Chaney grad doing graduate work in Ghana with Peace Corps

YOUNGSTOWN

An interest piqued growing up on the city’s South Side is taking Zakiya Miller all the way to Ghana.

Miller, 31, daughter of Ron and Lynette Miller, leaves Saturday for the West African nation where she will spend 27 months as a Peace Corps volunteer.

She earned her degree at Tulane University in New Orleans where she also is pursuing her master’s. Her Peace Corps excursion is part of her practicum to earn her advanced degree.

“We’ll spend the first three months in-country getting acclimated to the language and the culture, and then we’ll go to our independent sites,” Miller said.

She is both nervous and excited about the trip.

“This isn’t my first international travel,” Miller said. “It’s always a new thing going to a new culture and learning how people interact with each other.”

Miller, a 2003 Chaney High School graduate, will be working in some type of health-education program but won’t know specifics until after the first few months. The three months in-country also are used to learn about volunteers’ strengths to determine where they may be most effective.

“I have a passion for HIV/AIDS prevention programs, so anything with that would be good, maybe youth development within HIV and AIDS prevention,” she said.

Read more about her and her venture in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.