USAC Chiang Mai alumna turned her volunteer spirit into a career move
Growing up, Arina Xiong often heard stories about her Hmong roots from her parents. She is a descendant of an ethnic group in the hill tribes of Thailand. According to a report from Peace Corps, her family immigrated to the United States in the 1990s, where she grew up.
By 2013, Arina was taking classes at California State University, Chico. Still curious about her lineage, she learned about study abroad opportunities and the chance to continue taking classes and see Thailand for herself. She enrolled in a study abroad program through University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC) to go to Chiang Mai.
“I learned more about my culture through a course on the different hill tribes in Thailand,” Arina said. “The course included an overnight homestay at a Hmong village where I was able to connect with people who shared my background and spoke the same language, but were from a different part of the world.”
Her USAC study abroad program sparked a passion for learning about new cultures, building relationships with diverse communities, and seeking ways to help people with their struggles. The Peace Corps is an American government agency and program that is perfectly suited for global citizens like Arina. It works with leaders from more than 60 countries to offer volunteers to help with everything from teaching and training, water sanitation and food insecurity, sustainability projects and healthcare — and much more.
Having study abroad experience on your resume dramatically improves the quality of your Peace Corps application. Getting into a volunteer position is a competitive process, and it could also lead to partial or complete deferment of student loan payments. Arina is currently teaching English to Armenian high school students and has more goals in mind for the future.
To read more of Arina’s story and how the Peace Corps works, read her article on peacecorps.gov.
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