After two years of waiting, Lindenwood public health alumna, Brenna Wojtysiak ‘21 left in August for a 27-month journey with the Peace Corps, where she will be serving in Ecuador in the public health sector.

After transferring to Lindenwood in 2017, Wojtysiak met the Missouri recruiter for the Peace Corps at the University’s career fair and from there, her journey began.

“I started looking at the job openings and I found one that interested me. I checked for the health sector and I checked for Spanish speaking countries, and I saw the job that I currently hold, Health and Wellbeing promoter,” Wojtysiak shared.

Wojtysiak was set to join the Peace Corps in 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Wojtysiak put her public health degree to use working as a community health worker helping Native Americans in Arizona.

“I helped provide resources or connect at risk families to their resources, and the families that were my clients were either pregnant mothers or mother of children that were less than two years old,” Wojtysiak said. “My experience there has really prepared me for Peace Corps and my public health degree really helped me.”

While she is in Ecuador, she will work to accomplish three overarching goals: promoting better physical activity, improving nutrition, and reducing sexually transmitted infection rates and rates of teen pregnancy.

She will receive a living allowance from the Peace Corps and will be living with a host family who will provide her with meals. She will also be living near other Peace Corps volunteers who are at the same Spanish speaking level as her and she is looking forward to building new relationships.

“The whole people aspect is definitely what I’m looking forward to most, learning another culture, that’s going be so cool. Being able to sit and have meals with my community and getting to know them,” Wojtysiak shared.

Thanks to her experiences at Lindenwood, Wojtysiak is making the world a better place with her service in the Peace Corps and embodies Lindenwood’s commitment to Real Experience. Real Success.