“I imagined I would have a difficult time living in a house with eight people and end up spending a lot of time in my room, but I’ve found that my favorite part of the day is coming home and sitting down to dinner with the house.” – Isabelle Ibibo
Hailing from Green Bay, Wisconsin, Isabelle Ibibo graduated from Carleton College with a major in Spanish. During her time at Carleton, Isabelle worked with Tamarin monkeys in a lab as a student researcher and caregiver and was the Chief Design Editor of Carleton’s literary magazine, The Lens. She also received an Initiative for Service Internship award to fund her work with social well-being in Peru in 2014 and studied abroad in Ecuador, where she worked as a health promotion volunteer with Centro de la Nina Trabajadora, an NGO that services public health in Quito. In her free time, she enjoys reading, drawing, running, and sewing. She is serving at Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.
Tom Mulholland: What has been the most valuable part of the PULSE experience so far?
Isabelle Ibibo: The most valuable part of the experience has been the people, my housemates in particular. Especially after the election and with being away from family, it was very good for me to know that I have this support group.
Tom: Tell me something you are learning about yourself through PULSE.
Isabelle: I’m learning that I am more of a people person than I expected. I imagined I would have a difficult time living in a house with eight people and end up spending a lot of time in my room, but I’ve found that my favorite part of the day is coming home and sitting down to dinner with the house.
Tom: What do you enjoy most about your nonprofit partnership?
Isabelle: I enjoy the creative side of being at Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, doing work that I don’t think is typical at an office. I love have encouraging and supportive co-workers that let me take a project and run with it.
Tom: What suprised you most about Pittsburgh?
Isabelle: I was surprised by th small-town feel. People are very friendly. Coming from the midwest, I expected Pittsburgh (a bigger city) to be different, but people are just as friendly here.
Tom: What is the most interesting/fun adventure you’ve had in Pittsburgh so far?
Isabelle: One time, we took the bus and tried to go to dancing. Midway through the trip, the bus driver announced his shift was over and dropped us off at a random gas station. We made our way to a local bar on Walnut St. The place was dead and no one was moving, but we ended up getting the whole place dancing.
Story by PULSE Participant Tom Mulholland.
Read more Participant Stories from Fellows about their experience in PULSE. If you would like to learn more about the PULSE program, please visit our Serve with Us page.
Also, check out other Stories of Transformation: