BGA Alumna & Teacher Joins Peace Corps
Posted on 10/08/2018
Since its establishment in 1961, the United States Peace Corps has sent more than 230,000 volunteers to serve overseas, with 7,500 in 2018 alone. Bishop George Ahr High School is very proud to have one of its own added to their ranks: Amy Kate Byrne, alumna of the Class of 2005, who has recently embarked on a service trip of her own, in which she will be spending the next 27 months volunteering with the Peace Corps. She has spent the last eight years as an English teacher here at BGA and will continue doing so abroad with the Corps.

Joining the Peace Corps has always been a dream of hers. Byrne cites her love of travelling and meeting new people from the various service trips she took when she was a student here at BGA. Specifically, she said that the Western Civilization trip to Italy during her Junior year opened her eyes to embracing new cultures and coming face-to-face with different perspectives. “It’s easier to understand people when you understand what their culture is,” she explains, “Without knowledge comes ignorance, and ignorance breeds fear.”

For her service, Amy Kate has chosen to volunteer teaching English as a foreign language in the European country of Macedonia. She will be travelling with about 29 other volunteers, all of whom will be participating in various ways around the country. While living in the country, she will be staying with two separate host families. She chose Macedonia because of the numerous cultural influences that contribute to its melting pot nature, some of which include Albanian, Turkish, Islamic, and Romani cultures. She wanted to go to a country whose culture was completely different than her own here in the U.S. By immersing herself fully into a new lifestyle, she believes that she can truly find a new perspective on life. “Learning to appreciate what I have and what I don’t have is a rare opportunity that I’m not sure I’m going to get another chance at.”

She is going to miss her family, friends, students, coworkers, and the family environment she had in the Bishop George Ahr community. Not only was she an English teacher, she headed the Satoma newsmagazine, coached softball, and revived the Shakespeare theatrical program while also playing an integral part in the Drama Department. Her absence from the BGA community for the next 27 months will surely be felt.

We here at Bishop Ahr High School would like to wish Amy Kate Byrne the best of luck and safe travels as she follows her dreams abroad. We cannot wait to hear her stories of adventure and service when she returns in December of 2020.
By Vincenzo Dama '14