Last year the Ohio University Peace Corps branch set its all-time record for the most individuals nominated to the program, and it might meet that number again.
The amount of people we have nominated for the Peace Corps is amazing for a college campus
said Karl Federspiel, OU on-campus recruiter for the Peace Corps. Forty-five people were nominated last year, up from 25 the previous year, he said. Numbers from this year are not yet final, but 23 OU graduates currently are volunteering.
OU used to be a training site for Peace Corps volunteers before all training moved overseas, Federspiel said.
Once nominated for the Peace Corps, an individual is assigned to work in one of a variety of services for the country to which they are sent. Some of these services include education, environmental service and community development and information technology. Although anyone can apply for the Peace Corps, applicants with backgrounds in these areas are highly regarded in the nomination process.
We will take anybody but we focus on people with expertise in specialized sciences such as forestry and environmental sciences as well as those who could do health education with HIV and AIDS work. We also really need people with backgrounds in French. Because many of the countries we serve are in West Africa South Africa and the Caribbean
people who can speak French are very valuable right now
Federspiel said.
Molly Steinbauer, a graduate student in International Development, was a volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1999 to 2001 in Tanzania, a country in East Africa.
Steinbauer said growing up on an orchard farm as well as getting her bachelor's degree in conservation from Kent State University aided her in her services in Africa.
I was involved in community projects such as cash-crop production
water sanitation and methods of beekeeping that were safe for the environment
Steinbauer said.
Steinbauer also noted that her experience in the Peace Corps helped to change her career expectations and her ideas on what she wanted to do with her life.
An office job is not how I wanted to spend my life
Steinbauer said. After my two years in Tanzania I went back to school
and I am working on my masters in international development with an emphasis on African languages and African studies.
Jenny Galasso, a senior majoring in Spanish and education, was nominated for the Peace Corps program in Latin America and will begin training in July. She said that although her family worries about her safety, she is looking forward to the experience.
My parents and grandparents are terrified
Galasso said. But we are assured that if there are any problems while we are there
the Peace Corps will yank us out. I'm not too nervous.
For Galasso, joining the Peace Corps came from a desire to do more than just travel but to be immersed in a culture.
I wanted to travel
