William Tarr '98 interned for an investment bank and a consulting firm while he was a student at the College, but he has turned down job offers on Wall Street in favor of "an adventure."
In the fall, Tarr will be living in a trailer and teaching three history classes, a government class and an economics class to ninth through 12th graders who live on the Marshall Islands.
"Socially, economically and culturally it's going to be a complete shock," said Tarr, who attended a single sex private school before coming to the College.
Tarr said the school where he will teach boasts 300 students and is the only nondenominational, private school on the island.
He said his teaching experience will come at a time when there is a "huge premium on education" on the islands.
The islanders used to support themselves by exporting copra, but their land has been over cultivated and is no longer agregable. Education could give the islands a jump-start into the information age, Tarr said.
Tarr, a government major and education minor, said he found out about this job opportunity through the education department.
He said he got experience working with children as chair of Book Buddies, through lacrosse and squash clinics and camps and during North Country Weekend, a time when inner city children visit the College.
Tarr said he would like to teach for a year in South America after he has taught for about a year in the Marshall Islands.
He said he is not sure what he would ultimately like to do, and thinks an experience like the one he will have in the Marshall Islands "forces reflection."
"[I've] never thrown myself in an environment where I was completely uncomfortable, except for my LSA in Barcelona," he said.
