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After a 10-year career in commercial banking, Beth Altman Saunders ’90 made a major decision.
“I certainly used my education in those years, but eventually I came to realize that I really wanted to make a difference,” says Saunders, who double majored in French and economics & business. “I transitioned into the nonprofit world, and first did a year with AmeriCorps VISTA, a domestic volunteer service program. For the next four years I worked for ACCION, a micro-finance corporation that helps small businesses obtain financing. I felt that both jobs gave me the chance to help others in a meaningful way.”
She and her husband, Chris Saunders ’91, then made an even bigger choice.
“My husband and I both had a long-held goal of living in a foreign country,” she explains. “We both became interested in a job change at the same time and made the decision that it was the perfect time to resign and pursue that goal. We wanted to integrate some travel abroad with volunteer work.”
The couple had visited South America and fallen in love with the Andean culture and region, so they focused on Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, seeking a way to use their corporate and management skills for something more than the typical short-term volunteer commitment.
“We narrowed in on Peru because it had an infrastructure that was developed enough to allow us to get around, yet it was not so modernized or affected by outside influences that the culture was obscured,” she says.
After a month in a language school to help make their work productive, they began six months as volunteer directors of a children’s education center in Huaraz named Bruce Peru. Midway through that time, they moved to Cusco to open another center for the organization.
The centers are aimed at helping children get ready for school, Beth Saunders says. “They work with families and school directors to get children into a school, providing some financial help on occasion. It is about helping people improve their opportunities in their environment.”
“The Peruvian people are so beautiful and friendly,” she says. “The thing you really learn is that the kids are aware of what they don’t have, but they are happy. It makes you realize life can be so much simpler.”
When their work was over, the couple spent the next four months hiking in the mountains.
“We began our travels in Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, and worked our way north through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and, finally, Ecuador,” Beth Saunders says. “Our experiences include many treks and climbs throughout the Andes; herding cattle and riding horses on a working ranch; and being awed by Iguazu Falls, the Chilean channels, the maoi [statues] on Easter Island, and Incan ruins such as Machu Picchu.”
After returning from the trip last October, Saunders became director of the nonprofit Metropolitan Career Center, which gives adults job-specific training to help them find entry-level positions. She remains grateful for the year abroad and vows to return annually.
Saunders is also grateful for her time at Lafayette.
“My very best friends in life are from college. Through those friendships I feel supported and encouraged. Lafayette also provided me with the opportunity to try out a lot of things – choir, student-run musical productions, sorority, study abroad, volunteering, and tutoring in a local prison. All these kind of things help people identify who they are and what they want to do,” she says.
Saunders has been class correspondent since 1995, and for many years acted as an alumni admissions representative. She summarizes her reflections on the College by sharing something she believes is unique to Lafayette.
“A lot of my friends had little or no support in getting a job,” she says. “I graduated knowing I had a job. I didn’t know at the time how valuable that was. I found out afterwards when I watched many of my friends who had gone to other schools struggle to get jobs. The career services at Lafayette are top-notch.”