“Up until I decided to join the Peace Corps, all of my friends were from Virginia. I didn’t travel that much out of the state,” said Keitoya Taylor, who served as an Urban Youth Development Volunteer in the Philippines from June 2014 to September 2016. However, after successfully completing her Peace Corps service, “Now I can say I have new friends across the country.”

Like both her parents, Keitoya was born and raised in the Petersburg, Virginia area. She attended both Petersburg High School and Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, then went on to graduate with her master’s in psychology from the University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona in 2010.

In 2016, the state of Virginia ranked No. 3 among the Peace Corps’ top Volunteer-producing states in the nation. Keitoya was one of 328 Peace Corps Volunteers from the Old Dominion serving overseas in 2016. Keitoya joined the 7,732 Virginians who served in the Peace Corps since the agency’s founding in 1961.

In the beginning, as a Peace Corps trainee, Keitoya felt overwhelmed and far away from home.

“I was a mess at first. I might have had a strong face, but I was insecure on the inside. Meeting so many people at one time and not feeling in control was new to me,” said Keitoya.

So, she set a goal: “If I can make it to December I can stay the full two years.”

Keitoya realized she was not alone in feeling overwhelmed by all the new experiences in the Philippines, and she found comfort with her roommate, as well as being able to occasionally to talk with her family back home via Wi-Fi.

Keitoya ended up staying the full two years, living, learning and working with her Philippine community.

“I had to realize what was most important to me, no matter what. I wanted to build relationships with people and leave a positive imprint… I wanted to make sure I left them with something they learned, and I was able to do that in my host community,” Keitoya said.