Jocelyn Pierro talks to an AVID student about college.

It’s not every day when one gets to see a former Porterville resident go see the world. This is the case for Jocelyn Pierro, Granite Hills Alumnus from the class of 2004. She has gone to college in New York, and studied off campus three times, twice in different countries.

Pierro is currently a senior at Houghton College, a Christian college located in Houghton New York. “I felt like God wanted me to be part of a Christian community [by going to a Christian college].” She majors in sociology and minors in environmental studies.

Her school is rather small for a college, composed of only 1200 students. But she likes the feel of a small private school as a opposed to a larger public school. “Private education can be more personal,” she said.

Just recently she came to Granite to speak in some classes about life in a small private college, and studying abroad.

Over the course of her college time, she has studied off campus three times. The first place where she studied of campus was at the Adirondack State Park in New York for a semester. “I liked being in a small group. We had three to four field trips a week. It was a really awesome experience,” she said. That semester helped her to complete her minor, environmental studies, because it dealt a lot with the environment.

She also studied a mayterm in India for two and a half weeks. She went as part of a missionary team to help build relationships with people.

The last place where she studied abroad was Australia; she also studied there for a semester and she returned on Monday Dec. 3. In Australia, she participated in two protest rallies about the environment and went to different cultural festivals.

What she really liked about studying abroad is that she learned so much more from studying the environment then just sitting in a classroom all day. “Experiential learning takes you further in each stage of your life,” she said.

She really enjoys speaking to students about her experiences, and encouraging them to make some experiences of their own. She has spoken to classes at Granite Hills twice before. “I think it’s important to give back to the community you came from,” she said.

And giving to the community, is what she will continue to be doing. She is now applying for the Peace Corps, a federal agency that has volunteers help with the underdeveloped countries all around the world. She wants to be working with community service in Africa.

“She has definitely caused me to start thinking about the different work I can do overseas once I get out of college,” said her sister, Casaundria Pierro. “She’s just so wonderful, because she cares about people, and genuinely loves them, even if she hardly knows them.” Casaundria said that her sister is definitely an inspiration to her.

One of the things that the Peace Corps really valued was her involvement in high school. She was involved with Acadeca, basketball, CSF, Key Club, Loc club, Outdoor Adventure club, Tennis, and Cyberquest.

During her visit at Granite, she encouraged students to get involved in high school. “Consider taking a risk and do something you might not usually do,” she said to a Freshman English class. She told them to get involved as early as possible.

“She influenced me to start getting involved my freshman year and to stay involved all throughout high school,” said Granite Hills freshman Kyle Gibbs.