By By Jessica Moon

It wasn’t the corporate world of New York City or the classrooms of a prestigious graduate school that attracted two University students. It was the chance to volunteer and help build an AIDS and women’s education building in Larabanga, Ghana. For Saundra and Tom Bishop, who graduated in May, helping third world countries trumped all other goals.

Saundra Bishop’s interest in women’s literacy and reproductive health education in third world countries led her to find an organization that gave her and her husband an opportunity to get proactive. The Sungsim’s Women’s Organization not only provided schools and training programs for African women and girls to help raise their status in society, but allowed the Bishop’s to “join a group at the ground level,” Saundra said.

During their first trip to Ghana in the summer of 2004, the Bishops got a taste of the dangers in a poverty-stricken country when they contracted Malaria.

“Malaria felt kind of like a combination between a terrible case of mono and a horrible bout of the flu,” Bishop said. “I felt like I was dying. When I got to the hospital I collapsed. When I woke up I was in a wheel chair covered in spider webs. I am terrified of spiders, but I was too sick to even move.”

After being treated, the Bishop’s soon learned that malaria killed more people than AIDS did in a year. Upon return, Saundra wrote an Op-Ed piece for The Chronicle about raising malaria awareness. After Ezenwa Onwugbenu, a Nigerian student at the University, read the article, he and Anita Ellis, the assistant dean of students and director of Student Activities, along with Bishop, decided to organize a fundraiser at the University called “Malaria Awareness Week.” Together, they raised over $1,150 and purchased 150 mosquito nets. With mosquito nets and University students Karen DeMarco, Michael Denize and Teisha Mary, the Bishop’s set out to Ghana for the second time to help educate villagers on malaria.

Painting a malaria awareness mural and teaching malaria, AIDS and general health classes were just some of the projects the Bishops conducted.

“Tom, Michael, Teisha and I alternated working in the preschool,” Bishop said. “Karen did art with all the different ages of kids. Tom and Michael and I also did farm work to help the women.”

Bishop also organized outings to wild life parks and trips to different cities. In spite of the intense nature involved in raising malaria awareness, they culminated their project by organizing a party in the village, handing out the mosquito nets as prizes to those who could correctly answer malaria trivia questions.

Saundra and Tom Bishop, who are currently working on a project to help bring fresh water wells to a village called Shanga, have also joined the Peace Corps. Afterward, Bishop plans to obtain her master’s degree in public policy and a law degree in legislative advocacy. When asked about this generation’s perspective of life and the paths they should take in comparison to those of previous generations, Bishop said, “I think that it is a matter of more opportunities being provided to people and some of these people aren’t necessarily equipped to take them for whatever reason.”

This is just one of many stories of students putting time aside to help, experience or explore their options and passions before returning to graduate school or pursuing a career.

Student’s like Lisa Sever, a film production major, is taking time off for other reasons. Sever sees the time between undergraduate and graduate school ideal to volunteer, travel and spend time with family, before she is tied down to a career and bills.

“We’ve been in school for the last 16 years or so, and we’re going to be working for the next 40,” Sever said. “So to me it seems that this is a great time to travel and experience new things.”

For most students, however, it is graduate school that will help and equip them with the tools necessary to take and use the various opportunities provided. Teisha Mary, a junior at the University and one of the three volunteers to help the Bishop’s in Ghana, will not continue on the same path as the Bishop’s, at least not yet.

“I am anxious to get my doctoral degree and begin my life,” Mary said. “I have no desire to sit around and wait for my future to roll on without me.”

Mary, who described the experience in Ghana as life-altering, still plans on returning someday to start a program to help build a new library or school for children.

Nikneisha Hairston, an English and creative writing major, plans to attend law school upon graduating this semester.

“For as long as I could remember I wanted to be a lawyer,” she said. “So going to law school was an easy decision; like breathing.”

Since law schools do not allow mid-year entrance, Hairston will be taking some time off.

“Although this time off is not what I wanted, I think I will benefit from it,” Hairston said. “I can use the time to save money, rest up for that grueling freshman year and maybe get some real world work experience in a law firm.”

There has been no significant indication of an increasingly growing trend of students who take time off after graduating, Suzanne Dagger, associate director at the Career Center, said.

A survey from the Office of Institutional Research at the University revealed that approximately 80 to 85 percent of undergraduate students continue to pursue full-time work after receiving their bachelor’s degree. Dagger sees the students at the University as career driven.

“What is unique about the University is that a lot of students work full time while they are at school,” she said.

Dagger said there is a large focus on the business school at the University, which attributes to the pursuit for work after undergraduate careers.

The University provided information sessions on volunteer opportunities and joining the Peace Corps; approximately 15 to 20 students were interested. Unless there is a significant change, the Career Center does not find it necessary to reshape their program.

“We are always formulating what we offer based upon students needs and interests,” she said.

Whether it is trying to save the world one village at a time, or sticking to a routine nine-to-five job, every student’s career path is different.

“People should be prepared to graduate in four years from the University,” Wilkie said. “The fact that people take time off is their own decision. If the Career Center were to not encourage or prepare students for the real world, some people would never finish.”

The Bishop’s are shown here after a basketball game with boys from the village they stayed at during their visit. (Image Courtesy Saundra Bishop)