Geof Giacomini ’98

Egypt country director for Save the Children.

Egypt country director for Save the Children

Kyrgyzstan 1999–2001

I went to Kyrgyzstan with a love for Russian literature and found myself transformed. To kids ages 11–17 I taught English as a foreign language well as American literature and journalism. I sponsored an existential philosophy club, softball games, Model United Nations, and summer camps in ecology and leadership. I also became a champion kok chai (green tea) drinker!

You should always be curious, always brave, I learned. Values are not inherited, and education can only pass on an intellectual awareness of them; they are formed and understood when you confront values different from yours and struggle with them, their justifications and rationales.

I chose to extend for a third year (Peace Corps service is usually a two-year commitment). Then Sept. 11, 2001. Peace Corps was evacuated less than 10 days later, and I left my new home.

I now work in international development, supporting projects that embody the values I had or developed during my Peace Corps service: a commitment to human dignity, equality of opportunity, better health care and education for all, and respect for diversity. After working with Save the Children in Azerbaijan, I arrived in Cairo in mid-February, the day before (former President) Mubarak stepped down. What a wild ride it’s been. If I do my job well, then at some point I won’t have a job. We could even make this profession unnecessary. We just have to figure out how to eradicate poverty.

The OG Green

SCU Men’s golf fans set foot on the holy land of golf this summer capping off a trip of a lifetime.

Music Above All

Erin Pearson ’05 was recruited to play soccer for Santa Clara University. But her passion for music was pulling her in a different direction.

A Number’s Worth

Chuck Cantoni ’57 may be the oldest person to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco—all to raise money for research into a potentially deadly brain condition.

Collaboration is Key

Jacqueline Whitham ’21 chose to support cross-disciplinary collaboration and research at SCU through $3.8 million from her family’s foundation.