College graduation can be as scary as it is exciting. Because…well…what’s next? For Elizabeth (Libby) Schoene ’01, it was the Peace Corps. The physics major spent 27 months in Guyana in northern South America where she gave math and science lessons and received cultural lessons in return.
 
“I was challenged at times with typical teenage behavior—mainly talking and not paying attention,” Schoene says. “I admit I was not the best disciplinarian, but one trick I used that isn’t allowed in the U.S. was leading kids by their ears. That’s how I rounded up the older boys (who were often much bigger than I was) for class.”

One of Schoene’s best Guyana experiences was helping 10 students prepare for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations that determine eligibility for university study and employment. Eight of her 10 students passed the test, though she’s proud of them all.

But not all of the physicist’s time was spent in a classroom. In her free time, she took up the steel drums, solved the mystery of the bus system and learned how to make a mean curry. She also started a rugby team (one of her passions at Mudd) that is now part of the city’s youth program.

Schoene is now in her fourth year at the University of Oregon, pursuing her Ph.D. in atom optics with the goal of becoming a chemical physicist. She looks back on her time in Guyana with fondness and is happy she took advantage of the opportunity when she did.