Amy was very engaged in life and relationships from birth (November 1, 1976). She eagerly joined the world around her, through family, school and community and eventually through her growing recognition of the human family across the globe. Growing up in a university community, she was exposed to people of diverse international backgrounds at an early age, and joined her family in a trip to Peru when she was 7 years old. This trip took her beyond Lima to the villages of Peru’s Altiplano, where she first witnessed people living in very different and often insecure circumstances.
At age 11 Amy spent a month in Australia with four other American preteens and forty children from other countries in Children’s International Summer Village (CISV), and also joined a CISV exchange delegation to Denmark at age 13. Founded in 1950, CISV is dedicated to educating and inspiring for peace through building intercultural friendships, cooperation and understanding. Amy was a natural CISV participant with her love for others and engagement in relationships. She found many friends and a number of important mentors in CISV in both her local CISV family and in the broader CSIV international community.
During this early teen period, she joined her family in a trip to Southern China and Thailand, where she was first exposed to people and cultures of Southeast Asia. This exposure was broadened considerably when as a sophomore in high school, she and her family lived for two years in Jakarta, Indonesia. Amy and her brother Eric attended the Jakarta International School (JIS) where classmates were from over twenty different countries across the globe. After initial adjustments, Amy flourished at the international school as her understanding for diverse cultures and people grew considerably by being engaged with this diversity on an everyday basis. Amy joined other JIS classmates on a fieldtrip to Nepal, further extending her engagement and interest with the global community. Her two years in Indonesia was a time of considerable growth and clarity of who she was and what was important to her in life.