 "Photo: Elizabeth Sorrell")
Even though HSU no longer has a Peace Corps office on campus, regional recruiter Jennifer Clowers said she hasn’t seen a decrease in student volunteers on campus.
There are currently 23 HSU alumni in the Peace Corps. HSU ranked 15 out of mid-size universities in the country for producing Peace Corps volunteers. HSU has been on the Peace Corps “Top College” list for five years in a row, said Clowers.
Clowers said a volunteer normally serves for 27 months, the first three months are reserved for training. “I loved my Peace Corps experience, that’s probably why I’m working there now,” she said. “It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and the most challenging.”
Most student loans are deferrable during Peace Corps service, said Clowers. She said they recommend applicants check directly with their student loan providers to make sure. Volunteers with Perkins loans may be eligible for partial cancellation benefit. “I believe it is 15 percent per year of service,” she said.
Peace Corps Public Affairs Specialist Nathan Hale Sargent said there is no longer a Peace Corps office on campus because of changes in the budget. “We’re certainly sad to lose connection on campus, but hopefully that shouldn’t impact recruits,” he said.
Clowers said that the relationships you make in Peace Corps last forever.
One of Clowers’ most memorable experiences came when she was living in a remote village in Guinea, Africa.
She lived in a hut with no running water, no electricity and no cell phone. Clowers communicated with her family and friends by writing letters.
One of her main projects was working with a women’s garden cooperative. The women wanted to grow produce to sell in the surrounding 10 districts.
She recalls asking a lot of questions to make sure that the project would be feasible and profititable for the women. She also remembers teaching them agroforestry techniques such as composting and mulching.
Clowers said one day she was transplanting onions with the president of the cooperative when the woman stopped working for a moment and looked at her and said, “None of this would have happened had you not been here.”
Clowers recalls that she said that she hadn’t done anything, and that this was the cooperative’s project. However, the president said, “No, you believed in us, none of this would have happened without you.”
“For me, this moment encapsulates what it means to be a Peace Corps Volunteer,” said Clowers.
The Peace Corps costs the average tax payer $1.40 per year, said Clowers. It will be Peace Corps 50th anniversary in 2011 and it is always looking for more volunteers.
McGill University alumni Karen Schlatter and HSU alumni Joel Correia just returned to Eureka after finishing the Peace Corps in December 2008 and doing a fund raising bicycle trip in South America for 6 months. Schlatter said there were hard times when she thought she didn’t fit in at all. “You’ve just got to believe in yourself and the experience is worth it,” she said.
For Correia, one of the hardest things was saying goodbye to his host family. He said they stayed up and cried together the night before he left to go back home.
Coming back to the United States was just as difficult as going away, said Schlatter.
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