Robin Wiszowaty

Title: Leadership Coordinator
Interesting Fact: A birthday surprise, Robin shares the same birthday as her mother!

Since joining our team, Robin has brightened the office with her charm and zealous exuberance. A facilitator for the Volunteer Now! program, she has led international trips to Kenya and Arizona. She pursued studies in speech communication at the University of Illinois and now communicates to thousands of youth every year provoking thought and challenging ideas.

Growing up Robin was an active student, athlete, and theatrical performer—delivering show-stopping performances in musicals throughout her high school career. During her university years she explored her potential as a community volunteer developing job search strategy workshops for a homeless shelter, volunteering in inner-city Philadelphia schools, and leading community service trips to a Wisconsin Native reservation as well as to an international development learning center in Arkansas. She also spent time as an Americorps volunteer facilitating experiential education programming on global awareness issues and was a High Ropes Course facilitator with Heifer Project International. In 2002, she spent a year in Kenya where she settled in a Maasai village and adjusted to a daily life of fetching water, collecting firewood and communicating solely in Swahili. She was lucky to participate in many cultural events with the beautiful Maasai, attending traditional weddings, funerals, and elder ceremonies. Her curiosity with the disjoint between international development theory and fieldwork brought her to various villages, tribes, and non-governmental organizations throughout Kenya and neighbouring countries.

Robin loves to read, bike, play Frisbee, and talk to her dear mom on the phone (probably her favourite pass-time!). Honoured to find herself in a position to promote global, local, and personal awareness amongst youth, Robin approaches every day with a bright smile and an open mind, guided by these words: “The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action”.