WorldTeach volunteer recent graduate

Since graduating six months ago from Baker University, Bryan Williams, a member of the Class of 2014, has found a place educating others on an island in the South Pacific.

Williams, an English and secondary education major at Baker, has embraced serving as a WorldTeach volunteer in American Samoa, 6,000 miles from the comfort of Baldwin City. WorldTeach partners with governments and other organizations in developing countries to provide volunteer teachers to meet local needs and promote global citizenship. The organization works with the American Samoa Department of Education to place volunteers at schools that need assistance. For the first three weeks, he and 20 other volunteers lived together in a classroom for orientation.

Williams believes Baker’s liberal arts education prepared him for the global experience.

“Baker gave me the confidence I needed to enter a classroom by myself in a foreign culture,” says Williams, who teaches five English classes daily. “Without that confidence I would have never been able to live on an island in the South Pacific that is not even shown on most maps.”

In his volunteer role, Williams teaches at Manu’a High School, the only high school in the remote Manu’a islands of Ofu, Olosega and Ta’u, which have a total population of 1,500 people. Williams teaches English and “doing what is best” for his students in the high school with about 70 students.

“WorldTeach has been our advocate when dealing with the American Samoa Department of Education,” explains Williams, whose contract ends at the end of the school year in June. “They have helped us with placements, housing, transportation, safety and cultural awareness.”

Williams learned about the program when Bret McSpadden, ’08, visited Baker students on the Baldwin City campus and shared his experiences with WorldTeach in Namibia. McSpadden has now advanced to a program director position.

“I had found the program years ago while trying to find summer teaching programs abroad,” Williams says. “Bret made me comfortable and confident in choosing WorldTeach as my contractor.”

Williams is from a family of educators and Baker graduates, including his father, Gary, Class of 1980, a high school science teacher and coach in Arizona. Baker appealed to Bryan because of the family’s connection and the idea of attending the same school as his younger sister, Cami, and cousin Emily Liston. Bryan also followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle, Darin Liston, ’87 and MBA ’97, on the football field. All three were punters for the Wildcats.

“There was no way I could turn down an opportunity like that,” Bryan said.

Bryan’s interest in education as a career continued when he worked as a paraeducator at Hi-Star Center for Children in Phoenix before transferring to Baker. The experience helping others and the interaction with Baker faculty, especially Amy Wintermantel, associate professor of education, inspired him to pursue teaching.

“Dr. Wintermantel always put me in my place and made sure that I stayed grounded and focused on the now,” he said. “Although I want my career to end with being in education policy reform, Dr. Wintermantel made sure that my focus is on my students in the classroom.

“My Baker experience was fantastic. I was challenged by my professors, and I got to challenge them as well. They gave me academic freedom and the ability to pursue areas that I was passionate about. I will always be indebted to them for the freedom and opportunity they gave me in academia.”

After his time in American Samoa ends next year, Williams will consider several options. He might receive a contract extension, transfer to another WorldTeach program in Thailand or China, or begin working toward a master’s in education.

“My long-term plan is to move into educational policy reform through academia or as part of a state board of education,” Williams said. “In one way or another, my place will always be in education.”