Brinkley Brown of Concord is a Peace Corps Volunteer currently serving as an English teacher in Rwanda.

It was about this time two years ago when I applied to the Peace Corps. I had just begun my final semester of college and, as it happens when endings are near, I was taking stock of the moment and looking ahead to the future.

At the time, we’d been living with COVID-19 for about a year. Unemployment was high — the result of layoffs,  lockdowns, and business closures. Months of remote learning, for those fortunate enough to have it in the first place, had laid bare disparities we could no longer ignore.

A record-breaking winter storm was tearing across the country, wreaking particular havoc in Texas. President Biden had just entered office with a pledge to deliver 100 million shots in his first hundred days and a promise to restore national unity. His pledge, ambitious. His promise, laughable, especially on the heels of January 6th and the ensuing impeachment trial.

When news of the pandemic, the power grid in Texas, and the presidency wasn’t breaking on TVs across America, all eyes were on a little-known courthouse in the heart of Minneapolis. Black Lives Matter may have just been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, but would the officers charged with the murder of George Floyd be sent to prison? Only time would tell.

My graduation was on the horizon.

If you’d asked me, when I entered college in 2017, what I thought the world would look like when I graduated, I would not have said this. I’m sure none of my peers would have either.

Our generation, like every one before us, was supposed to graduate with the world in our hands, not the world in our hands and a pandemic, unemployment, extreme weather, civil unrest, and political polarization on our shoulders. To say I felt unprepared to leave my college bubble would be an understatement. What I did feel, though, was that the world could use a healthy dose of empathy.

If this moment and my sociology degree had taught me anything, it was the value of empathy. Standing in the shoes of another and seeing the world through new eyes. Come graduation, marked by a diploma, senior thesis, and four years’ worth of library hours to match, book smarts were something I’d have. Street smarts, on the other hand, were something I lacked. To live on the proverbial street, to learn from doing, to experience life far outside my bubble, this was something I, a college graduate, could do.

That is why, at the start of my final semester, I applied to the Peace Corps.

What happened next was a whirlwind. Finishing college. Working odd jobs. Getting an invitation to serve. Packing my bags. Saying goodbye. Arriving in Rwanda. Navigating life abroad. Becoming a teacher. Writing to you.

Soon-to-be graduates, for those of you who don’t know what comes after graduation, I urge you to do this:

Take stock of the moment you’re in. Look at it through the lens of your background, your skills, and your values. What problems do you see? What solutions do you want to be a part of?

Be thoughtful. Know yourself. Remember, there are no wrong answers if you haven’t ventured one yet. Then, rise to the moment and answer.

What happens next? Only time will tell.

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