Meet…
Jennifer Sooy. She is a professor of Political Life and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Besides being a professor and a member of the DAR, she has strong experience pertaining to her passion in dealing with the issues of foreign policy, national security, and women’s rights.
Why she’s interesting…
Sooy is a graduate of Centerville High School, where she recognized her interests in English and Social Studies. Afterward, she attended Randolph Macon Women’s Academy and majored in European History. However, she says she always told herself she would end up majoring in English, but it took one step into a European History classroom for her to realize her true passion.
“It’s a bunch of storytelling-it’s English in a different way. It combined political, historical, economic, social and I get to learn about all of the different subjects,” said Sooy.
Sooy didn’t stop there; she attended Wright State University and University of Dayton, where she acquired degrees in not only law, but education as well. This is when she pursued her teaching career.
“It’s important to me working with the students and sharing not only substance, but the opportunities that are available. To go after your dreams, and learn and have fun without limiting yourself, the longer you live the more there is to explore,” said Sooy.
Sooy took the opportunity to move to Moldova with her twin sister to teach at Moldova State University. The three classes they decided to teach together included Family Law, American Criminal Procedure Law and Contract Law.
The main issues she was faced with when teaching with her sister was the fluency problem and cheating. She overcame this by creating class activities to force the students to work together, socialize and help one another. In doing so, she says this helped with the fluency issue and cut down on the excessive cheating problems.
While spending five months in Moldova, she took this opportunity to help bring Democratic reform to Europe. Sooy was involved in the Civic Education Project, which promoted democracy and education reform by modifying the curriculum to make it more progressive and engaging for the students.
“I was a part of trying to deal with the issue of corruption, trying to promote the rule of law to not only reform their political system, but their judiciary system as well by first making it independent to avoid bribing the judges,” said Sooy.
Sooy’s goal for her next adventure across seas is to go to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria to get a sense of the distances and a first handed appreciation of the security questions.
Asia Henley
Contributing Writer