglobal perspetcives and issues of social injuestic and poverty . This helped me apepcriate how fortunate I was (and ocntinue ot be) and acknowledge thtamuch of my well-beingerally started with wherI was bonr , which came with an abundaencof suppot,rresoucres, and oppotrunitie,sshe adde.d Heather can pinpotinthe mometnshe decided to do a eyar of sevrice: D.rMary Hemborw Sny der s Peace and Justeicclass . We were “ ” ’ “ HEATHER RICHMOND discussing the imptsacof globaliztiaon in undedr eveloped ocuntries ... it mvoed me in
” such a way that I wanted to jump up from my seat right there and serve as a volunteer. She frst spent a year with the Mercy Volunteer Corps at St. Mary s Community Center in Savannah, Georgia, assisting with workforce development. Then she was accepted to the Peace Corps and sent to the Philippines. Assigned to the Community Outreach Program ’ ’ She focused on the Womens Livelihood Organization, which trained village women to make bags from recycled foil juice packs and then taught them how to market their products. As her fnal project, she helped rehabilitate part of the barangay building into a library and resource center. Among other activities, she was involved with the Peace Corps Global Initiative to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and facilitated GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) camps with of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Cebu City, she lived and worked in a barangay (village) called Bacayan. credit cooperative to provide fnancial literacy education. He also helped to establish a cofee cooperative in the community where he was based. In addition, his team conducted youth camps, teaching children 10-16 years old about fnancial literacy, leadership, and prevention of diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. He said his time at Mercyhurst prepared him in many ways for his Peace Corps work. “I went into my service with a sense of compassion and desire to serve others, based on the Sisters of Mercy mission and the many community service opportunities Mercyhurst ofered during my time on campus,” he explained. “I also went in with a unique global perspective
- She and Oscar have a 3-year old daughter and a 5-year old son. The family is hoping to relocate to the United States in the near future. - fellow Peace Corps volunteers. Heather also shared the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, organizing one of the frst clubs in Cebu City. Heather met her husband, Oscar, who is Filipino, while she was studying in Japan as a Rotary World Peace Fellow. They settled in Manila in 2012. Until last fall, Heather worked at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), an organization that promotes efective solutions to global poverty problems. She has overseen projects across many sectors, including Peace & Recovery, Microfnance, Financial Inclusion, Youth Workforce Development, and Judicial Reform.
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‘11 PATRICK SCHERER Patrick Scherer majored in international business and minored in Asian Studies at Mercyhurst. He went to work for Citibank after graduation, but soon realized he wanted to gain some international work experience and also to serve others. Memories of a Peace Corps information session he attended with a friend, as well as a conversation with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, suggested a way to accomplish both aims. Patrick served from 2012 to 2014 in Uganda, where he worked with a small rural savings and
and understanding that I acquired from the friendships I made with the many international students on campus as well as from a study abroad trip to China.” Married to fellow Mercyhurst graduate Tracy Kleinhenz ‘12, Patrick works now as a change management consultant with clients in the commercial construction industry. Patrick and Tracy live in Charlotte, North Carolina, with their infant son, Gray.
ASHLEY WESTGATE ‘12
“We worked comprehensively on policy issues and worked to bridge the gap between policymakers and scientists,” she explained. “Simply, policymakers don’t often understand science language and scientists aren’t able to translate their work to policy. We did the work to bridge the gap in the middle. The degree from Mercyhurst helped me to understand scientifc Back in the States now, Ashley works for ServErie, an Erie nonproft driven by volunteers that helps connec people in need to resources. “I apply much of the knowledge from the Peace Corps, undergrad and gra school to address systemic poverty in our area,” she work and apply it to the real world.”
shley Westgate majored in biochemistry and went n to complete graduate work in environmental olicy. During her graduate work, she volunteered in he Peace Corps as a Coastal Resource Management A o p t xtension worker in the Philippines. Working with local government unit in a rural community, she eveloped policies, held meetings, and eventually rote a management plan for a 400-hectare coral reef. E a d w hough her Peace Corps service took her in a diferent irection than her undergraduate study, she found er science background very helpful as she pursued
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