TEACHING INDUSTRIAL ARTS IN THE PEACE CORPS

Amanda served with the United States Peace Corps from 2001-2003 in the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga.  As a Community Educator, Amanda taught Industrial Arts, English, and Information Technology to secondary school students and lead students and community members in building projects.  She authored grants and worked with local counterparts to successfully fund and develop a community computer center, and provide tools and materials for the Industrial Arts program.  She served on the Design Technology committee that was responsible for creating new curriculum for an emerging program of the combined Industrial Arts and Home Economics programs.

In addition to grant funding, the Industrials Arts program materials were funded through annual craft bazaars where students sold the projects they made in class to the public.  Thus, the projects taught to students were not only chosen to teach students skills but also because they were marketable products at the bazaar.

Along with another volunteer, Amanda created a Project Design Book that encouraged student creativity and design variations, as well as a Technical Drawing Guide to be used by Industrial Arts tecahers throughout the Kingdom to help teach appropriate projects to build.