John Sheetz first came to FSU to pursue bachelor’s degrees in international affairs and in hospitality administration after receiving the Palm Beach and Martin County Pathfinder Award in Community Involvement in 1999. As an undergraduate, he served as programming chair for the Service Corps Student Government Board. He also raced with the intercollegiate sailing team.

When he graduated in 2003, he went to Italy where he taught English and then worked as a deck hand on a private yacht. Upon his return to the U.S, he worked as an adventure guide for youth in the Florida Keys, and a dining room manager in the historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.

In 2005, John entered the Peace Corps in Ukraine. For two years he served as a Youth Development Volunteer, developing programming to teach civics, health, ecology, and economics through classroom sessions, after-school programs, and the Ukrainian Scouts. After completing his service, John became a trip leader for the adventure travel company Backroads, while continuing to develop programming for a Ukrainian boys’ orphanage. He spent three years living in Italy, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, while working on these two projects. To complement his work experience abroad and gain clinical skills and a perspective on American policy, John returned to FSU in fall 2010 to begin work on an MSW degree. He will study with the FSU social work program in Prague during the summer of 2011, and plans to bike with Backroads on a trip from Prague to Vienna.