Peace Corps

Here you can read some information about the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) involved in the benefit concert.

Sharon Heiny

Performing at Camp LEAD in Krivvy Rih, Ukraine with Samantha Kyrkostas

Sharon Heiny served in Peace Corps Ukraine as a University Instructor, teaching English as a foreign language.  She also introduced the sport of lacrosse to her community with an equipment grant from the European Lacrosse Federation.

As a musician and an active board member for the Northern California Peace Corps Association, Sharon felt a benefit concert was the perfect opportunity to marry two elements of her life in a way that could promote Peace Corps’ third goal: to help Americans understand the people and cultures of other countries.

 Socorra Camposanto

Jamming at Spring Camp 2011 with my dear friend Marouane.Socorra Camposanto

Socorra Camposanto served in Peace Corps Morocco (2010-2012), as a Community Based Environmental Educator. She was involved in several environmental projects with youth in her community and assisted fellow volunteers with their projects. As a musician, Socorra used music all over Morocco to communicate. Whether it was teaching a music class at a local English learning center or singing in small villages across the country, Socorra used  music to bridge cultures and spark discussions.

Socorra has been a volunteer at Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, and has seen the similarities between the camp’s message and messages that Peace Corps Volunteers work on with young women and girls in their communities: empowerment, confidence, strength, skill development, etc. Socorra lives by the idea that once a Peace Corps Volunteer, always a Peace Corps Volunteer. It’s an experience you never forget.

Laura Marshall

Laura is currently a fundraiser with United Way of the Bay Area and keeping the 3^rd goal of Peace Corps alive by volunteering regularly with NorCal PCA, helping put together Rebuilding Together volunteer events and participating in speaker panels. She taught English to high school students in a central Kazakhstani mining town form 2009-2011 and misses her family there regularly. While in Kazakhstan, she taught yoga to local women, worked extensively with girls around family planning and English language learning, empowering them to seek their potential. She is ecstatic to be involved with this NorCal girls empowerment project and shed light on how simple it can be to change a life by caring enough to give a little bit of your time and resource. Her favorite quote is by Anne Frank; “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” because it illustrates how we have the power together to make formidable change.

Michelle Kanda

Michelle is an RPCV from Ukraine, 2009- 2011, where she taught English in a village school and implemented a number of capacity building programs, such creating an English Language Resource Center and an annual English language conference for Ukrainian teachers of English. She also managed trainings on HIV/AIDS and Human Trafficking for community youth and developed curriculum for grant writing and project management courses. Currently, Michelle works for Habitat for Humanity Greater SF.

Athalia Markowitz

Athalia Markowitz is an RPCV from Guatemala, 2009- 2011, where she worked in a Women’s Office in a small Municipality in El Quiché.  Along with her primary project of working with women’s groups and increasing civic engagement, Athalia also taught dance classes for children after school, got a rural community a Small Project Assistance grant for improved water access, and participated in a weekly radio show ‘La Voz de las Mujeres.’  Athalia currently works for Net Impact and is a proud Big Sister to a little girl who most definitely rocks.

Lara McLaughlin

Lara McLaughlin served in Peace Corps Romania (2005-2007), as a Teaching English as a Foreign Language Volunteer. She was involved not only in teaching English to 5-8th grader; she also mentored teenage women in her community, taught English to adults, organized American Culture clubs, and attended three English camps throughout the country. Lara agrees with Socorra that “once a Peace Corps Volunteer, always a Peace Corps Volunteer.” In fact, it can honestly be said that Lara’s Peace Corps experience changed her life. When not volunteering, Lara continues to weave the lasting results of her Peace Corps experience into her life by continuing to teach English as a foreign/second language, practice her Romanian, learn new languages, and she also studies history and international affairs.

Lara is one of two East Bay Directors for the Northern California Peace Corps Association and has volunteered at several events, particularly those which provide outreach to the community and/or allow her to speak about her experience in the Peace Corps. Lara believes it is her goal to give back to the world as much as she can, particularly due to the experiences she gained in Peace Corps.

Aliyya Shelley Mattos

Aliyya Shelley Mattos (PC Guatemala 2008 – 2011) served as a Youth Development Volunteer in the Western Highlands of Guatemala and loved her service so much that she stayed on for a third year to spearhead the training of incoming volunteers. During her service she taught middle school life skills – how to communicate more effectively, improve self-esteem and reproductive health – and led department-wide trainings on HIV prevention with the Ministry of Education.  Aliyya has long been passionate about the rights of girls and women; she has worked to reduce sexual violence on the University of California, Berkeley campus, produced the first bilingual production of the “Vagina Monologues” starring indigenous women in Guatemala, volunteered as a domestic violence counselor and mentor in California and is committed to strengthening education in her current role of Executive Director of the PaperSeed Foundation.