Former Barista Maggie Jarry's Expedition for Change Essay

I am deeply committed to changing the world, but I believe to change the world you must change yourself.  The quote from Margaret Mead highlighted on the Starbucks website is one that hung in my bedroom for many years and was the center point for my essay applying for a graduate degree in Nonprofit Management, which I completed this January 2007.

I want to go to Costa Rica because I want to learn more about the environment and sustainable agriculture.  In my fulltime work I am Director of Disaster Recovery for New York Disaster Interfaith Services.  Through this work I coordinate long-term recovery programs for 9/11 victims throughout the US and the world.  In my volunteer time I work with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill to create a national network and movement for daughters and sons of people with psychiatric disabilities.  This volunteer work has led me to partnerships with mental health practitioners in Australia and the UK.  I also volunteer whenever possible for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services to help build understanding in the US for immigrants and refugees.

But my work does not teach me about the environment and this is an area that I think I need to grow and learn. 

Your brochure for this program hit me on a personal level too.  Last year I bought a ticket to travel to Costa Rica in order to learn more about the communities there, as I had friends living there for a year.  I had to change my flight plans to visit my grandmother who was in a hospital and later died.  After that I decided to try to save money again to attempt a trip to Costa Rica, but, it’s hard to imagine, my mother died three months after my grandmother.  I am just now emerging from their deaths in November of 2006 and January of 2007.  I saw this brochure and thought that perhaps I should not give up on the hope of visiting Costa Rica to better understand the economics and culture of the area.  I would welcome this opportunity to grow.