Interview with Ann Hopkins, March 9, 2022

Interview Summary

Ann Hopkins served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica from 1972-74. She was a part of the island's Ministry of Education Program that focused on identifying and upgrading the Basic Schools (preschools); it was called the Early Childhood Education Program (ECE). Prior to applying, she had been teaching kindergarten but found she wanted different challenges. Her cohort of over a hundred volunteers (PC X111) trained in Kingston at the University of the West Indies. After requesting to be assigned where no other ECE volunteer had been, she was assigned to Catadupa in St. James Parish. She lived with a local family and worked closely with her teacher trainer counterpart from the Ministry of Education. Together they discovered 89 basic schools; bringing the total to 130 in St. James Parish and encompassing 5,000 children. Driving her "mini-moke" buggy named "Pretty" she supervised up to 20 schools in the rural "Cockpit" country. Along with her Jamaican counterparts, Ann helped secure salaries for the teachers, ran workshops, oversaw the building of 3 schools, created teaching materials and most of all strived to uplift the self-esteem of the teachers. In her second year, she moved to the town of Goodwill, also in St. James Parish, where she continued this work. Following her service, she worked as a Peace Corps trainer for the incoming cohort of volunteers. Her career post-Peace Corps was in hospital and school social work, and she also taught for a time at her community college.

Interview Keyword

Peace Corps (U.S.) Jamaica (Country of service) 1972-1974 (date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer job: Early Childhood Education Peace Corps (U.S)—1970-1980 Kingston Saint James Parish Jamaican patois (Language) Montego Bay Catadupa Goodwill Michael Manley Ministry of Education English (Language) Peace Corps staff mini-moke Basic Schools salaries teachers University of the West indies

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