In this session, we will learn about opportunities to serve communities through Teach for America, AmeriCorps and the PeaceCorps. We will be joined by Dominique Beaudry (MPP ’26, Fulbright Scholar), Ana Earl (MPP ’25, Teach for America), and Conner Weis (MPP ’24, PeaceCorps/AmeriCorps VISTA).
In addition to serving communities in the US and abroad, our panelists have experience in non-profit organizations and public health. We will learn more from our speakers about each of these service programs and how starting their careers in service has influenced their career paths.
Ana Earl
Ana attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada where she majored in International Development Studies. She joined Teach for America Idaho as a 6-10th grade social studies and history teacher. Motivated to change the inequities her students faced every day in the classroom, Ana knew that she could make a larger difference in education through policy. She is excited to join Sanford as a MPP student to explore how public policy can improve universal access to education. She is most interested in social and education policy.
Dominique Beaudry
Dominique graduated Duke undergrad in 2015, pursuing a Fulbright in Malaysia after graduating and then a Master’s in the Art of Teaching before becoming a high school social studies educator in Durham Public Schools. It was the best foundation for a professional life she could have imagined. She got first-hand experience at the power of organizing through her teacher’s union’s impressive work advancing schools that work for all and where great teacher working conditions lead to great student learning conditions. She has also worked with the DPS district equity office writing and implementing school policy, as well as with her school’s leadership team on school improvement, improving equity practices, increasing high-quality teaching methods, and creating an impactful social-emotional learning community for staff and students alike.
Conner Weis
Connor attended St. Lawrence University where he studied Biology, Government, and African Studies. After graduating, Connor went on to serve in the Peace Corps in Northern Ghana as a health volunteer for over two years. Back in the USA, Connor worked at a lively organic vegetable farm in upstate New York for about a year and a half before returning to community development work as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a hospital in Southwestern Vermont. His work addressed the opioid epidemic and the region’s economic recovery.
About this series
This speaker series is for Duke students who want to learn more about careers in child and family policy. Meetings are designed to help students explore the wide range of job opportunities and careers available in the field of child and family policy while creating a network of students who share their professional interests.