Brooke Finn K'78 (Central African Republic, 1980-83)
When Kirkland College shut its doors in 1978, Brooke Finn had just graduated. The decision to fold the institution into Hamilton, and for Hamilton to go coed, had come during the spring of her junior year, when she was off campus studying at a United Nations-focused program run by Drew University. "Because I was away when the decision to go coed was made," she remembers, "I missed the immediate shock."
Finn had been interested in the Peace Corps for some time, but she credits Kirkland and its atmosphere of personal empowerment with reinforcing her decision to volunteer. "Kirkland encouraged a willingness to take risks and not follow the conventional path," she says. "Part of the environment was being respectful of individualism and supporting people in pursuing their own goals and directions." That encouraged her to see the Peace Corps as a genuine career step, "as opposed to a 'checking out' kind of thing. It was an intentional choice, and Kirkland created the environment where it was a legitimate choice, too."
Finn points to the flexible curriculum and the alternative approach to education as hallmarks of her college experience. But she was also highly directed in her academic pursuits: Though it was not her major, she spent a good bit of time studying French, knowing it would be a useful skill if she ever traveled to Francophone Africa.
She also recalls Channing Richardson, Hamilton professor of international affairs emeritus, under whom she studied as an American studies major. "He and his wife [Comfort Richardson, assistant professor of physical education emerita] had done relief work in Chad and told some colorful stories about their experiences there. I'm sure they influenced me, too."
Before taking the plunge, Finn headed to Georgetown for a master's degree in foreign service. "Part of me was afraid that if I went into the Peace Corps immediately I might never go to graduate school," she admits. She earned her degree in 1980 and then submitted her Peace Corps application.
Finn was posted in the village of Boguila in the northwestern part of the Central African Republic, where she worked as a primary school health educator. She and a local counterpart taught lessons in sanitation, health and nutrition, largely for other teachers. The pastor of the village church owned a retirement home — "a top-of-the-line mud-brick house" with neither water nor electricity — which he rented to Finn. Her many neighbors and their children were a constant source of entertainment and companionship.
"The CAR was a great place to be a Peace Corps volunteer, because anything you did was appreciated, since they hardly got any support from the government," she says.
Finn even extended her service for a third year, moving into the capital and serving as a liaison to a teacher-training school. "It was rewarding," she says of the change, "because I could have some impact at the system level."
Her supervisors then nominated her to become a Peace Corps fellow, an honor given to volunteers the agency identifies as strong candidates for future staff positions. She spent a year at PC headquarters in Washington, D.C., before heading to the Philippines to take on the role of associate Peace Corps director. She continued her international efforts, working with the Fulbright Exchange Program, before switching her focus to domestic community development, the heart of her work with the Boston-based nonprofit NeighborWorks America.
"The community dynamics in a village in Africa and a neighborhood in Boston are different, but the basic principles of helping people determine their goals and aspirations are the same," Finn says. "I've learned not to leap to conclusions or make assumptions about what's influencing a person's point of view. This is a talent I attribute to having been a Peace Corps volunteer."
