Little did Harrison Heilman ’10 know when he matriculated in 2006 that his experience as a member of the Fighting Scots swim team would lead to a stint in the Peace Corps.
    
Heilman – who still ranks as one of the 10 fastest men in eight different events at Monmouth – just wrapped up a 27-month Peace Corps commitment in the Philippines, ending the tour last month. It was his sports background that helped him land his assignment in one of the country’s smallest high schools.
    
“I was not assigned to my school by accident,” said Heilman. “Based on various experiences in the U.S., and my background in sports, I was selected to assist at my school, Dominador Narido High School. Officials wanted someone who would develop its library, athletic program and remedial reading program.”
    
While Heilman has seen many sites, he says the real highlight has been his daily work where he is required to teach four hours a day with a Filipino teacher who requested assistance from the Peace Corps.
    
With fewer than 300 students, Dominador Narido is one of the smallest high schools in the country, which means that teachers are also in short supply.
    
“I tended to fill in the gaps, or substitute where I was needed,” said Heilman. “My typical day was actually very similar to that in the States. I took what’s called a multicab or jeepney to school. Traffic for me meant various animals in the road doing various appropriate and inappropriate things, rice drying on the side of the road and floods, depending on the season.”
    
Heilman usually taught the first, second, fifth and sixth subjects of the day, working with students from all four years of high school, which starts two years earlier than in the U.S.
    
“My students ranged in ages from 12 to 16 usually, but I had several students who were older than me. I got to school at about 6:45 a.m. Lunch was from 12 to 1 p.m., and most of the students went home to eat. That gave me an hour to eat without people staring at me asking me why I was not eating rice. I made up some brilliant lies about why I do not eat rice because my students can’t understand that I simply do not like rice. Filipinos eat rice with every meal."
    
During Nutrition Month in July, Heilman’s goal was to teach the students about the importance of proper nutrition. One of the most enjoyable events in this month was the opportunity to experience native foods cooked by the students.
    
“All of the students, the other teachers and I sat around a banana leaf and ate the meal with our fingers,” said Heilman. “This was the Philippines at its best. Normally rice and vegetables are not finger food, but Filipinos prove that almost anything can be finger food.”
    
He added, “I have truly enjoyed the interaction with my students. This past year, more than double the number of students went to college than in the previous year. I’ve watched these students grow up, and it’s been an interesting experience seeing education from the other side of the podium.”
    
Six years ago, when it was time for Heilman to pick a college, he said he chose Monmouth because of the swim team and because “I liked how the college looked like a college campus, with all the buildings the same architectural style. I could have gone to many other colleges. Political science is not exactly a unique program, but I found at Monmouth that it was the combination of experiences inside and outside the classroom that made it the right choice for me.”
   
After crediting faculty member Ken McMillan for his help with Heilman’s various positions in student government and another professor, David Suda, for teaching him Russian, Heilman added, “I can never remember calling anyone in the political science department by their last names.”
    
He concluded, “Countless teachers, students, staff members and friends in the town itself made my Monmouth experience special. Each of them, in their own little way, changed my world for the better.”
    
And, through Heilman, those countless individuals are helping to make a positive impact half a world away.