February 2022 Intern Team
Rinda and Brent Hayes lead this team a full 2 years after they planned to go! Covid continues to prevent some team members from going with them, but they look forward to another opportunity. This group will be in Kenya from February 1-18.
Follow their journey on Facebook and Instagram.
Maureen Halversen
Maureen and her husband Chris are parents to four grown kids, grandparents to a toddler, and live in Portland, OR. As a long-time Kenya Keys as a volunteer and sponsor, Maureen is excited to meet the students and Board in Kenya for the first time!
She earned her degree in secondary education at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and is passionate about the role education plays in improving lives. Maureen also studied ballroom dance, traveling the world to compete with the dance team. This piqued her interest in other cultures and the struggles that people experience and helped her realize that we may be different in some respects, but our similarities outnumber our differences.
Maureen teaches ballroom dance and fitness classes and hopes to share the joy of dance and exercise while in Kenya. She is a substitute teacher in both general and special education K-12 classes. She volunteers with teenage moms in school, at church, and in her community helping the homeless and refugees. Maureen wants to share insights from these experiences with the Kenyans and bring home what she learns from them.
Maureen's mother, Carol Turley, has been a Kenya Keys sponsor for twelve years. Carol has donated 600 feminine hygiene liners sewn by volunteers that Maureen will bring to Kenya. They are both thrilled that this helps girls stay in school and feel empowered to succeed.
FOCUS AREA: As a Kenya Keys Board member, Maureen will be collaborating closely with Kenyan staff member Clemence Budala. Maureen will be the U.S. point person on Usalama (girl rescue) issues. Together Clemence and Maureen will coordinate the distribution and teaching related to hundreds of sanitary kits.
Heather Cooke
For most her 60-plus years, Heather lived in Utah. She is a descendent of multiple pioneers. She was a criminal justice attorney by trade, but a teacher and writer by preference. When she retired from actively practicing law, she dedicated herself to community activism in her four children's schools and sports teams including creating musical productions for elementary schools and revamping PTAs to increase parental involvement in cultural enrichment programs.
As her children grew, Heather tag-teamed her husband's military, business, political, and church assignments, eventually landing them in the Washington, DC community. Now that Heather and her husband have settled in Maryland (with their single adult children passing in and out), she participates with local organizations including the US Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Arlington National Cemetery, and interfaith organizations.
Having sponsored students with Kenya Keys (and Koins for Kenya) for more than thirteen years, Heather is elated to be making her first, long-awaited trip to Kenya where she looks forward to meeting the dedicated people who run Kenya Keys and hopefully a couple of the students her family sponsors.
FOCUS AREA: Heather will bring her skills as an attorney to work with the Kenyan Board of Directors and their Kenya Keys policies and procedures. She will also work with the staff regarding program management and efficiency. Heather will also be interviewing Kenya Keys' sponsored students.
Shawn Ross
Shawn and his wife, Katie, have been supporters of Kenya Keys since its inception. It has been a dream of Shawn's to go visit the people of Kenya for many years to meet students he and his family have sponsored, support the organization in whatever way possible, be immersed in the unique Kenyan culture, and truly experience in-person the impact KK has had, is having and wi11 continue to have for genera lions to come in the bush of Kenya.
Professionally, Shawn has been an entrepreneur since graduating from the University of Utah starting his first business when he was twenty-five. Since then, he has started, acquired, and sold various business ventures. Although he enjoys the challenges and opportunities provided by starting and building businesses, his main goal is to create flexibility for himself to never miss a child's sporting event, a music recital, or miss an opportunity like going to Kenya or other service opportunities as they present themselves.
Shawn has been married for almost 20 years to his much better half, Katie. They have 4 children: Faith (14), Noah (12), Mia (10), and Bella (7), and currently reside in Draper, Utah. Besides being a father and entrepreneur, Shawn enjoys anything active – cycling, backcountry skiing, running, hiking, swimming, among other activities — and looks forward to challenging the Kenyans to races, handstand contests, or any other challenges!
FOCUS AREA: Shawn will bring his years of entrepreneur and leadership expertise to teaching and inspiring students in how to discover and capitalize on business and educational opportunities. He will also work closely with the Save Our Brothers Club and will help with the systemization of administrative policies in the Kenya Keys office.
Determination!
Due to an accident, Shawn was unable to travel to Kenya - however, even surgery didn’t stop him from helping. The wonders of technology brought Shawn to Kenya via Zoom! He used his own entrepreneur expertise to lead a discussion with an eager group of 24 Kenya Keys alumni, several of whom shared their own personal business ventures with the group.
