Alumni
Whether you have been a SIC alumni for years, or are just recently returning from your time in Tanzania, we want this to be a place where our alumni can reconnect and find resources for continuing to develop leadership skills.
SIC Alumni Spotlights
Each month we will be showcasing the inspiring achievements of our fabulous alumni.
April 2012: Romy Saloner
Romy Saloner: (Volunteer ’06, Coordinator ’07, & VPM ’08)
Romy went to Stanford University to get her Bachelors and volunteered for SIC in the summer of 2006. She returned the following fall to coordinate the Fall Program and stayed at SIC as the Program Officer through 2008. Romy went on to work at FACE AIDS, another nonprofit that encourages students to get involved with global health issues. While there, Romy gained experience in programming, operations, and strategy, as she was responsible for running trips to Rwanda, a national conference, and a cross-country bike ride. Her experience with FACE AIDS motivated Romy to go back to school and pursue an MBA to learn more about complex organizational challenges and problem-solving, so Romy now finds her self back at Stanford as a graduate student. When we asked Romy if her experiences with SIC influenced her career path and decision to purse advanced degrees, this was her response:
“As a volunteer with SIC I was exposed to issues of global health inequity and extreme poverty for the first time. It was a life-changing experience that prompted me to gain the skills and tools necessary to address these issues in the future. After spending more time with SIC, I realized that my passion could be best addressed by becoming an effective leader of organizations and people, which is what drove me to pursue an MBA. At business school, I am gaining useful tools like accounting and marketing, but also learning how to improve my communication and management skills, all of which will hopefully enable me to be a strong leader in the future.”
Like many others, Romy’s favorite memories from her volunteer and work experiences with SIC involved an HIV positive patient she worked with. This woman had lost her husband to AIDS and been stigmatized by her community. However, she managed to create a support group in the community for people whose lives had been impacted by HIV. Romy was moved by this woman’s determination and bravery and has used her as motivation in challenging times. We would like to thank Romy for sharing her story with us and wish her the best of luck in graduate school!
March 2012: Claire Nordeen
Claire Nordeen (Volunteer ’05, Coordinator ’06, VPM ’08-’09):
Claire graduated from Stanford University in 2007 with a degree in Human Biology with concentrations in public health and infectious disease and volunteered with SIC in the summer of 2005. She was also an in-country coordinator the summer following her volunteer program. After graduation she worked for a Polish expat-owed safari company taking her to Warsaw, Poland and Nairobi, Kenya organizing trips and doing marketing activities for the company. Claire was then SIC’s Volunteer Programs Manager from 2008 to 2009.
Claire is now a third-year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania with the intention to apply for a residency in Emergency Medicine. Volunteering with SIC was the main factor in her decision to pursue a medical career. Prior to her summer in Tanzania, Claire was considering a career in international diplomacy, but realized while teaching that health was another “avenue through which [she] could open communication and forge relationships between people of different backgrounds.”
Claire on the most memorable moments of her trip:
“Without a doubt, the most memorable part of my volunteer program was the relationship I cultivated with my host family. Babu was a strong and sturdy farmer with a wide gap-toothed smile and an insatiable appetite for loshoro. Every evening we sat together behind the house, drinking chai and shucking corn while, despite great communication barriers, we managed to find a common language, share of ourselves, and forge the most unexpected of friendships between two people of wildly different backgrounds. Bibi was a strong and sinewy woman with bright eyes and a tirelessness that left no question as to how she managed to bear and raise 12 children. The relationship I observed between Babu and Bibi was what really opened my eyes to the universality of certain human experiences. What I saw between them was a true loving bond; perhaps not the type that predominates in Hollywood movies, though I can’t be sure of this, but undoubtedly the same breed of love that I saw in my own grandparents as they aged: the type of love that comes from the merging of lives, the creation and shaping of new generations, the shared endurance through adversity, and the increasing codependence of old age. Each morning I awoke in the darkness to Babu’s booming voice calling out “lkunda”. During the final dinner at my homestay, I finally possessed the vocabulary to ask him what it meant. As soon as the question came out of my mouth, Bibi blushed and erupted into giggles in the corner. “lkunda” was a pet name, similar to “darling.” I melted into a puddle and down came another barrier.
When I returned the following year as a coordinator, my own mother came to visit and I brought her to Kikwe to meet my homestay family. I introduced her to Bibi and translated as she thanked her for taking me into their family and returning me home not only in once piece but infused with the spirit cultivated by an invaluable experience. The two women, who shared not a single word or shred of cultural identity immediately, magnetically tapped into the common undercurrent of maternal love and fell into a tearful embrace.”
We thank Claire for sharing her experiences with us and wish her the best of luck completing her last year of medical school.
As our family of SIC alumni keeps growing, we want you to stay connected! :
- Update your contact information. Unfortunately, we still have university emails for some of you and no emails for others! Please feel free to forward the link to this site to other alumni that you think might be out of the loop.
- See what our alumni have been up to on our interactive map. Don’t see yourself on the map? Update your contact information!
- Catch up with old friends and stay in touch with current programs via our Facebook page.
- Visit the Alumni Resource Center which is available for you to browse job/fellowship/internship opportunities as well as upcoming events and relevant lectures. If you would like to make a posting, please send the information to us and we will make sure it shows up here!
- Check out photos or post your own on our Flickr site.
- Stay up to date with SIC in the field including SIC-related news, links, opportunities and more in real time on Twitter.
- Be part of creating our blog content! We are encouraging all types of authors to generate discussion and inform the SIC network of interesting news and commentary on the HIV/AIDS front. Email us if you are interested.
- Get creative. We’d love to talk to you about how you would like to stay involved or what other resources you would like to see in this section! Please send us your comments!
