Educators on Their Time in the Peace Corps

New Roads teachers Alexandra Padilla and Dan Kearney reflect on the challenges, lessons, and lasting impact of global service.

For History teacher Dan Kearney, joining the Peace Corps was about adventure. Growing up travelling across the U.S with his parents sparked a desire to see more of the world. He first heard about the Peace Corps in college and was struck by how impactful it sounded. Although he didn’t pursue it immediately, the idea stayed with him. A few years later, in his late twenties, Kearney and his wife took the leap and headed to Kriva Palanka, North Macedonia. Having already served in the military, Kearney saw the Peace Corps as another opportunity for exploration and service. The application, while long and involving essays and interviews, wasn't particularly hard, just a matter of patience. 

“The long process naturally weeds out people who don’t really wanna do it,” says Kearney. “It was almost like applying to college; it kinda had that feel.” 

Kearney and his wife in front of one of Macedonia's many old Orthodox churches built in the 1300s. This one was in the town they lived in (Photograph: Dan Kearney)

Similarly, English teacher Alexandra Padilla was drawn to the Peace Corps after hearing a returned volunteer speak about their service while she was only in ninth grade. The idea stayed with her throughout high school and college. Unsure of her next steps after graduation, she saw the Peace Corps as a fulfilling opportunity to combine service and travelling. Unlike Kearney, Padilla wasn’t entirely certain she was making the right decision. Although she was excited, she had some hesitations—specifically, she worried about missing her family while spending two years in a foreign country. She also was unsure about whether or not this path aligned with her long-term career goals. But because she wasn’t yet sure what she wanted to pursue, she trusted that the experience would be valuable either way. So, despite the uncertainties, she committed to the journey and accepted her placement on the island of St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean.

The First Steps: Training and Preparation

Both Padilla and Kearney underwent training before their assignments, though their experiences differed. When Kearney arrived in Macedonia, he spent the first three months living with a host family to help him adjust to the culture and language. Each day, a few of the American volunteers stationed in the same village would gather for language training, then spend the rest of the day interacting with the community. 

The Peace Corps designed this training period to ensure that when the three months were up, volunteers had a solid language and cultural understanding, so they'd be ready to live and work independently. Kearney found the language training highly effective, which made his transition a lot smoother. 

Padilla had a different experience. Since she was placed in an English speaking country, her training lasted only six weeks. While she did appreciate the orientation to the local culture, she felt the training wasn't entirely necessary in her case since the language barrier is often the hardest part to adjust to. 

Daily Life & Adaptation

For both Kearney and Padilla, life in the Peace Corps required stepping into a completely new pace of life, one with a little less structure and, instead, shaped more by curiosity and community. 

For Kearney, every day in Macedonia looked a little different. With no strict schedule and a lot of independence, he quickly realized the Peace Corps service required a lot of flexibility and initiative. Originally, Kearney was sent as a teacher and assigned to work with local educators to help them modernize their teaching techniques, but things didn't quite go as planned. 

“The teachers didn’t want any help. They didn't really care,” he recalled. With little interest from the teachers he was meant to support, Kearney pivoted. He started working directly with high school students, helping them apply to colleges in the U.S., organizing summer camps for younger children, and supporting the marginalized Roma community. “I think you have to be ready to do that if you join the Peace Corps,” Kearney said. “You have an assignment, but it doesn't mean it's actually gonna go anywhere.”

Some days, though, there just wasn’t much to do. When that happened, Kearney and his wife would spend time walking around town, visiting neighbors, and passing the time as best they could. Life moved slower there. 

“In America, everything is urgent. In Macedonia, nothing has a deadline,” Kearney said. The only real urgency came in the fall, when the local people began preparing their agriculture for the winter. The slow pace took some time getting used to, but it also gave Kearney an appreciation for the community's self-sufficient way of living.

Dan preparing a giant batch of ajvar, a traditional Macedonian pepper spread made during the fall (Photograph: Dan Kearney)

.Padilla was stationed on a small island in the Caribbean, partnered with the only social worker serving two entire islands. Recognizing her need for support, the Peace Corps director of St. Kitts at the time asked her if she needed anyone to work with, and she welcomed Padilla’s help without any hesitation. Together, they designed a program from scratch, focused on child abuse prevention and drug and alcohol awareness education for sixth graders across the island. 

On workdays, Padilla would travel between schools, delivering presentations, or writing the curriculum for the program they created. But when she wasn’t working, she made the most of the island’s beauty. She went on hikes to volcanoes, swam in the Caribbean sea, and spent time with a close knit group of other volunteers on the island. Living in a small village made it easy to build friendships with neighbors. 

“Everyone knew where you lived. My first year, I had this whole fan club of elementary school kids follow me back to my house,” says Padilla, laughing. The kids would show up unannounced and shout, “Inside!” as they entered the house, excited to chat with the nice American in their neighborhood.

Padilla, second from the left, and other Peace Corps volunteers on a hike (Photograph: Alexandra Padilla)

One of Kearney’s proudest moments was mentoring Ljubica, a very bright high school student who aspired to study in the U.S. With his guidance, she prepared for the SAT, completed college applications, and eventually earned a full-ride scholarship. Years later, she earned her PhD at Harvard and became an economist in the U.S. “We really feel like there’s one person whose life we got to change,” Kearney said. 

But she wasn’t the only student impacted. Kearney organized a summer camp for local kids, something that hadn't really existed in Macedonia before. By the second year, the number of students attending had tripled. He also started a high school debate competition with another volunteer, which became a fun and effective way for students to sharpen their English skills.

Kearney (second from the right) with his high school debaters. On the far right is Ljubica (Photograph: Dan Kearney)

For Padilla, working in the Peace Corps left an impact far beyond the curriculum she created. It was the students—eager and full of personality—who made her want to become an English teacher. 

She started doing poetry activities with the students during her visits to their schools, but it impacted her more than she could have expected. By the end of her two years, she realized she loved teaching. If it hadn’t been for those students, she might have never figured that out. 

Lasting Impact of the Peace Corps

The Peace Corps pushed both Padilla and Kearney to grow, reflect, and see the world through a new lens. “When you live away from your country for so long, you start to see it differently,” said Kearney. Being surrounded by extreme poverty in marginalized communities, ethnic tension, and still seeing so much joy in the people allowed him a better understanding of privilege, and how people can live with less and still live fully.

Even after his service, that experience kept shaping him. Instead of heading back to the U.S. right away, Kearney and his wife stayed abroad, working at an international school for six more years. The Peace Corps didn’t just influence how he thinks—it actually shifted his entire path. “You don’t even realize how the Peace Corps can change your trajectory,” he said. 

For Padilla, the experience left her with not only a deep love for reggae music and memories of brightly decorated bus rides, but also a real sense of global connection. “Where you live really does shape who you are,” she reflected. 

Her experience sparked her love for meeting all kinds of people from different walks of life. Her work in teaching exposed her to a new richness in being open to all experiences and learning through others. Padilla knew that was something she wanted to continue having in her life—whether through teaching, travelling, or just being open to everything that comes her way.

Padilla returned to St. Kitts in 2008, reconnecting with friends she made during her service (Photograph: Alexandra Padilla)

Year two of Kearny’s ever-growing summer camp (Photograph: Dan Kearney)

Looking back, both educators agreed they wouldn't change a thing. Their advice to anyone considering the Peace Corps? Do it. It’s not always easy, but as the slogan goes, it’s the “toughest job you’ll ever love.”