Cony graduate teaching in Tanzania

As college students across America buckle down for finals, Scott Wilkinson is teaching. While some of his pupils know basic math, some of them cannot even count to three.

Wilkinson, a 2007 Cony graduate, has been volunteering in Tanzania since Feb. 28, teaching school children age 2 through 7 about English, science, math and art; instructing incarcerated youth on how to grow their own gardens; and writing grants for an HIV/AIDS awareness organization.

Wilkinson, 19, a sophomore studying political science at the University of Notre Dame, decided to take a semester off.

Though he was doing well in college -- he graduated as salutatorian at Cony High School -- he said he felt a void.

"It just seemed like Africa was calling my name," he wrote in an e-mail from Tanzania. "Everyone kept asking me why I wanted to do this, (and) all I could answer was, 'Why not?'"

Tanzania is an east African country home to Mt. Kilimanjaro, the world's largest free-standing mountain. It is not uncommon for village huts to be constructed of sticks and mud.

Wilkinson's parents, Les and Robin Wilkinson, initially balked.

"There were feelings of pride, affection, but fear and anxiety," Les Wilkinson said. "His mother and I have a lot of confidence in his judgment, however, and it made sense to support him."

Scott Wilkinson, who had left Maine for the Midwest when he attended Notre Dame, knew he had to continue broadening his horizons.

"Notre Dame is one of the least diverse schools in the country, and I just felt like I really just needed to shake things up," he wrote in a e-mail. "What better way is there to experience a place than to live and work there for yourself?"

In the last two months, Wilkinson has climbed Kilimanjaro, volunteered at local orphanages and witnessed a United Nations trial concerning genocide in Rwanda.

"You just have to go for it," he said of overseas volunteering. "Volunteering is a fulfilling, eye-opening experience for yourself, yet it also makes an enormous impact on the community."

Wilkinson will arrive back in the United States this week and spend his summer coaching baseball at Camp Manitou.

He said he will return to college in the fall.

He doesn't worry about the near future, nor does his family, which includes his parents and three brothers.

"Scott has a lot of options ahead of him," his mother, Robin, said. "Whatever path he wants to go on, we're going to support it."