Eleanor Roosevelt College alumna Charlene Pena laughed off the cliche before delivering it, as did UCSD alumnus Tony Chung. The Peace Corps is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job that you can’t get enough of, they said.
And for years, UCSD has been rising on the ‘Peace Corps Top Colleges and Universities’ annual list. According to Peace Corps statistics,’ 49 alumni currently serve overseas, placing UCSD 18th among universities with over 15,000 students; a total of 599 UCSD alumni have volunteered with the Peace Corps in the university’s history.
Former volunteer Pena reflects on her two years in Kazakhstan from 2005 to 2007 with an appreciation she said she found only after returning home to San Diego. As her service began, before anyone ever heard of Borat, Pena had no idea where Kazakhstan was located and could find little information on the country. Volunteers don’t have the freedom to choose their destinations; the Peace Corps places applicants according to their experience and abilities. Pena had worked as a teaching assistant, and teachers were needed in Kazakhstan.
‘It really becomes your everyday life,’ she said. ‘You really have to be a leader and be independent, to figure out things on your own. … It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love.’
Pena also said the experience has made a significant impact on her current position at Survivors of Torture International, a nonprofit organization that assists victims of overseas tyranny living in San Diego.
‘[I am] working with a population that has to learn a whole new culture, and that’s what I had to do in the Peace Corps,’ she said. ‘I feel like Peace Corps really prepares you for a lot of challenges.’
Chung, who was stationed in Crimea ‘mdash; a peninsula in Southern Ukraine where the primary language is Russian ‘mdash; from 2004 to 2006, relayed similar sentiments. Before departing, Chung didn’t speak a word of Russian, but spent two months in Ukraine before conversing with another native English speaker. Today, Chung tests at advanced levels in Russian language abilities.
‘I didn’t just want to be a tourist,’ Chung said. ‘I wanted to really learn a culture and live it. It was really good to give back and help people at the same time.’
As his primary job, Chung taught English as a foreign language, despite being a biology major. A lot of his additional work was related to HIV and AIDS, as Ukraine has the fastest-growing HIV infection rate in all Europe. Today, Chung works with a pharmaceutical company.
Though the Peace Corps’ popularity has fluctuated over its 50-year legacy, participation is currently on
the rise.
‘Last year we had a 37 year high,’ Peace Corps spokeswoman Kate Kuykendall said. ‘Applications have increased by 16 percent; that’s the largest increase in five years.’
Despite the rising applicant pool and an increased need for international humanitarian aid, the Peace Corps cut 10 percent of its roughly 4,000 global positions to compensate for recent budget shortfalls.
According to Kuykendall, the declining value of the dollar and recent economic downturn have hit the Peace Corps hard. Nevertheless, she does not see the current economic situation as a deterrent in attracting volunteers.
‘It’s always hard to say [why applicants come to Peace Corps], but I think students are much more globally minded today,’ Kuykendall said. ‘I think students are more motivated by service ‘mdash; more aware of disparities in the world ‘mdash; and want to make a difference.’
‘It’s difficult to pinpoint that fundamental difference,’ Kuykendall added. ‘I don’t think students are saying ‘Hmm, tough job market. I think I’ll go live in a foreign country for two years.”
This year, a new crop of volunteers’ are arranging to head into the field. Alumni Nemo Curiel, Sarah Termondt and Kate Hulbert are among the graduates who will be heading overseas: Curiel is leaving for Kenya at the end of January, Termondt will move to the Dominican Republic in March and Hulbert is looking forward to joining the first team to work in Rwanda since the Peace Corps was forced to pull out in 1993. She departs Jan. 26.
‘I just got the welcome book, and you can tell things are just getting put together,’ Hulbert said. ‘It feels very new to all of us going, but also to the people organizing [the projects].’
Preparing to work with HIV and AIDS patients, communications major Hulbert, has been employed at AIDS Project Los Angeles. Despite preparations past volunteers agree that settling into a service career overseas presents all sorts of new challenges.
‘I’ve been familiarizing myself with the topic, but it will be a whole other thing over there with limited resources,’ Hulbert said.
According to Kuykendall, an applicant’s preparation speaks loudly in the exhaustive selection process.
‘We’re trying to ask applicants to increase their volunteer experience,’ she said. ‘For UCSD students thinking about joining Peace Corps, make yourself as competitive as possible ‘mdash; volunteer, teach English as a second language.’
Readers can contact David Harvey at [email protected].