"While in high school, I applied to Georgetown and didn't get accepted, so I decided to try the Honors program at RCC. After graduating, I was accepted to Georgetown, Cornell University and the University of Virginia."

Since graduating Rockland Community College, Christopher McManus '98, Georgetown '00, Yale '07, has lived a world and culture away. Graduating Georgetown University with a B. S. in 2000, McManus left for Namibia, Africa, as a Peace Corps Education volunteer. Initially, he lived with an African family learning the language, Oshiwambo. Then, for two years, he lived without electricity, took "bucket baths" with cold water, ate mostly maize meal porridge and goat meat, and saw first-hand what HIV/AIDS was doing to the current generation's ability to hunt game—often their only source of protein.

"Learning the language was a big help with my teaching. It also enabled me get around because I had to hitchhike everywhere—like into town for groceries." While McManus found friendship in the community he lived in, the hardest part of living in Africa for so long was the loneliness. "I was the only American and the mail only came once every week or two. I didn't come home the entire time."

He returned to Africa in the summer of 2006 and conducted research in a rural area where the rate of HIV infection is said to be 40% (the rest of the country is 20%). "My concern is that the children of infected parents might not learn to hunt. The issue becomes food security. They might not have a diverse enough diet and be forced to live on mostly carbohydrates. In the long term, this study might become a PhD."

McManus graduated Yale University with a duel master's degree in Environment, Health, and Policy and Environmental Health Sciences.

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