Peace Corps volunteer Sarah D’Antoni, 24, of Hillsdale, New Jersey, became the first woman ever to swim 8.3 miles across Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyz Republic on August 23, 2016. Clocking a time of four hours and 43 minutes, D’Antoni now holds the record as the fastest person to have ever swum across Lake Issyk-Kul, and she is only the third person ever to have done so.

D’Antoni trained for two months to prepare for the swim, doing a combination of swimming exercises, strength training, yoga, and meditation. Though she completed the swim on a summer day, the water was a chilly 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

“There was lightning, rain and wind as we were heading to the starting point. The wind kept up throughout the swim, providing large waves and making staying warm a bit of a problem,” says D’Antoni. “Fortunately, the swim finished before it began to hail and a thunderstorm rolled in.”

D’Antoni began swimming when she was just four years old. Growing up, she swam for the Ridgewood, New Jersey Breakers club swim team and the Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. She also swam for Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida and Florida International University in Miami.

D’Antoni is a graduate of Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. She went on to graduate from Florida International University in Miami, Florida in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in marketing. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, she worked as a project manager at FullBottle Group and as a nanny.

As a member of the swim team at Indian River State College, she helped the team win its 33rd and 34th consecutive national championships. At Florida International University, D’Antoni helped the team clinch a second place finish in the Conference USA Championships in March 2014.

When not taking record-breaking swims in Kyrgyz Republic, D’Antoni works as a Secondary Education English teacher with the Peace Corps.

As a junior in college, “I wanted to live abroad, so I began looking into programs abroad. This is when I found Peace Corps,” said D’Antoni of her desire to join the Peace Corps.

D’Antoni initially applied to serve with the Peace Corps in Thailand, but did not get accepted. A few months later, to her surprise, she received an invitation to serve in the Kyrgyz Republic.

“I decided that if I didn’t take the opportunity presented at that moment, I would never take it,” said D’Antoni. “So, I gave my two weeks’ notice, let my lease run out, drove my belongings up to my parents’ home in New Jersey, and departed on this wonderful, awe-inspiring journey that is the Peace Corps.”

D’Antoni is the daughter of mother and stepfather Tracy Rapheal and Christopher Mueller of Hillsdale, New Jersey, and father and stepmother John and Catherine D’Antoni of Nyack, New York.

During the first three months of her Peace Corps service, D’Antoni lived with a host family in Kyrgyz Republic to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the necessary skills to assist her community, D’Antoni was sworn into service and assigned to the community of Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyz Republic, where she will live and work for two years with the local people.

“My personal and professional goals are to grow more as a person and appreciate every moment of every day, the people I am around and the experiences I am taking part in,” said D’Antoni of her hopes for her Peace Corps service. “My goal, each day, is to plant seeds of change in the minds of young and old, to show that all are capable of dreaming and achieving far beyond what they could ever imagine.”

As a volunteer, D’Antoni is working in cooperation with the local people and partner organizations on sustainable, community-based development projects that improve the lives of people in Kyrgyz Republic and help D’Antoni develop leadership, technical and cross-cultural skills that will give her a competitive edge when she returns home. Peace Corps volunteers return from service as global citizens well-positioned for professional opportunities in today’s global job market.

D’Antoni joins the 187 New Jersey residents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 5,000 New Jersey residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.

There has never been a better time to apply to Peace Corps, and reforms have made the process simpler, faster, and more personalized than ever before. In 2014, applications reached a 22-year high for the agency, with more than 17,000 Americans taking the first step toward international service. Through a one-hour online application, applicants can now choose the countries and programs they’d like to be considered for. Browse available volunteer positions at http://www.peacecorps.gov/openings.

Click here to learn more about Peace Corps volunteers in Kyrgyz Republic.