Highlights: Jared is from Bedford, Indiana, which claim-to-fame is the "Limestone Capital of the World." He graduated with honors from Indiana University in 2009 with a degree in political science, specializing in intrastate conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia. After graduating, he worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a Management and Program Analyst working on national security policy analysis. A year later, he resigned to earn an officer commission with the United States Marine Corps, however his military career was cut short due to injury and illness at Officer Candidates School in January 2011. Eager to still serve, Jared became an AmeriCorps member with City Year Washington, DC where he served for ten months in an inner-city middle school. In his eighth grade classroom he assisted in the implementation of an innovative self-directed e-learning initiative in partnership with Johns Hopkins University's Center for Gifted Youth. Jared's service career then took him to Lusaka, Zambia in sub-Saharan Africa as a Global Health Corps fellow with an NGO that provides support to refugees fleeing political violence from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition to his passion for service, Jared is also passionate about food and is eager to immerse himself in India through trying as many different meals as he can. Supported by American Express