Round Rock Resident Begins Peace Corps Service in Peru

ROUND ROCK, TX — Round Rock resident Kayleigh Nerhood has been accepted into the Peace Corps with plans to depart for Peru this month to start training as a community health facilitator volunteer.

Nerhood departs for Peru on Sept. 10, Peace Corps officials told Patch in an email. Nerhood, 22, explained what drove her to volunteer: “I applied to the Peace Corps because of my desire to help a community, to practice and develop the skills and tools I acquired in college, and the opportunity to better myself along the way," she said. "I specifically applied to be a community health facilitator in Peru because of the connection I felt with the project description."

Nerhood already envisions the people from Peru she will be able to assist: "I want to help mothers, children and teens improve their health and their lives," she said. "I want to help build sustainable healthy behaviors and nutritional programs within their community. I want to continue challenging myself, to be more culturally competent, and to travel without being just a tourist. I want to learn more about public health and health care, and become fluent in Spanish so I can communicate with more people in the world. I am proud to be a representative of my country, and in turn be an advocate for Peru when upon my return.”

Nerhood is the daughter of Rob and Heather of Round Rock, and a graduate of Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock. She attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Bachelor of Art in Spanish, graduating in May of 2019.

Kayleigh Nerhood, 22, has been accepted as a Peace Corps volunteer. Courtesy photo.

Prior to joining the Peace Corps, she volunteered at the Rotaract Club as a Marshall University Presidential Ambassador. She also taught elementary school children about neuroscience at Marshall University's Annual Brain Expo and presented at their schools, as part of a global Brain Awareness campaign organized by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. Served as a supplemental instruction leader as a pilot participant in a program designed to help other students struggling with the Introduction to Biology course.

Nerhood also led regularly scheduled, peer-facilitated supplemental instruction sessions for Introduction to Biology to help students understand complex concepts and build a strong knowledge foundation, Peace Corps officials noted.

During the first three months of her service, Nerhood will live with a host family in Peru to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the necessary skills to assist her community, she will be sworn into service and assigned to a community in Peru, where she will live and work for two years with the local people.

“After I finish service, my plan is to go to graduate school to get my Master of Public Health, and I am hoping that my Peace Corps service will validate this choice," Nerhood wrote in an email. "Additionally, I hope to become more comfortable speaking Spanish with the goal of fluency. I hope that my experiences in the Peace Corps will make me a more confident person both personally and professionally. I look forward to sharing my experiences of Peru with the people back home.”

Nerhood will work in cooperation with local people and partner organizations on sustainable, community-based development projects that improve the lives of people in Peru and help Nerhood develop leadership, technical and cross-cultural skills that will give her a competitive edge when she returns home, according to Peace Corps officials. Peace Corps volunteers return from service as global citizens well-positioned for professional opportunities in today’s global job market, officials added.

Nerhood joins the 351 Texas residents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 8,150 Texans who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. The Peace Corps currently has a high need for applicants to fill volunteer programs departing by June 2020. Interested Americans can apply online by Oct. 1 for hundreds of available openings in nearly 30 countries worldwide. Volunteers receive a living stipend, extensive language and technical training, and financial benefits including student loan deferment and graduate school fellowships after service.

To learn more about how to get involved with Peace Corps and the benefits of service, connect with a recruiter online or register to attend an event.

About volunteers in Peru

There are more than 185 volunteers in Peru working with their communities on projects in community economic development, health and youth development. During their service in Peru, volunteers learn to speak local languages, including Quechua and Spanish. More than 3,750 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Peru since the program was established in 1962.

About the Peace Corps

The Peace Corps sends Americans with a passion for service abroad on behalf of the United States to work with communities and create lasting change. Volunteers develop sustainable solutions to address challenges in education, health, community economic development, agriculture, the environment and youth development. Through their Peace Corps experience, volunteers gain a unique cultural understanding and a life-long commitment to service that positions them to succeed in today's global economy. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 235,000 Americans of all ages have served in 141 countries worldwide. For more information, visit peacecorps.gov and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.