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MAY 6, 2004 - Page 20 SENIOR TRIBUTE Senior takes.on the Peace Corps, HIV epidemic gry pack of wolves. Meredith has been cho- But she's ready to show these ASHLEY HOOVER Meredith herself didn't sen to be the Community say that they were in Africa COPY DESK CHIEF feel ready for that just yet. Health Advisor for HIV due naysayers what she can do. helping with the HIV Oprob- She has set out to do her lem. It's exciting to know that Then, one day while having to her current experience part in changing the world. I'H be helping to make a Senior Tara Meredith will lunch with a friend of her with HIV counseling while "Not' many people can be ditching the college "jeans mother this January, the topic interning for Maryland's Cor- change." and t-shirt" uniform soon. The of what to do after gradua- rectional Institutions. work culture demands women tion came up in conversation. Malawi has one of the wear long skirts - something to "She was offering sug- highest HIV I AIDS infection get used to. No, she isn't enter- gestions, and the idea of the rates in the world. ing into the business world of Peace Corps was mentioned. More than one million nine-to-five jobs. At first, I was thinking, 'No Malawians are infected with The culture that Meredith way.' I'd never really been HIV I AIDS, with an esti- will be immersing herself into out of the country before, ex- mated infection rate of 30 per- for 27 months following gradu- cept to Cancun on Spring cent among urban adults be- ation demands that women Break," said Meredith with a tween the ages of 14 and 45. wear long skirts. Meredith has laugh. The Peace Corps has es- been accepted into the United But she didn't com- tablished itself there in order States Peace Corps and will be pletely reject the idea. There to educate the Malawians stationed in Malawi, located in seemed to be many perks to about H1V and AIDS. And southern Africa working for the Peace Corps, soon, Tara Meredith will be- "I'm expecting this to be said Meredith. They were come a part of this. a learning experience .: I'm an willing to defer loans and pay She will be limited to 80 only child, so this will be tough for graduate school, as well pounds of luggage for 27 on my mom, but Ithink I'll get as help volunteers get a fed- months. Her first three a lot out of it," she said. eral job without entering into months will be spent living Meredith is, in a sense, the the competitiveness that ap- with <;I. host family to intro- typical college senior. A plying for a federal position duce her to the culture and to friendly, all-American sorority usually entails. help her learn the language. girl with a social work major She applied, and the After that, says Meredith en-' with a minor in psychology, whirlwind continued as she thusiastically, "I'll have my Meredith was fretting about was soon called in for an in- own mud hut!" what to do following gradua- terview, and, within a month, At first, when she told tion this May. was accepted into the Peace people, they didn't believe The students thrusting Corps. her. They didn't think that themselves into the job market Her post, Malawi, is a this college girl could make SeniorTaraMeredithhasbeenacceptedintotheUnitedStatesPeaceCorps these days are akin to dangling newly established democracy it without the comforts of and wilJ bestationedinMalawi,locatedinsouthernAfrica a leg of lamb in front of a hu~- in southern Africa. home in the wiles of Africa. A love of the written word On the margin of It was only this past perience JEFF CABINESS year in which Yates added In fact, Yates has been French identity STAFF WRITER her Theater minor. so pleased with her experi- In fact, the theater has ence on the stage that she will provided her with one of her be working at the Theater on BAYLEY FANNIN If McDaniel prides itself STAFF WRITER Henriette, in charge of the study on individualizing the experi- most memorable college ex- the Hill this summer. abroad program. periences when she partici- ence of each student, then se- pated in this past year's pro- As for her post Senior Libby' Wallace Wallacesaid that majoring nior Courtney Yates has taken duction of McDaniel life, Yates hopes to wanted to teach, but she in French encouraged her to not full advantage of that offer. Choices. "No matter pursue a career in film and needed a major to go hand-in- only learn another language, but Over the course of her television writing, a subject hand with her education mi- also learn about another culture four years on campus, she has ~hat show Iperform, Iknow she fOl_lndshe enjoyed after nor. Studying French in high at the same time. vertically integrated her major I will never get the reaction I taking Dr. Robert Sapara's school and wanting to continue Wallacestudied abroad in got with Choices," said Yates. in English with three additional "It was a very gratifying ex- Scriptwriting course. it in college there was never a spring of 2002at the Unlversite minors: Writing, Women's question what major she De Bourgogne, in Dijon, France. studies, and Theater. would choose For Wallacethe experience was As a freshman, Yates en- Wallacejuggled not only bitter sweet. Although she tertained the idea of becoming excelling in her major, but also gained confidence in speaking a music teacher but found edu- completing one of the largest the language and met peers cation courses were not some- credit minors injust four years. from Japan, Korea, and China, thing she enjoyed. Forher senior capstone project the experience removed her It wasn't long before she Wallace translated' a 50-page from her family and friends, found her niche in the English collection of poems and essays which was a challenge. Department due in part to her entitled Ces voix qui "T don't think I would feel love of writing. Within the En- m'cesiegent=en marge de Ina that I truly became fluent in glish Department, Yates credits [mncophonie (These. Voices that French without that experience." Dr. Becky Carpenter's Virginia Besiege Me:_On the Margill of It was great to be able, during Woolf and Margaret Atwood My Francophone Idelltity) by the my time there, to go out to do course with provoking her in- French writer Assia Djebar. something and to know that I terest in Women's Studies. These writings discuss the tri- could handle the French." Says , This fall Yates completed als and tribulations of an Alge- wallace." her Senior Seminar, which she rian woman writing in French. Wallace is currently en- described as, "the most all con- Wallace enjoyed the rolled in an off-campus suming experience of college." small size of the French De- pracricum and wants to pursue The topic of her paper partment. Two of her most a te~ching career after graduat- was The Girls of Narnia: Con- memorable professors are ing tn May flicts between Religion and CourtneyYates(right)andChrisAssmgenjoy"CowboyKoolaid"inthe Martine Motard-Noar, the Gender in C.S. Lewis' works. quadduringSpringFling. department chair, and Colette Congratulations to Jessica Watson and the 2003-2004Contrast Literary Magazine Staff for a job well done on TheAwakening