Bonnie Nelson '08
(served in Mongolia from 2011-2013)
Bonnie was a psychology major at PLU and also served as the Psi Chi and Psychology Club officer. While on campus she conducted student-faculty research (funded by the Forest Foundation Fellowship). She also was the recipient of the Western Association Student Scholarship Award and the Psychology Student Research Award.
She joined the Peace Crops because she wanted to learn more about education in an international context and to have more direct service experience.
While in Mongolia, she served as a Community Development Volunteer in Baruun-Urt. She taught English at the Mongolian University of Science & Technology, as well as participated in local community led projects including the Good Father Project and Awesome Mongolia. Her counterpart (local partner each volunteer is paired with) and Bonnie were invited to speak at TEDxUlaanbaatar in 2012 to share their community projects. Together they hosted TEDxBaruunUrt, which community members and Peace Corps Volunteers have continued in the past several years.
Bonnie is currently a service-learning coordinator at Seattle University. As a psychology major, she took a service-learning class at PLU. Every since then, she has been interested in the intersection of higher education and service opportunities. She received her M.Ed. from the University of Washington in 2010 in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.