Kennedy Cassidy was born and raised in Central California. She served in Madagascar as a Community Health Advisor with Peace Corps Madagascar from 2023–2025. She will be pursuing her Master of Public Health in Global Health while working with the Choice Program at UMBC.

Kevin Messner is joining us from Phoenix, AZ. He served in the Peace Corps in Colombia where he was a Community Economic Development volunteer. He will be studying for a Master of Community Planning and serving with the Community Development Network of Maryland.

Sabrina Evans is joining us from San Diego, California. She served as a Health Education Teacher in Peace Corps Moldova. She will be pursuing a Master’s in Management of Aging Services at UMBC while partnering with the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services.

Simone Kendall is originally from Michigan but now calls Virginia home. She served as a Youth and Community Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Morocco. She will be pursuing her Masters of Public Health with a concentration in Global Health and serving with the Walden Community Center.

Oliver Sebastian Coleman is joining us from Ithaca, New York, but grew up in Tennessee and Mississippi. They served in the Peace Corps in Panama where they were a Youth Leadership Development volunteer. They will be studying for a Masters of Professional Studies in Community Leadership and serving with OCA Mocha as part of the Division of Student Affairs at UMBC. 

Josue Antonio is joining us from Santa Ana, California. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay, where he worked in community health and youth development, and later extended his service for a third year with Fundación Teletón. Josue will pursue a Master of Public Policy while serving with the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Christian Renato Jaramillo Villada is originally from Colombia, South America. He served as an English Literacy Resource Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Saint Lucia, Eastern Caribbean. He will pursue a Masters in Intercultural Communication while serving the South Baltimore Community Land Trust.

Kira Bergman recently finished her Peace Corps service in Albania working primarily as an English teacher. She is from the great state of Minnesota and will be pursuing my Masters of Social Work at UMB. She will be working at The Commodore John Rodgers Elementary-Middle School.

Katie Nagib is originally from Pennsylvania, but has lived all over the States including New Mexico, Montana, and Colorado. She served as an Agricultural Extension Agent in Peace Corps Ghana, from 2023-2025, helping improve sustainable food and water in her community. She will be working towards her Masters in Geography and Environmental Systems while partnering with Friends of Patterson Park as their Outreach Coordinator.

Emily DeMarinis grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania but have spent the last few years between Florida and Arizona. She recently concluded her Peace Corps service in Guyana, where she worked as a primary literacy promoter and developed girls’ leadership camps and clubs. At UMBC, Emily will be studying Public Policy and partnering with Baltimore City Hall to work on policy issues impacting District 1 residents.

Megan Hamilton returns to Baltimore, her long-time home, after almost a decade of international service that began as a community and organizational development volunteer with the Peace Corps in Shkodër, Albania. She served in Kingston, Jamaica and just left Mombasa, Kenya where she grew addiction recovery support. She is excited to be studying for a Masters of Professional Studies in Community Leadership while serving with Southwest Emergency Services (SWES) in Arbutus.

Eliss Mañon is joining us from Downtown Baltimore but is originally from New York City. She served in the Peace Corps in Peru where she was a youth development volunteer. Eliss will be studying for a Masters of Social Work and serving with The Choice Program at UMBC.

Keaton Green is coming directly from his Peace Corps service in Benin, West Africa as a Sustainability and Agriculture volunteer. Keaton is pursuing a Masters in Geography and Environmental Systems. His placement is with Healthy Neighborhoods Inc. where he’ll work on community development and outreach within the neighborhoods of Baltimore.

Colleen Coyle is joining us from Minneapolis, MN. She served as a Youth-in-Development volunteer with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. She will be pursuing her Masters of Social Work and  serving with the HIPPY program in Cherry Hill.

Kaylee Haskell is originally from Vermont but has spent the last 10 years in Central Florida. She recently completed her service as a response volunteer in South Africa, where she assisted high school students in the Northern Cape province as a Career Guidance Counselor. Prior to this, Kaylee served as an Agriculture Extension volunteer in Ghana (2020) and a Community Health volunteer in Maryland in partnership with FEMA during the pandemic (2021). As a Peaceworker Fellow, Kaylee will be working as a writing tutor at UMBC’s English Language Institute while working towards her MA in Intercultural Communication.

Akinyi Merab Victoria joins us as a global Peaceworker Fellow. She is a visionary African leader, visual artist, and social entrepreneur from Uganda, dedicated to community empowerment through the arts. She is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Streetlights Uganda, an NGO that uses visual arts as a tool for creating a better future for street-connected children. Through her work, Akinyi plays a crucial role in identifying, nurturing, and developing the talents and abilities of vulnerable children, providing them with the skills and opportunities needed to transform their lives. She will study for a Masters in Community Leadership at UMBC and work at the Center for Global Engagement to bring international delegations to UMBC, including the Young African Leaders Institute, which she participated in at UMBC in our inaugural year hosting the program in 2023.