West Virginia University student Thomas Harty found himself faced with a tough decision as he began his final semester this spring.
The chemical engineering major from Shenandoah Junction had the choice of volunteering for a two-year stint with the Peace Corps or taking a job immediately after graduation in a high-paying field.
Harty chose to help other people in the world.
The Peace Corps, a federal agency, traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then-Sen. John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries.
Hartysroad less traveledwill in fact take him very far from his childhood home of Jefferson County across the Atlantic Ocean to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a country in northwest Africa, to teach math, chemistry and English.
Although he will receive a small stipend at the completion of his service, choosing the Peace Corps will ultimately cost Harty more than $100,000 in pay and benefits he would likely receive if he took a job immediately after graduation in the United States.
Additionally, Harty will forgo many of the modern amenities and conveniences so familiar in America, such as restaurants, malls and air conditioning, to live and work in what could be harsh conditions in a country the United Nations classifies as among the worlds least-developed nations.
But this is the choice he wants to make, and he has no regrets.
Making a positive impact on someone elses life is more important to me than money,Harty said.Most people work 40 years of their lives. I dont think there is anything wrong with taking two years to help make someone elses life better.
Joining the Peace Corps is a natural choice for Harty, who is an Eagle Scout and a language whiz. He writes and speaks, to varying degrees, Latin, French, German, Arabic, Russian, Japanese and Spanish. In his spare time, he writes Arabic in a notebook.
While a student at Jefferson High School, Harty won third place in a state competition of German language, while taking advanced placement chemistry, calculus, physics and biology.
He started attending WVU in fall 2003 after being awarded the PROMISE ; WVU Presidential; and West Virginia Engineering, Science and Technology scholarships.
Coming to WVU , he said, was a good choice for him both financially and educationally.
Ive had really good teachers here,he said.When it comes to a field like engineering, that makes all the difference. I also had small class sizes, a lot of one-on-one interaction, which was a nice benefit. Im very satisfied with the engineering program atWVU. Overall, its very high quality.
At WVU , Harty had the opportunity to try out the very thing he was interested in doing in a career by completing an undergraduate research project making computer models of cells in the immune system with David Klinke, an assistant professor of chemical engineering.
It was very satisfying to be working on that project,he said.
The student, who was mentored by WVU chemical engineering professor Dr. Richard Turton, as well as others, was also able to help design projects as part of his classes every semester in chemical engineering. He was a group leader in one year-long class project to design a theoretical production facility to make ethanol.
Harty, who has traveled to Germany and the United Kingdom, became more interested in travel after visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with his brother.
Following that experience, Hartys first idea was to visit Antarctica; however, he soon found difficulty getting spots research teams. He wanted to travel to places few people in the United States go, so he began checking around and found the Peace Corps.
Although there are a couple of procedures left to finalize his acceptance into the Peace Corps, Harty will likely be traveling to Mauritania in fall 2007. He will spend three months training there, after which hell be sent to a village to teach chemistry, math and English at the junior high school level.
The Peace Corps is perfect for me because I want to travel and speak different languages,he said.I can use what I learned at WVU by teaching math and chemistry to people who might not have had the opportunity to learn those subjects.
Although hell have a chance to hone his French speaking skills in the larger cities in Mauritania, Harty will have to learn Berber and possibly some other tribal languages, which are spoken in the countryside. He will receive no pay while hes in Mauritania. While there, he will be assigned to a host family in a host village and live as the people around him live. He might be the only Peace Corps volunteer in the village, or he could have a partner.
I feel like it will be a great adventure,he said.Im very excited. Ill do everything Im expected to do in Africa, but hopefully I wont have to eat something thats alive.
Harty, whose mother is a nurse and father a computer engineer, said his family has been supportive of all his endeavors, which have also included taking scuba classes and flying lessons at Hart Field in Morgantown.
After he finished his Peace Corps service, Harty plans to return to West Virginia to work, which was part of his engineering scholarship. Ultimately, he wants to finish a doctorate and work for NASA to help put people into space.