Meredith Van Zuiden | Assistant Arts + Life Editor
As an avid traveler and highly involved individual on Buena Vista University’s campus, what’s next for senior Josh Fortmann? Employment? Graduate school? The BVU senior has always had two very big interests, travel and service.
Fortmann previously traveled to Chile where he studied bio-cultural conservation. Additionally, he was awarded the Wesselink Independent Research Award. This award allowed him to pursue any area of interest, which resulted in traveling to India to study Tibetan Buddhism.
Senior Josh Fortmann has recently accepted the offer to take part in a 27-month-long commitment with the Peace Corps in Mozambique, Africa.
“I was looking for something that combined those two interests and so the Peace Corps was a natural combination of those two loves,” Fortmann said.
After researching, speaking to a Peace Corps recruiter, and communicating with a friend who is involved with the Peace Corps, Fortmann decided to apply. He received his first choice for placement within the program.
Ryan Cairns, Iowa’s Peace Corps representative, visited Buena Vista University’s (BVU) campus on Thursday, March 3. Cairns discussed his experience volunteering with the Peace Corps and gave insight on the process of joining.
“Getting information from various sources is a great thing for a person who is going to be embarking on an adventure like the Peace Corps, not just getting information from our website or myself as a state recruiter,” Cairns said. “I told Josh he could search for blogs coming from volunteers serving in Mozambique. Start a connection there and maybe get some tailored advice and suggestions from people currently serving.”
Preparation has already begun for Fortmann as he begins to learn Portuguese, manage a classroom and write a lesson plan.
“I’m not an Education major, so I don’t really have much experience teaching an entire classroom,” Fortmann said. “I’ve been researching how to write a lesson plan and how to control a room of 40 to 50 people at once.”
Forman has experience in the classroom within the local community by volunteering to conduct science experiments at the Storm Lake Middle School. With help from his friend Joe Hindman, Fortmann founded the Future Scientists of Iowa Outreach Program. The program focuses on encouraging the students to think of college as a reasonable possibility and get them interested in science.
“It’s kind of a collaboration of all the different science clubs here on campus. We go out to the local Storm Lake middle school, and do science experiments with the students there,” Fortmann said.
The application process to be accepted by the Peace Corps was a very intensive and involved process, Fortmann comments. Letters of recommendation and interview prompts and essays were among the steps this BVU senior took part of.
“There’s a fairly complex, multi-step process in terms of the actual application itself,” Dr. Andrea Frantz, Professor of Digital Media said.
“He had to write a couple of essays in response to some prompts the Peace Corps gave him. The essays themselves, while not especially long, have to be very precise because the Peace Corps has been more and more difficult to get into,” said Frantz.
Frantz has known Josh since he was born, often times being referred to as the “crazy hippie aunt” by Josh’s father. Having written a letter of recommendation for Josh, Frantz is both thrilled and proud that Fortmann has accepted the position in the Peace Corps. Frantz’s daughter, Hannah, is currently serving in Armenia with the Peace Corps and is looking to extend her commitment.
Fortmann will work at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics located in Limestone, Maine, this upcoming summer while awaiting his departure on August 30, 2016.
Photo by Meredith Van Zuiden
