April 22, 2024
SCI students are always finding ways to make a real-world impact with their skills, and Conor McGirr is one such example. A senior majoring in information science with a minor in political science, McGirr is taking SCI across the globe and volunteering with the Peace Corps to aid in STEM education in Kenya.
“The Peace Corps was never in my original plan,” says McGirr, “but the idea of volunteering popped up in the fall semester and I ended up applying in January with no real destination in mind and sort of trusted fate.”
His assignment will last 27 months (about two a half years) near Kisumu in Western Kenya, where he will be teaching secondary math to students from ages 12 to 20. After teaching high school students with both SCI’s GenCyber and Technology Leadership Initiative, McGirr says his eyes were opened to “how important teachers are” and that his “respect for them grew.” He had the opportunity to help students enhance their technological skills, all while developing his own.
The Peace Corps mission is to promote world peace and friendship, offering a transformative experience for both volunteers and the communities they serve. Looking to recruit diverse teams in various sectors and locations, the Peace Corps is a highly competitive opportunity that allows participants to use and sharpen their skills and passions to make a positive impact.
“SCI helped me reach my goals by challenging me in the classroom and helping me think in new ways,” McGirr says. “The FACETLab has really shown what great work is being done within SCI with different projects. Being a part of one project has been neat, and working under a PhD candidate [Deniz Unal] has been a great experience.”
As McGirr prepares to graduate in the spring, he looks back on his undergraduate years with fondness and is excited to see what the future brings.
“My four years at Pitt and SCI have been fantastic and I'm really looking [forward] to this next opportunity!”
--Gwyneth Bessey