Quaker Voluntary Service is an experiment at the intersection of transformational spirituality and activism, a year-long program for young adults.
Quaker Voluntary Service is an experiment at the intersection of transformational spirituality and activism, a year-long program for young adults.
Sam Downs grew up in Frederick, MD and graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in Civil Engineering. During college, Sam was on the junior board of Sweet Water Outreach, a non-profit focusing on health, sanitation, and water access in Kenya and Tanzania. He also enjoyed helping run a weekly dinner for international students, to welcome them to campus, and build lasting friendships. He is excited to work with QVS and gain new intentional relationships while growing spiritually.
Sam also enjoys playing music, listening to music, mountain biking, skateboarding, skiing, and trying new activities and experiences. He is very excited to pursue learning, justice and equity, with compassion and kindness, at Nationalities Service Center as an Employment Readiness Case Manager.
Paloma Collazo-Vargas is from strawberry-town, Watsonville, CA. Her parents immigrated from Mexico, but met here, in hopes of a better life—as the oldest of the family; she is the first for graduating high school and recently, graduated from Earlham College, IN, as a McNair Scholar. Paloma majored in International Studies with a concentration of Latin America in hopes of working in diplomacy.
At her time in Earlham, Paloma practically did everything such as learning an instrument and new languages, participating in multiple clubs, performed in plays, published art and poetry, and danced (she did not want to graduate with any regrets!). However, the biggest takeaway from her time at Earlham was learning to be independent and finding herself. Paloma learned to do things for herself from merely learning to cook or sew, but also more significant things like beginning to re-evaluate her identity as a queer woman of color. In her four years, she learned to be more spiritual, differentiating religion and spirituality, and to seek out mindfulness and practice self-love. Paloma is excited to work with Nationalities Service Center and make a difference with the community that she is familiar with all to well.