On the surface, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Kenya and Texas have little in common. But in January, they will be linked when the four recipients of the Judith Oliver Brown Memorial Award pursue Field Periods in those locations.

The award honors Brown, a French major who spent her junior year as a Norton Scholar at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and conducted her senior year Field Period at the Lavin Perfume Co. in New York City. Brown, a 1963 Keuka graduate, died in 1986.

Supported by Brown’s family and the Class of ’63, the award is designed to assist students planning to pursue culturally oriented Field Periods. They must write essays outlining their Field Period plans, how the funds will facilitate those plans, and how the experience will benefit them, the site, and the community.

Katharine Alexandra “Allie” Walker, a freshman organizational communication major with concentrations in international business and Spanish, will travel to the Dominican Republic and learn what daily life is like for children attending Punta Cana International School in the Dominican Republic.

Walker traveled to the Dominican Republic previously, and has seen a need for assisting the people who call the island home.

“As a family, we have done a few things [for the residents], such as collecting and distributing needed supplies, but I want to do more,” said Walker.

To that end, she plans to establish an adopt-a-classroom program between third graders at St. Michael’s School in Penn Yan and fourth graders at Punta Cana.

Corrine Paddock, a sophomore social work major, is headed to Italy, a country that has intrigued her since taking an Honors Italian class in high school.

“Our class learned about the competitive sport matches that took place in Rome’s Coliseum,” said Paddock, a social work major with a minor in psychology. “We learned about Italian cheese, truffles, and the work that goes into producing and finding the perfect food. We learned about Italian wine, Roman fashion, and the history of Pompeii.

“I am excited to tour Pompeii, the Basilica, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Vatican City, and the Amalfi Coast,” said Paddock. “It’s going to be the trip of a lifetime.”

Traveling to Kenya will also be a trip of a lifetime for Jessica Devericks, a sophomore occupational science major.

From the time she was seven, Devericks dreamed of going to the East African country.

“I want to work with the people who are rejected by most and feel there is no one who loves them,” said Devericks.

Her Field Period will be at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. Along with a group from Indiana University, she will learn what daily life is like for those suffering from the HIV and AIDS.

Devericks is “thinking about” moving to Kenya temporarily after graduation from Keuka in 2011.

Naomi Torres, a unified childhood/special education major, believes that being an effective teacher means learning about and understanding myriad cultures and populations.

And she’ll do plenty of both at the Winston School in San Antonio, Texas. Torres will work with young children who have special needs while immersed in a new culture in a big city far from home.

“This experience will help me become a teacher who can create a classroom ‘community,’ which embraces the beauty of different cultures and individuality,” said Torres. 

-- Gretchen Parsells