Tishina Okegbe, 27, of Garner has been accepted into the Peace Corps and departed for Lesotho Oct. 12 to begin pre-service training as a science education Peace Corps volunteer. Upon graduation from volunteer training in January, Okegbe will work to provide classroom instruction to high school students.

Okegbe is the daughter of Patricia Hill and is a graduate of the Taft School in Watertown, Conn. She attended Dillard University in New Orleans, La., where she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2006.

“I think the two biggest factors affecting my decision to become a volunteer were my passion to give back to underserved communities and my eagerness to gain hands-on experience in the field of international development,” Okegbe said.

During the first three months of her service, Okegbe will live with a host family in Lesotho to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist her community, Okegbe will be sworn into service and be assigned to a community in Lesotho, where she will live and work for two years with the local people.

Okegbe says she loves to travel and has previously lived abroad in Madrid, Spain and Lima Peru. She is originally from Chicago, Illinois.

Okegbe joins the 247 North Carolina residents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 3,788 North Carolina residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.